These Signs Have Ears
from the you-have-no-privacy-anywhere dept
I drive through Sacramento often enough that this article is going to make me a bit more conscious of what radio station I happen to be listening to when I’m cruising along route 80. It seems that new billboards are going up around Sacramento that can scan what radio stations drivers are listening to and adjust their messages to them. It’s not meant to be individually personalized, but based on the aggregate information gathered from all the drivers who pass by. The folks behind the sign say it’s not too intrusive and they don’t think there are any privacy issues since they still don’t know who you are. This may be true, but it’s yet another reminder that you probably don’t have any privacy anywhere. I wonder what happens when they can start picking up your bad attempts to sing along in the car?
Comments on “These Signs Have Ears”
Skeptical...
Hmmm, so what kind of information does a radio receiver transmit about the frequency it’s tuned to??? Even if there is some detectable signal, I’m skeptical that it could reliably be picked up from a fast moving car from a distance. This smells like a marketing scam…
New weapon for spammers
On a related note, there is now a sound technology that can project a narrowly focused beam of sound into someone’s skull from a hundred yards away, so they literally hear voices inside their head.
Imagine what kind of commercial potential this could have!