[Reader-list] BlueEyed surveillance...

[Monica Narula]

 From the Technology Review Magazine...

Behind BlueEyes
By Claire Tristram

Software

Most of us hardly notice the surveillance cameras watching over the 
grocery store or the bank. But lately those lenses have been looking 
for far more than shoplifters.

Engineers at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA, report 
that a number of large retailers have implemented surveillance 
systems that record and interpret customer movements, using software 
from Almaden's BlueEyes research project. BlueEyes is developing ways 
for computers to anticipate users' wants by gathering video data on 
eye movement and facial expression. Your gaze might rest on a Web 
site heading, for example, and that would prompt your computer to 
find similar links and to call them up in a new window. But the first 
practical use for the research turns out to be snooping on shoppers.

BlueEyes software makes sense of what the cameras see to answer key 
questions for retailers, including, How many shoppers ignored a 
promotion? How many stopped? How long did they stay? Did their faces 
register boredom or delight? How many reached for the item and put it 
in their shopping carts? BlueEyes works by tracking pupil, eyebrow 
and mouth movement. When monitoring pupils, the system uses a camera 
and two infrared light sources placed inside the product display. One 
light source is aligned with the camera's focus; the other is 
slightly off axis. When the eye looks into the camera-aligned light, 
the pupil appears bright to the sensor, and the software registers 
the customer's attention.

BlueEyes has set off warning bells at the American Civil Liberties 
Union. "Soon you won't only be able to capture how many people 
stopped by, but who they were," says Barry Steinhardt, associate 
director of the ACLU. "Once identity is established it will be 
cross-referenced to capture that person's income and buying 
preferences. It's only a matter of time." Not surprisingly, IBM's 
retail customers unanimously requested that the firm not reveal their 
names to the press, or the locations where BlueEyes has been 
implemented.
-- 
Monica Narula
Sarai:The New Media Initiative
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054
www.sarai.net