Google Developing Eavesdropping Software
Group 4
Judson Haley
Josh Tratz
Virginia Young
Google Developing Eavesdropping Software
Group 4
Judson Haley, Josh Tratz, and Virginia Young
Keywords: ad
hoc, descriptors, social communities,
information layers
Google has been working on software that would allow mass personalization of users Web experiences and television viewing. It would allow software on your computer to gather background noise through your computer’s microphone, process it, and return personalized and interactive content back to you. This information could come in the form of “real-time” chat rooms or bulletin boards dedicated to discussion about the particular show you are viewing; information about clothes, vehicles, or other items being used in the show; or advertisements for products related to the show. You could make comments about something that is happening on the show at that very moment; find a shirt similar to the one being worn by one of the actors; or receive recent articles about the show, actors, and/or events related to them.
It would be possible to determine a show’s popularity by seeing how many people are viewing it at that time and bookmark it for later viewing. This same information would be valuable to advertisers who could adjust the type and timing of commercials being aired during that particular show; and broadcasters could use the information to make adjustments to their future programming. If the channel is changed or the show ends and another begins, the Web page would automatically be changed to correspond with the new show. All of this will happen in a matter of seconds.
This process is likely to become available soon because it does not depend on some future hardware that is not currently available. It would only require a client-side interface, an audio-database server, and a social-application Web server. It would begin with the computer’s microphone gathering short segments of background sound which would be converted to 32-bit descriptors (also known as summary statistics or “fingerprints”). These descriptors, not the audio, would be sent to the audio database server where it would be matched to the database and the matches sent to the social-application Web server. This final server would use information gathered on you to put together chat rooms and ad hoc (“for this purpose”) social communities, advertisements, and articles, which would be sent back to your computer as personalized Web pages.
There are four applications that will make TV more personalized,
interactive, and social.
The first application is personalized information layers which would
provide information matched to the relevant television or radio show. When watching television or listening to the
radio, a database would be searched, information compiled, and content providing
personalized and interactive content would be transmitted back. When the
content is pulled up it might provide additional information such as fashion,
travel, politics, business, health, or traveling. For example: You are watching the news and
they are talking about a famous celebrity. A layer on the screen might pop up
showing what designers clothing or accessories the celebrity is wearing. Once a show has been annotated, years of
reruns could use the same information layers. (MTV and VH1 have been using this by providing
pop-ups of related entertaining information with music videos.) Complementary information layers could provide
information on related products or services that might be associated with the
show. Advertisers or sponsors could bid
for spots during specific television segments. One example of this would be a local theater
or video store bidding to sponsor previews for up coming movies or shows. Closed captioning could also be used to produce
searches for material related to product advertisements being watched or listened
to and pull up information that matches the viewer’s personal profile and
preference. A viewer’s information could
include a zip code which would allow the display of web pages for local stores
in that area.
The second application could benefit the growing popularity of messages
boards relating to TV shows and current events.
It has become more desirable to make comments on the content being
discussed on television, but it is sometimes difficult to know where to make
these comments. This application could give
the viewer access to relevant commentary through what is known as ad-hoc (for the moment) communities. Show viewers could be linked through their
social application server where they could chat, make comments, or read other
people’s responses on the current show. The viewer could even filter the group
members by location, online friendships, or expertise on the discussion topic. If the viewer changes the channel Google’s
program would change the message community because there would automatically be
a re-sampling of the audio. This would be particularly helpful for the viewers
who channel serf. The application would differ,
depending on the personalized information layers and comment medium. The personalized information layers could make
it possible to record and replay chat sections with program reruns.
The third application provides real time popularity ratings of broadcasted events. These are of interest to viewers, broadcasters, and advertisers. A person could see the real time ratings of a show through his or her social network or area, or through the number of people watching. Real time ratings would offer valuable information as advertisers could adjust ads by their popularity and replace them with different versions delivering the same message.
The fourth application could allow content to be viewed on demand by viewers. They could create personalized libraries of their favorite broadcast content by clicking a button on the computer screen to mark the program of interest. A small recorded bit of audio would be processed and saved which would allow later retrieval for sharing with friends or for personal viewing at a later date. Depending on the policies, the streaming service could provide free single-viewing playback, collect payments as the agent for the content owners, or insert advertisements that would provide payment to the content owners.
By Google’s use of this information to help create personalized profiles, viewers could experience eerie feelings of constant déjà vu every time they watch television. The civil liberties activist will more than likely not be happy to see Google put this into effect, especially following AOL’s release of its records of user searches on the internet. Though Google claims no one will be able to eavesdrop on the sounds in the room because of the descriptor conversions, there are concerns regarding security as they believe the industry is sure to find a way to hijack the Google feed and use it for full-on espionage.
References
Faultline (2006). Google
developing eavesdropping software. Retrieved
Kirkpatrick, M. (2006). Google
research prototypes ambient audio contextual content. Retrieved
Lo, H. (2007). Google’s
Files Patent for “Eavesdropping” Device.
Retrieved
Claburn, T. (2006). Google
Researchers Propose TV Monitoring. Retrieved
Fink, M. (2006). Social- and Interactive-Television Applications
Based on Real-Time Ambient- Audio
Identification. Retrieved
Google Developing Eavesdropping Software
Group 4
|
1. |
Google is developing software that will allow you to
comment through chat rooms, message boards, wiki
pages, or video links known as |
|
A. |
personalized
information layers |
|
B. |
the ad-hoc community |
|
C. |
textual searches |
|
D. |
all of
the above |
|
2. |
Related to Google’s eavesdropping software, personalized
Information Layers can provide additional information on |
|
A. |
travel |
|
B. |
politics |
|
C. |
fashion |
|
D. |
all of the above |
|
1. 3.3. 2.33. |
Google’s
Eavesdropping software will use your computer’s microphone to gather |
|
A. |
background noise |
|
B. |
keystrokes |
|
C. |
e-mail |
|
D. |
passwords |
|
4. |
Personalized
information layers put together by Google would provide information matched
to the relevant |
|
A. |
computer software |
|
B. |
computer game |
|
C. |
television and radio shows |
|
D. |
search engine |
|
5. |
Google’s
real-time ratings will be valuable to |
|
A. |
broadcasters |
|
B. |
advertisers |
|
C. |
viewers |
|
D. |
all of the above |
|
6. |
One of Google’s
applications would allow you to create personalized |
|
A. |
books |
|
B. |
shows |
|
C. |
libraries |
|
D. |
movies |
|
7. |
Some people are
concerned Google’s data can be |
|
A. |
hijacked |
|
B. |
read |
|
C. |
distorted |
|
D. |
bugged |