Random Act of Metaphor: Eye-Tracking, Eavesdropping Webcams

Hmmm, are we approaching the day when we will be under surveillance every time we turn on our computer?

Less than two decades ago, the first commercial webcam – a video camera that feeds its image in real time to a computer or computer network – made its debut in an Apple Macintosh computer. Shortly thereafter, a Microsoft Windows version was launched.

The inventors of that nifty piece of technology may now be lamenting “It seemed like a good idea at the time” as they learn the use to which their invention is now being put.

Marketers are struggling these days to find meaningful metrics for their online ads. Click-thru statistics aren’t good enough anymore. The new buzz words are phrases like “opportunity to see” and “likelihood to see”.

Now comes word that a U.S. company has applied eye-tracking technology to webcams. In a nutshell, this technology can use the webcam in our computers to track our eye movements, while we’re online, to determine which ads we looking at and for how long.

So that innocuous little dot on your laptop could soon be spying on you. I can only begin to imagine the nefarious uses to which this invasive technology could be applied.

Webcam eye-tracking technology – a random act of metaphor for the 21st century incarnation of Pandora’s Box. Big Brother just took on a whole new meaning.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog . Visit www.smashwords.com to download a free preview of the e-book version.

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