Whoa! A Verizon Detection Zone In Your Home?

[mm112]

Verizon has filed for a application for a patent that would exist in their customer's homes where it will allow verizon to monitor the actions, behavior and conversations of their customers where it has a lot of people scratching their heads as to who at verizon is making these kinds of decisions. The detection zone system will exist where anyone who is near a tv that has fios who says, does or behaves in a way that the verizon detection zone picks up will have it recorded to be passed on so that advertisers can target those customers. How it would work is that infrared cameras and microphones that will be in a verizon customer's home will detect a conversation that anyone is having that is near a tv. The goal is to try to gauge what it is that customers who are in their homes would like to have advertised to them so verizon will monitor everything if someone is near a tv to try to assess what type of products customers would want to have advertised to them. If a married couple is arguing inside their home it will be registered that the couple needs to be sent marriage counseling advertisements or if a couple is overheard saying things that are very intimate to each other they will be sent contraceptive product advertisements or a ad for a romantic getaway based on the conversation that they had in their home. It is all about targeting customers through advertisements when the verizon application for the patent is called "methods and systems for presenting an advertisement associated with ambient action of a user." Any word that is uttered in a household that has verizon in it will be picked up by the sensors where it will immediately go into a search database that will then trigger whatever types of advertisements that verizon feels would best be suited for the customers who verizon felt it was necessary to give them a notice about advertised products. If a home that has the patent detects that someone at that home is playing with a dog in that home the customer will be targeted with a whole bunch of dog products advertisements based on the interaction between a customer and that customer's dog. Now between this patent and verizon's participation in ths six strikes policy which will start in 2013 where they will penalize customers who they think might have downloaded something illegally verizon is going to be testing their customer's patience. For more details on the verizon patent plan to monitor customer's while they are in their homes google "verizon detection zone."   

[tns]

Not sure how real this is.

They might get a patent, but no such device would ever be allowed in my house.

[prisaz]

Since 1984 has past, the next thing they will try to do is feed us Soylent Green in place of AMC. Wrap your STBs and DVRs in tin foil.

[topdog]

Unbelievable!  What will they do if they hear customers complaining abvout Verizon?  Perhaps, they could send along some Comcast advertisements.

Don't think this will ever be allowed, but if it is, Its bye bye Verizon.  They should concentrate on making their Verizon site work efficiently.  Perhaps better oversight on their own employees might be helpful!!!

Surely, you jest!!!

[topdog]

Must be true! Here is their patent application right from Patent Office.

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-...

[prisaz]

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@topdog wrote:

Unbelievable!  What will they do if they hear customers complaining abvout Verizon?  Perhaps, they could send along some Comcast advertisements.

Don't think this will ever be allowed, but if it is, Its bye bye Verizon.  They should concentrate on making their Verizon site work efficiently.  Perhaps better oversight on their own employees might be helpful!!!

Surely, you jest!!!

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I seem to remember something in 2005 that was like Customer to Customer video chat on FiOS with what looked like X-Box Kinect.

Perhaps Video chatting, and if you choose to use it, you are subject to monitoring. It would need to be something like that or optional. That you could turn on or off, at your option. 

Look what Google's TOS says, they have a right to everything once it hits their network.

[HockeyFan1]

I'm predicting a lot of overheard voices calling comcast and dish for new service.

[topdog]

I understand that Comcast has a similiar plan!

[prisaz]

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@HockeyFan wrote:

I'm predicting a lot of overheard voices calling comcast and dish for new service.

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Like has been said, it was just a patent application. It could be something that is only used under certain conditions. But if Verizon has the patent application in first, then there is no fight to use it.

OFF TOPIC BUT

I myself do not like the idea of Google claiming rights to everything you put on their cloud, so I don't use it. I also don't like Google's rights to your gmail. Do you realize everypage you pull up through their search engine is delayed because it goes through them and is tracked before you see it. It is not like you are sent directly to the source. Every time I use that search I get more and more upset over it. Especially over my iPhone.

Just because Verizon may be able to do this at some point, does not mean the federal government will allow it. No more than your neighbor can come put a camera in your house, unless you let them. I believe it would be something as an optout or used only under predefined conditions, and everyone is getting worked up over something that is not even reality at this point.

Just my opinion and everyone is welcome to have one.

Anyone can file a patent application if they want to pay to do it. I could file one that says I want to have some compatible system with broadband fiber optic services that would beam the light to my neighbor, but it don't mean it's going to happen or be accepted by the patent office.

[topdog]

Our government will pay to have use of it.  After all, they read our E mail now!  I advise reading all the small print before signing up for anything.