Wednesday, August 27, 2008

RFID: Facial Profiling

I've been in a state of ennui about RFID - Wal Mart demands it, the government wants it, the citizenry decry it, techies deploy it, blah, blah, blah, nothing new - but Emily Steel's August 21, 2008 report in the Wall Street Journal (The Ad Changes
With the Shopper In Front of It)
electrified me.

Steel writes: “In the latest effort to tailor ads to specific consumers, marketers are starting to personalize in-store promotions based on products the consumer recently picked off a shelf or purchased -- and in the near future, based on what the shopper looks like.” Steel goes on to describe a relatively mundane Procter & Gamble RFID deployment at a Metro Extra store in Germany and a specific marketing effort at two Dunkin' Donuts locations in Buffalo, New York.

Then her article gets interesting: “Most of the experimentation by marketers is being done with the new digital screens that are appearing next to cash registers and in store aisles. Because cameras are embedded in many of these digital screens displaying the ads, marketers are hoping to serve up ads based on the consumer's appearance.

The company powering the screens for Dunkin', YCD Multimedia, is in the midst of deploying facial-recognition technologies that can classify people into certain demographic groups by identifying their approximate age and their sex.

Companies in the securities industries have been experimenting with facial-recognition technologies for some time. The technology often works by capturing an image of a person and using sophisticated algorithms to analyze features like the size and shape of the nose, eyes, cheekbones and jaw line -- against databases of face information. At the 2001 Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, Fla., for instance, security officials used facial-recognition technologies to scan for terrorists and known criminals.”


As menacing as the technology sounds, it was Steel's closing line that really set my hair on end: “Technology firms hope to ward off any potential privacy issues by not capturing and storing any personally identifiable information about consumers.”

WHAT?!?! “Not capturing and storing any personally identifiable information about consumers”... other than capturing the facial scan. And other than capturing and storing the consumers electronic transaction data. And other than capturing and storing an electronic dossier of what method of payment was made in whose name and of what billing address. So, other than capturing and storing all of that information (some of which is distinctly personally identifiable) and simultaneously capturing a facial scan (by nature as personally identifiable as it gets) and capturing and storing the relationship between the tandem captures, this nifty lil' technology poses no potential threat to consumer privacy.

More to follow.



16 Comments:

At 2:07 AM , Anonymous Import2sage said...

Facial-Recognition Technologies . . . !!!
if this technology comes then it will be a blast in the retail sector .

 
At 7:39 AM , Anonymous Import2sage said...

That's very interesting news . . .

 
At 2:10 AM , Anonymous tracking software said...

thnks for the share

 
At 9:43 AM , Anonymous Asset Tracking said...

Very good article

 
At 3:15 AM , Anonymous shrinivas said...

thanks for sharing such a nice artice

 
At 3:15 AM , Anonymous EssenRFID said...

Good Information on RFID

 
At 12:02 AM , Anonymous c-drizzle said...

This is a great post that is still relevant today. RFID privacy and RFID Law will be a huge issue in the coming years.

There is one thing that this article and summary did not address: these cameras actually can detect your interest in the product via facial cues.

 
At 3:07 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

This is an awesome technology, hopefully this won't be used to invade or compromise privacy.

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At 1:38 AM , Blogger Unknown said...

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At 8:18 AM , Blogger Unknown said...

Great Article...

Nice Stuff. I Love Your Points.

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At 8:14 AM , Blogger danish said...

RFID tags are devices that have electronically stored information that is used to either identify or track objects.



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At 8:18 AM , Blogger Unknown said...

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At 3:32 AM , Blogger Unknown said...

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At 6:57 AM , Blogger Patentseo said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At 7:31 AM , Blogger Trackseal said...


Thank you for sharing this insightful information about RFID technology! It's great to learn about its potential to revolutionize inventory management and streamline operations across various industries. Appreciate it!

 

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