Walmart mannequins are watching you masturbate

[RainLover]

A number of stores that customers flock to during the holiday season are considering adopting a new technology which uses camera sensors implanted in a store mannequin’s eyes to monitor a customer’s activity in the shop, using that data to beef up sales.

Retailers say the ubiquitous plastic dummies typically used to model clothes would be fitted with motion sensors that trigger facial recognition technology when a shopper is nearby. The cameras will then observe the shopper’s behavior, noting whether that individual picks up a product right away and heads for the register or if that person seems unsure about making the purchase.

The system, known as ‘Shopperception,’ has already been enacted at Walmart stores, and developer Alfonso Perez says more chains will likely follow suit.

CBS Local in New York reported on the story, as quoted by RT:

Joel Reidenberg, a professor of technology at Princeton University who has co-written three books on international privacy law, said the way stores conduct themselves could point to their true feelings on Shopperception.

“If the retailer is unwilling to be transparent with what they’re doing, the way they’re collecting information, how they’re using that information, it says they know their customers will be upset by it,” he said.

These mannequins are part of the new generation of spy gear that could lead to the holographic models used by the futuristic Gap store featured in the notorious pre-crime movie "Minority Report" starring Tom Cruise, as suggested by numerous news sources.

Last year, a similar controvery arose over mannequins made by Almax SpA of Italy.

Catanese declined to name clients, citing confidentiality agreements at the 40-year-old mannequin maker.

Nordstrom, a U.S. chain of more than 100 department stores, says facial-recognition software may go a step too far.

“It’s a changing landscape but we’re always going to be sensitive about respecting the customer’s boundaries,” said spokesman Colin Johnson.

Wait. How do we know that Johnson isn't a bionic mannequin himself? Trust no one.

Others say profiling customers raises legal and ethical issues. U.S. and European Union regulations permit the use of cameras for security purposes, though retailers need to put up signs in their stores warning customers they may be filmed. Watching people solely for commercial gain may break the rules and could be viewed as gathering personal data without consent, says Christopher Mesnooh, a partner at law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse in Paris.

Wired UK reported that the mannequins will also listen in on conversations. Here's how Bianna Golodryga broke it down in her video for Good Morning America:

Some bionic mannequin anecdotes: One outlet adjusted its window displays after learning that men who shopped in the first two days of a sale spent more than women. A retailer introduced a children's line after a mannequin reported back that there were hella kids around during the afternoon. (Ahh! Now they're going after the children!!) One store found that a third of visitors after 4 p.m. were Asian, so now Chinese-speaking staff welcome customers by the entrance. (Because all Asian people speak Chinese? Are mannequins racist?)

Some companies think customers will learn to love and accept their new mannequin friends as their own. Soon, dummies might recognize loyal shoppers, so they can offer them special rewards/find them after the apocalypse comes. One day, dummies might be able to hear you as well as see you, so if you were like, "Ooh, I love that dress in the window!" the mannequin could say, "It's in the back on the left and also comes in blue and, man, are you ever going to have epic nightmares about me tonight!"

Ok, so technically, the mannequins would only be watching you masturbate if you were rubbing yourself in front of it. Are you exhibitionist enough to try it?

News sources:
http://rt.com/usa/stores-facial-recogni ... fters-226/
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/video/96238 ... -concerns/
http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/20/eyesee-mannequins/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-1 ... sales.html
http://jezebel.com/5962140/everyone-fre ... g-you-shop

[Zang]

Hmm, I remember that scene in Minority Report, of Tom Cruise's character being recognized and verbally greeted by "the store".
But what if he came in with a whole bunch of people at the same time?

Ok, so technically, the mannequins would only be watching you masturbate if you were rubbing yourself in front of it. Are you exhibitionist enough to try it?

NNoooooooo WWaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy
(But I'll bet there are tons of people who would "goof off" in front of a camera'd mannequin if they thought it was filming them... )

[Capt_B]

Interesting topic.

As one who had worked in casinos for almost 25 years, I was thoroughly accustomed to continuous surveillance. As a consequence of my occupation and work environment, I automatically presume I am being watched, and listened to, from the second I leave my house. Am I being paranoid? No. I am merely maintaining an awareness that I could be under video, and audio, surveillance any time I am not at home.

All one has to do is watch any movie or TV program recently filmed in London, or most other large metropolitan areas, to see innumerable cameras almost everywhere. Just walk into any large store and you will notice security cameras all over the place. Does ANYONE believe the only cameras there are the ones you can see?

Merely my 2 bits,
B

[LovesBlackWomen]

I used to have this weird fantasy that I do one mannequin while the other watches me masterbate.

[Gabrielle1]

Well... fucking Wall Mart doesn't pay their employees sqat, they can afford that technology. Is it really worth the expense? Or are they just having fun watching the jerk offs?

[DSlover]

very interesting topic, indeed. I agree with Capt_B - I act similar - as if I am under constant surveillance.
It is a sad world that it has become - cameras and microphones everywhere.
Nowadays you cannot buy a laptop without camera anymore, let alone the microphone.
.... and nobody knows who has access to those devices ... I neither trust M$ nor Apple - the users are not the masters of the computer, its the software suppliers, that can do whatever them pleases.

In future I would really like to have a robot instead of a doll, that would make a great change - active instead of passive mode.
I believe that within a decade or so our current dolls will have evolved to robots, with cameras in their eyes and microphones in their ears.
Permanent internet connection included for free - paid for by the supplier - as they will need to do some "remote management".
These robots will be able to learn about all your preferences over time, order all the good nonsense that you really need (not).
As well, and only to your benefit, they will record your life and stream it out to a secure server of the supplier, so you never loose your valuable data.
To make our world better they may even come with an automated terrorism and crime detector and can arrest anybody that fits the scheme, including the owner.
Anybody but me scared by this vision?

[siliconefun]

Next time I've gone shopping I take a closer look to mannequins. Antidote against spying eyes: very simple

images.jpg

Present in nearly all household

[DSlover]

Next time I've gone shopping I take a closer look to mannequins. Antidote against spying eyes: very simple

images.jpg

Present in nearly all household

But do not install on your eyes - "I don't see the camera, so the camera doesn't see me" is only widely believed to be true but it ain't

[Thndrrbolt]

The next time you update the apps on your smart phone, notice in the "permissions" how many of them have the ability to turn on your microphone and/or camera and record.
If that doesn't give you a "warm fuzzy", nothing will!
T'Bolt

[DSlover]

The next time you update the apps on your smart phone, notice in the "permissions" how many of them have the ability to turn on your microphone and/or camera and record.
If that doesn't give you a "warm fuzzy", nothing will!
T'Bolt

Oh yes, the permissions need always reviewing - but this is only available on Android (afaik).
I think more than 95% of the apps that I wanted to install in the first place, completely failed on the permissions test.
i.E. (taken from memory) Chess programm that wants to have full internet access, read the identity of the phone and have access to all your contacts, make phonecalls and read and send SMS's.
Despite the app was for free (as in no payment necessary) - the data it would be able to sniff and transport or generate background bills by exploiting phoning and SMS could have been just too expensive, not only on the monetary aspect, if you understand what I mean. So the app was never installed. and this goes for a huge percentage of the free apps!

There is nothing like a free lunch - better check the apps permission to see what you pay with

[RainLover]

I think more than 95% of the apps that I wanted to install in the first place, completely failed on the permissions test.

This is why, despite having bought an Android phone for the express purpose of using it for the banking apps, ended up not installing those apps once I saw for myself what the terms of use were. Also, I installed the Firefox app, use StartPage with it, and do not use any of Google's own apps. Most can't be uninstalled without breaking the phone, according to their dire warnings (not yet willing to try that, haven't read any trustworthy reports about it either), but that doesn't mean I have to use them.

I don't store any data on the phone except frequently dialed numbers in the contact database. I take lots of photos with it, and some video, but I download everything. That's not going to stop some smarty-pants forensics tech from finding things I've deleted if it ever came to that, but in the event I somehow lose the phone or have it taken away from me at a traffic stop or checkpoint or whatever by some nosy cop, it does help limit the potential damage. I also have remote wipe, so in case I need to do that.

I would like to have a lifelike robot, like the Actroid, but I'd also like to win the lottery, which it would take to afford one.

Back to the original topic, sort of , if you knew a mannequin was watching you, would you rub one out in front of it?

[Christine]

Let's Moon em.....