Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Google Attempts to Patent Ad Consumption Behavior

A number of threads this weekend picked up on a Google patent application recently busmitted. Apparently Google is patenting targeted video advertising behaviors so that you would have to watch a set amount of commercials to be able to view an entire show.

The "Targeted Video Advertising" patent sets out the following clauses:

  1. 'Users may be allowed to skip particular commercials, but required to watch or accept a set number of commercials in order to watch a program'
  2. 'The system…may also require the user to fully watch at least four promotions before the program will continue.'
  3. 'The profile includes some demographic information of the user, such as income, age, and gender. This information may be obtained when the user registers for the video service.'

None of this sounds too evil or insidious but at the same time, there are now so many other options that allow commercial free viewing, why would you go down this route?

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