The New York Times reports on “Billboards That Look Back.” “[S]ome entrepreneurs […] are equipping billboards with tiny cameras that gather details about passers-by — their gender, approximate age and how long they looked at the billboard. These details are transmitted to a central database.” This is supposed to help build a better billboard — one that is tailored specifically to the individual standing in front of it. Along the lines of the scene in “Minority Report” where Tom Cruise walks through a mall and various stores say some version of, “Hello, Mr. X. Would you like to buy these pants, since you bought a similar pair a month ago?” The companies “say they are not storing actual images of the passers-by, so privacy should not be a concern.” (They’re wrong. There are several privacy concerns.) It would be simple to start storing images, they admit.

The cameras, they say, use software to determine that a person is standing in front of a billboard, then analyze facial features (like cheekbone height and the distance between the nose and the chin) to judge the person’s gender and age. So far the companies are not using race as a parameter, but they say that they can and will soon. Read more »