The Thought Police Cometh
Most people know their actions in both real life and cyberspace are (or can be) monitored. There are ways to find out where we are and where we have been - not least so that we can be targeted by the advertisers, in our own interests of course; not badgered with ads for things we are never likely to purchase. The cost of such monitoring to retailers and manufacturers is, presumably, outweighed by sales from customers who want their products. Businesses save both time and money by not pestering people who will never be converted.
But Google is now trying to protect its right to go even further. The internet wonder, according to London's Guardian, recently applied for patents in both the U.S. and Europe to enable it to "compile psychological profiles of millions of web users by covertly monitoring the way they play online games" for use in advertising.
In its patent application, Google said consumers' decisions made playing online games probably reflect their behavior in real life, and can offer insights into an individual's preferences and personality type.
Some of the examples given are selling vacations to people who spend a lot of time exploring new worlds in their online games, or mobile phones to those who like games where they spend more time talking to other characters.
Other ideas rely more on in-your-face marketing than psychological profiles. For instance, "In a car racing game, after a user crashes his Honda Civic, an announcer could be used to advertise by saying, 'If he had a Hummer, he would have gotten the better of that altercation', etc." And: "If the user has been playing for over two hours continuously, the system may display ads for Pizza Hut, Coke, coffee."
The patent would also enable Google to monitor games such as the Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Wii and Microsoft's Xbox if they connect with the internet.
The Guardian notes that some web companies already scan online activity such as internet searches and email for keywords in order to display advertising based on basic attributes and behaviors. But the extensive profiles proposed in the patent goes way beyond existing examples. Experts said it would be relatively straightforward to combine information sources to put names and addresses to the anonymous profiles.
Google told the paper it had no plans to roll out the technology in the near future, and it was just one of a large number of patents filed in recent months.
Approvals from games publishers to gain access to customer behavior would also be necessary. Justin Townsend, chief executive of IGA, an in-game advertising company, doesn't think this is likely to be a problem since publishers are always looking for ways to increase revenues. But Mr. Townsend also believes privacy concerns need to be addressed.
"Both consumers, publishers and the advertising industry are very aware of privacy issues," Mr. Townsend said. "You cannot afford to be vague in these areas."
Discussion Questions: Scary or sexy? Should companies be able to profile online game behavior to customize advertising messages? How much potential does this offer in learning about individual preferences and personality types? Or are we going too far?
[Author's commentary] Is it ever going to end? Or could it backfire as people stop playing games online in order to maintain some semblance of privacy and not open themselves to yet more advertising even if it is "relevant to the user"? The whole analysis aspect adds another, even scarier, dimension to the idea if you stop to wonder who will be doing the analysis.