The 5 Creepiest Ways Major Companies Are Watching You

See on Scoop.it – Location Is Everywhere

The information age has been steadily providing technology that is allowing corporations to get to know their customers better than their own families. (RT @cracked: The products you buy are tracking your location.

Luigi Cappel‘s insight:

So here’s the thing. Don’t be confused by the name of the publication. These are for real.

5. Advertisers are now very much focused on profile and context. They want to give you ads based on what you are doing or what you are interested in. Of course the cable company does have to tell you they are doing it and if you don’t want them doing it, you can always put a post it note over the lens of the camera that you will be using for Skype and playing games where the motion detectors are watching you. You are already experiencing this concept in action every time you use Gmail.

4. The only thing new here is that it is now a mannequin as well as the cameras mounted on the roof of the retail store. Companies like Sensormatic have been doing exactly this kind of study for at least 20 years. These days it is a lot more automated, but monitoring store traffic, flow, gender based behavior has been a standard part of retail store and mall management for years. I first saw it presented at Arthur Anderson in Chicago around 1990.

3. Nestle is a true story. If you dig through my blogs, I’m sure you’ll find more information about it.

2. I haven’t heard of this one, advertisers looking at what quality or age your computer is, but the story about the scruff who looks at a Mercedes is a case of don’t judge a book by the cover. I once watched a scruffy longhair guy buy a 2nd hand Ferrari for folding. I don’t think they asked how he came to be carrying around $35,000 in cash, but he drove off in his new purchase.

1. All web sites where you shop, browse etc are tracking what you’re doing using cookies or your account if you register. Amazon does pretty well in suggesting books that I was interested in and bought. I appreciate that. You do need to be aware that every time you sign up to a service you are giving them information about yourself. Most of them don’t abuse it.