Ford Seeks Patent for Always-Listening Advertising Techology ⇥ therecord.media

Suzanne Smalley, the Record:

Ford Motor Company is seeking a patent for technology that would allow it to tailor in-car advertising by listening to conversations among vehicle occupants, as well as by analyzing a car’s historical location and other data, according to a patent application published late last month.

Two things to keep in mind: there is still no proof anyone is using microphones for targeted advertising in this way, and patents do not necessarily indicate future plans. Still, that is little reassurance when there is a major car company desperately protecting its research into spying on passengers for another revenue stream.

Nobody wants this. Nobody at Ford woke up and thought they were making a better world by working on this — or by patenting it, for that matter. I cannot imagine anyone would defend this or think it is a good idea. At best, this is a worrisome example of the broken concepts of intellectual property and inventions.