The director of research at Google, Peter Norvig, has hinted at a future project for Google, indicating they are exploring all possible avenues for bringing relevant ad content to their users.
The latest technology will use the PC microphone many computers now have as standard to listen in to whatever is the background whilst you’re online. This will then be identified, reduced to a digital ‘fingerprint’, and then matched to a database of sources. The result will be an advert for the latest CD from the artist you’re listening to, or a chatroom full of people who watch the same soap as you, all delivered directly to your computer.
The first response to technology like this for most people is probably something along the lines of “Wow, isn’t it amazing what they can do” followed up quickly by “That has huge potential for misuse” – issues that Google will have to address if they are to make this a mainstream product. The Register has already identified the potential for the use of this information in the security industry, which is a concern that will no doubt be echoed by many.
[Via The Register]