Advertising has always been
an important avenue businesses use to promote growth. Almost every consumer loves coupons or
special deals they receive from companies selling their favorite products. Most shoppers like to know what is on sale
and for how long, especially if it caters to their needs and wants. Consumers have seen billboards transform from
standard painting on a wall to digital ads.
Some companies have even taken it a step further by having facial
recognition kiosks set up in the mall to cater to each of their possible customers.
The ways in which facial recognition kiosks work is very
simple. Consumers simply go up to the
sign, stand in front of it, and a camera scans their face. It quickly identifies the consumer’s age and
gender and shows them specials that are being offered from different companies
in the mall. However, consumers will
find that only larger companies are sinking their money into this form of advertising
because they believe it offers a form of convenience to the shopper. For instance, a 40-year-old man might be
shown special offers from a steakhouse in the mall and a 20-year-old woman
might be shown special offers from particular clothing stores. There are even some billboards that can
recognize a consumer’s exact profile and his or her favorite things, which
allows it to tell the consumer exactly where to find deals that would be
beneficial.
Even though I believe this feature is convenient for most
shoppers, it does not negate the privacy concerns I have. Many of the companies that are in the process
of trying such advertising methods indicate that there are no privacy concerns
since consumers are providing them with their information beforehand. I simply disagree. I disagree with having the face of consumers
scanned and those images being recorded in a database. No one can be sure where such information
goes or what these companies do with the different information. I believe this feature puts consumers at risk
by too easily lending itself to identity theft.
Agreed! I have no interest in these kiosks. I know where I like to shop! Even though I believe if you are at all connected online anywhere your subject to privacy issues...this is just weird. I am okay knowing that we are all connected and exposed but I wouldn't go out of my way for something like this. I like making my own decisions and don't really care for advertisements.
ReplyDeleteThis concept kind of freaks me out! It is creepy! Also, even if I was not creeped out by it, I have my doubts about the technology being advanced enough to properly meet my consumer needs. By being a girl, I fit into a certain marketing demographic and I understand that there is all sorts of logic built into the code of marketing strategies...but what about when I purchase something that is outside of my demographic tendencies...For example, I purchase a lot of baby gifts but do not have children of my own. I have found myself inundated with marketing regarding baby products and it is getting quite annoying! I've ended up on some list that a computer reasoned that I should belong on...but in reality, I do not belong on this list at all. I think I will wait until Web 3.0 before I trust the facial recognition kiosk.
ReplyDeleteI don't really see this type of facial recognition as invading privacy. As you said, " Consumers simply go up to the sign, stand in front of it, and a camera scans their face." In order for the software to actually san your face, you have to stand in front of it and let it scan your face. If people have a problem with the privacy issue, just simply don't use it. It is not like it's scanning everyone walking through the mall. Although I do believe facial recognition can become a huge problem in the future, I do not think this is one of them.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely an interesting topic!!! Like most conversations on technology the question is " how deep is the rabbit hole?" The concept of using facial recognition to provide opportunities, as well as, a digital "consumer cart" is somewhat disconcerting. My concerns about this technology, also stem from privacy. Some of the questions I would like to ask would be: Where does the information go after you are scanned? Who gets access to this information? Do you get to sign a disclosure before using this new technology? Does it display everything you might be interested in,so that every passing consumer can view your likes and dislikes? These are just a few questions and concerns that would deter me from using such a product. I enjoy my privacy, and it seems that every passing year, organizations are trying to break into that freedom. I would have to turn away from this product and give it two thumbs down!! I cant help but feel that my digital shadow, is becoming more important to these firms, than the brick and mortar Me!!
ReplyDeleteThe Federal Trade Commission has come out with some best practices on facial recognition for corporations. They major points they touched upon are that corporations should:
Delete1. Design their services with consumer privacy in mind;
2. Develop reasonable security protections for the information they collect, and sound methods for determining when to keep information and when to dispose of it
3. Consider the sensitivity of information when developing their facial recognition products and services
4. Companies should take steps to ensure consumers are aware of facial recognition software when they come in contact with them
Please keep in mind that these are only suggestions. Since the technology is so new, there have not been any laws passed concerning our privacy, but it is only a matter of time.
Corporations are urged to only keep your face print for a short period of time, not permanently, but the same does not go for the government. Once you are in the Next Generation System, you are there permanently.
I would imagine that only corporations would be able to access your likes and dislikes, and not share that information with the general public, however, if you walk up to a billboard and it scans your face to find your demographic, passers by could certainly see.
Now, if this software is made accessible to the general public to search the internet for your face, there is really no way to prevent your information from being accessed unless you set all your privacy settings very carefully.
I wouldn't use this, I would walk past this and straight into the shops I was gonna check out anyways.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind the idea of it... some people might find this useful, but as long as it doesn't get too identity specific I'm cool. I don't wanna walk by one of these and it pull up all this specific information about me or have suggestions for things that I might like to purchase while other people are watching me...not that I have anything to hide but I would like to keep that to myself unless I decided to share that with others.