Minority Report - Personal Advertising in the Future
dscmailtestCited 9× on HN, 2016–2026
other · general · evergreen · 2016–2026 on HN
A one-minute clip from the film Minority Report showing digital signage that recognizes a passerby and personalizes ads to him by name. It depicts a vision of targeted advertising driven by biometric identification.
HN uses it as the go-to reference whenever a story involves ad tracking, facial recognition or personalized billboards.
Up next
10 mo on HNDefcon 18 Changing threats to privacy Moxie Marlinspike Part
killab66661
6 HN recommender · 2012–2019
9 mo on HNThis Video Is Sponsored By ███ VPN
Tom Scott
9 HN recommender · 2019–2026
9 mo on HNAmerica Keeps Rejecting an ID Card It Already Has
CGP Grey
14 HN recommender · 2017–2024
7 mo on HNFrank Abagnale | Catch Me If You Can | Talks at Google
Talks at Google
8 HN recommender · 2018–2023
8 mo on HN#HITB2012KUL D1T3 - The Grugq - OPSEC: Because Jail is for wuftpd
Hack In The Box Security Conference
9 HN recommender · 2013–2024
6 mo on HNCybersecurity as Realpolitik by Dan Geer presented at Black Hat USA 2014
Black Hat
1 HN recommend · 2014–2023
6 mo on HN28c3: The coming war on general computation
28c3
6 HN recommender · 2011–2026
6 mo on HNDEF CON 22 - Zoz - Don't Fuck It Up!
DEFCONConference
3 HN recommender · 2016–2021
6 mo on HNData Brokers: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
LastWeekTonight
5 HN recommender · 2022–2024
6 mo on HNCivil War General-Purpose Computing | Cory Doctorow | Talks at Google
Talks at Google
4 HN recommender · 2012–2026
6 mo on HNWe're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads | Zeynep Tufekci
TED
6 HN recommender · 2017–2026
6 mo on HNDEF CON 23 - Chris Rock - I Will Kill You
DEFCONConference
7 HN recommender · 2016–2025
9 comments from Hacker News
The Hollywood movie Minority Report has a scene where an advertising display personalizes the ad by your name. ▶ this video
There’s a scene in Minority Report of a mall and it’s basically this. The billboards scan you and then target you directly as you go by. ▶ this video
I also work for an ad tech supplier. And yes, there is lots of incompetence and inefficiencies going around. But they sure are trying anyway. I recently saw the Minority Report targeted advertising scene[0] as an aspirational video in an internal document outlining business goals. [0] ▶ this video
Imagine if cameras could read your retinas and identify you like in Minority Report ( ▶ this video ). Though we're not there yet, facial recognition tech is almost ready for something similar.
Minority Report does a decent job depicting several of these topics. Self driving cars[1], intrusive ads[2], and "no crime". [1] link [2] ▶ this video Not bad for a 2002 film adaptation of a 1956 short story.
For those that haven't seen it, here's the scene where all the digital signage knows who John Anderton is: ▶ this video The movie was released in 2002, so fairly prescient.
And then able to follow you and know your present location whenever you go by a camera. Minority Personalized Advertising ▶ this video
Minority Report's personal advertising is getting closer and closer: ▶ this video And they won't even need retinal scanners. Facial recognition will probably be good enough.
So... something like this? ▶ this video It's scary just how much Minority Report has predicted has come true. It's almost like the movie gave advertisers a playbook.