> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of The Fool
> Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 12:02 PM
> To: Brin_L (Brin-L)
> Subject: spyware
>
>
> http://whitedot.org/issue/iss_story.asp?slug=shortSpyTV
>
> Found this longish article about spyware (in particular set
> top boxes), and how they are used to monitor your behavior.
> I find that most of what the article talked about can be
> equally applied to the Internet.
>
> A few choice excerpts:
>
> ---
> With interactive television every click of your remote
> control goes into a database. This is called your TV set's
> "click stream", and it can be analyzed to create a
> surprisingly sophisticated picture of who you are and what
> motivates you (sometimes called "telegraphics"). Such
> profiles of households or individuals can then be used to
> target consumers with direct marketing techniques, through
> their television, in the mail or over the phone. Your
> television will be able to show you something, monitor how
> you respond, and then show you something else, working on you
> over time until it you exhibit the desired behavior.
I actually like this, quite a bit - at least its not the generic
advertising, but stuff that's relative to me. As long as the data isn't
used for anything else...
> But interactive television is a perfect example of the way
> that new technology is challenging the whole concept of
> personally identifiable information. For instance, given just
> a birthday and a ZIP code, direct marketers claim they can
> match members of the public to existing databases of consumer
> information with 97% accuracy.
> ---
Now that is scary.
> None of the techniques listed in this article are limited to
> the work of selling soap or toothpaste. Every one of them has
> already been applied in various countries to the work of
> selling politicians, worldviews and political ideals. The
> only thing that has been missing is the automation, the
> two-way pipe in and out of individual households and the
> computers to make the decisions.
Is the "spookiness" (if you will) attributable to the actual practice,
or to the fact that due to computers we can automate such systems so
that they function with rapidity and volume?
-j-
