Amazon Granted Location Tracking Patent 68
bizwriter writes "A new patent for Amazon just put the company squarely in the location tracking controversy. It covers a system to not only track, through mobile devices, where individuals or aggregated users have been, but to determine where they're likely to go next to better target ads, coupons, or other messages that could appear on a mobile phone or on displays that individuals are likely to see in their travels. The system could also use someone's identity to further tailor the marketing according to demographic information."
This is good news! (Score:5, Funny)
Just don't buy from amazon and you won't be tracked!
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Re:This is good news! (Score:5, Insightful)
Because nobody else is tracking you.
Yet another stupid patent (Score:3, Insightful)
As this has been done before - see "scavenger hunts": http://www.cellphonesinlearning.com/2010/01/scvngr-cell-phone-scavenger-hunt.html
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It's one thing when people read the out-of-context summary of a patent and then start bitching about that without reading the actual claims. However, you are even worse, in that the SUMMARY explained that the patent involved predicting where a person will go next. Are you telling me that these scavenger hunts involved predicting where the participants were going to go next? I fail to see that mentioned in your link, nor can I imagine how it would come into play.
If I don't go anywhere (Score:4, Informative)
Then they got nothin'
The way the budget is shaping up this Christmas, that's all they gonna get.
Of course, statistics gathered from Geocaching might prove prior art, no?
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Then they got nothin'
For you, they just need to patent the method of recording where your order all your delivery food so they can then target you with coupons for local competitors.
Assuming you don't already have a huge stock of pizza and Chinese coupons stuck to the fridge. ;)
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Then they got nothin'
For you, they just need to patent the method of recording where your order all your delivery food so they can then target you with coupons for local competitors.
Assuming you don't already have a huge stock of pizza and Chinese coupons stuck to the fridge. ;)
Buy my pizzas at Trader Joe's and I do my own Chinese/Thai cooking from scratch (and had a panic run on the market when I heard about the flooding in Thailand, where some of the spices I use come from!)
As for tracking, I have a Lackey travelbug, which will likely crash your browser, if you view where it has been on Google Maps.
Re:We know (Score:5, Insightful)
If you don't want your location being tracked, turn off location tracking in your browser or in your OS's location options. Simples.
Re:As terrible as it sounds... (Score:5, Insightful)
What makes you think Amazon will not be suing others for ridiculous and non-innovative technology such as buying items with 1 click? Oh wait, they already did AFAIK :)
Still, I feel Apple is more of a patent troll and more of a control freak, so I kinda still agree that they are worse, but that doesn't mean its good, and comparing to Apple would be pointless.
Re:As terrible as it sounds... (Score:5, Insightful)
I kinda hope they do in this case, and turn the whole user-tracking area into a patent minefield that companies are afraid to touch.
Good for them (Score:2)
They have to make money off me visiting their site somehow. I only use them for gaging prices before buying something from somebody else.
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I take it the dictionary was too expensive?
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Another shit all stupid fucktard spewing forth shit from ignorance instead of commenting on the topic. When your ignorant of both it is best to shut the fuck up.
Gage Gage (g[=a]j), n. [F. gage, LL. gadium, wadium; of German
origin; cf. Goth. wadi, OHG. wetti, weti, akin to E. wed. See
Wed, and cf. Wage, n.]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)
Gage Gage, v. t.
To measure.
[1913 Webster]
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*you're
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Muphry's law strikes again! (I'm not sure if this actually counts, but I'm calling it close enough.)
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Having a bad day? Oh and it's "you're" not "your"... gotta watch that when you're [see?] ranting about dictionary definitions, the ignorance of others, calling people names and telling them to shut the fuck up.
Looking forward to... (Score:1)
...blocking your carefully targeted ads.
Already doing it? (Score:5, Interesting)
On the other hand, perhaps I should load the app, but only turn it on when I'm in Barnes and Noble looking at Nooks.
Re:Already doing it? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Already doing it? (Score:5, Informative)
Well, if it's Amazon, they did "pay you" for your information. And you did consent to it.
You chose to shop there for some reason - be it the cheaper prices (the "payment" is the discount), or the convenience of just having it right there rather than drive all over the city. That can effectively be seen as you voluntarily giving up your data for the priviledge of purchasing product from their store.
You're free to shop elsewhere. Your local whitebox computer store can sell you parts for cash only transactions - no need to give newegg your information. Barnes and Noble run a set of brick and mortar stores that accept anonymous cash, as do many independent bookstores (who can also order in any book you're looking for).
Sure you'll probably pay more in the end, but you can consider that the price of your data.
Our Geeky Self-Irony (Score:2)
Information wants to be free... except my information!
File sharing with the consent of copyright holder isn't really stealing, but a benefit to them... but getting my information after I agree to the terms of service is stealing and provides no benefit that I like!
What walking contradictions we've become. The fact is we want machines that learn our preferences, language, desires and attitudes, and are excited by things like Siri and recommendation engines. But when push comes to shove on anyone actually u
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File sharing with the consent of copyright holder isn't really stealing, but a benefit to them... but getting my information after I agree to the terms of service is stealing and provides no benefit that I like!
What makes you think he thinks it's stealing? What makes you think he thinks that copyright infringement isn't stealing?
means the person didn't read their terms of service.
I doubt anyone has the time to read ridiculously long walls of text filled with legalese every single time they want to buy a product (which might not even allow them to read it until after they've bought it) or use a service.
I'm not saying it should be field day, but it's /. hypocrisy to decry the RIAA/MPAA for defending what they clearly own
Not everyone on Slashdot believes the same things. I don't think copyright infringement is stealing, and I don't think that getting someone's information is stealing,
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If you have an android device, root it and install LBE Security. It will let you deny applications access to location information.
So it's like Minority Report.. (Score:2)
Good news (Score:4, Insightful)
If Amazon have a patent on it then no one else will be able to do it (ahem) and so our privacy will be better preserved
I wish ...
This is not going to stop (Score:4, Insightful)
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...but will it come to be like how it was presented in "Minority Report", if you were looking carefully enough? Imagine advertisers also getting some lulz from law enforcement by aiding and abetting their tracking efforts as well...
Imagine, though, the episode on "COPS: 2012" where some criminal mastermind gets a text from "Macy's" that there is a flash sale on Brut 33 products (put there by the cops who are interested in him for...oh...driving through a school zone at 3am at 40 mph...), but only if he can
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Except if you don't have a smart phone, you can't be tracked or have ads shoved in your face. If you don't have Kindle/Nook/iPad/whatever, you also can't be tracked. Thus, you are one of many unknown, untargetable people, not consumers, who refuse to be told what they "need" to have.
On a related note, those QRC codes you see plastered everywhere? The ones which were supposed to revolutionize the way businesses communi
Re:This is not going to stop (Score:4, Insightful)
Last time I tried to use the QR coded display at the store, it presented me with exactly the same information as the display, from the store's own website. That just Spells "I don't get it" IMHO. You're not helping anyone with that crap.
If I was a store manager, and someone clicked the QR code on the display, I'd offer them something, a discount, a addon, some promotional value if they presented that information at the time of purchase, within the next 30 minutes. Something along the line of "if you buy this product, you'll get $5 off" (or whatever).
In other words, give us a reason for using them.
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Unfortunately, there won't be public outrage for quite some time. The majority of consumers don't even know they're being tracked let alone understand the fine print. We geeks like to talk about how unjust it is for social media, retailers, and cell phone carriers to track our activity in order to increase their bottom line. However, someone like my mother simply does not have time nor the know-how to even begin investigating how deep the rabbit hole goes. My mom shops a ton on Amazon and probably won't sto
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People will continue to ignore adverts. When I walking to the pub to buy a pint of beer, I'm not going to decide to buy a cider instead because my phone told me to. Flashing it up on the door as I walk in will turn me off rather than tune me in.
And the way things are going, fewer people will be spending money in the future too. It's all wasted effort.
Driving Along (Score:1)
It's early Sunday morning, very few cars in sight, you're driving along with your girlfriend and realize you forgot your cellphone at home. "Don't worry she says, I brought mine, we don't have to go back. So we keep driving and as we pass each electronic billboard on the highway I see various ads. Now I'm really nervous. She's looks coyly away.
Sex hormone therapy on sale now! Be a man in a man's world!
10-pack of stap-ons on sale now! Turn right at the next exit.
Win a trip to the transvestite convention
Patenting a business process (Score:2)
I think it is truly a novel idea - you went to two department stores, and now it's around 11:30 AM. You're probably going to eat lunch out. Time to advertise food places. Location over time is not the same as location-based. And as long as business process patents are allowed, this seems to qualify.
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Didn't they do that in "Minority Report?"
Maybe a good thing (Score:2)
if they start a patent war over tracking us, then maybe there will be fewer people doing it.
Where I'm likely to go (Score:2, Funny)
Track me and I'll be in the crowd outside Amazon HQ with the pitchforks and torches.
At least Bezos will see it coming.
So many ads. And new ways to deliver them. (Score:1)
Google doesn't have to guess (Score:2)
They already know where you're going since you asked for directions to it! Therefore they can show ads for where you're going to be without infringing Amazon's patent.
who would want ads? (Score:2)
How does it further the technical arts? (Score:4, Insightful)
Not everything is about you (Score:2)
Merry Christmas!
the elephant in the room (Score:1)