The Onion’s news service has a new report today on Google’s latest revenue stream: targeted ads during phone calls. Google will pick up on whatever you’re talking about on the phone, then play back ads to you during the conversation. They’ve even integrated the technology into their Maps app.
Whether this is an infringement on privacy remains to be seen. I have a feeling that, while this is an ingenius technology and a terrific way to target specific markets, people will soon be either irritated at the constant bombardment of advertising, or just plain steamed that data is being collected based on a person’s conversation topics. Don’t know how this is going to pass the final checks and balances of the FCC.
Check the video out:
Published on May 21, 2010
