Minority Report advertising is already here: privacy at CES 2013, day 1

[silicon_toad2000]

Remember that scene in Minority Report when Tom Cruise’s character walks into a mall and digital ads all around him continually pitch him by name? Well, that technology’s basically here already, except instead of scanning your eyes to target you, it scans the smartphone in your pocket.

Just by using a smartphone, you’re already on your way to hyper-targeted location-based advertising that really knows who you are. It’s a scene straight from science fiction, but it’s here today. It’s called Gimbal, and it’s a context-awareness program made by Qualcomm that app developers can embed into their products.

It’s called “interest sensing.” They analyze where you go; how many phone calls you make, when, and to whom; which apps you have and which you use most often; how many texts you send; and other phone usage stats to compile a personal profile about you. You don’t have a say in this; it happens just because the Qualcomm chip is powering your phone.

The Minority Report-esque advertising happens when you’re carrying your phone and you step into an area called a “geofence,” a digital boundary in physical space that makes the “phone aware of visited locations.” It might be a mall store or an area of sidewalk, for example. Once you walk into the geofenced area, you trigger text advertising sent to your phone that targets you based on your personalized profile and where you currently are. For example, your phone knows you’re a woman in a relationship and it’s a Friday night, and when you drive by the movie theater, it’ll text you an ad about a romantic comedy that just came out.

http://www.abine.com/blog/2013/real-life-minority-report-more-privacy-at-ces-2013-day-1/