With help from marketing technologies like radio frequency identification (RFID), in-store ads can be served to customers based on items they’ve recently purchased. Physical appearance will increasingly also determine what ads they see, the Wall Street Journal reports.

RFID tags are already included in many retail purchases to help retailers keep track of inventory. As of January 2006, Wal-Mart’s top 200 suppliers were required to add RFID tags to packing crates and pallets.

The article represents a successful approach to making technology practical. Instead of attempting to go all the way, and employ real-time optic scans to identify the customer (a la Minority Report), present developments rely on more accessible technology like RFID and facial recognition.

It’s scary because the only retailers and marketers can fully maximize these tracking technologies is if they use it to maintain a comprehensive and long-lasting record of our activities. That’s the only way to quickly and accurately determine how to craft all those personalized and customized advertisements and marketing messages. So, it’s hard to believe statements like:

Tech firms and marketers hope to avoid privacy issues by taking care not to capture or store personally identifiable information about consumers. In June, for example, facial recognition firm TruMedia Technologies committed never to record or store video from the tracking systems in its billboards.

Business and companies have the right—nay, the duty—to know more about their customers. How else will retailers provide better service—and make more money? But what will happen if some enterprising data thief manages to access their databases?

And perhaps the tone of marketingvox.com, as they discuss the developments in their article, is even more concerning. It seems the last paragraph paints those damn “privacy concerns” as potential obstacles to making a lot of money.

Post from: The Gadget Blog