In Tokyo, Japan, there are digital advertising billboards being trialled. They are fitted with cameras that read the gender and age group of people looking at them to tailor specific commercial messages.
A consortium of 11 railway companies launched the one-year pilot project in June and has set up 27 of the high-tech advertising displays in subway commuter stations around Tokyo.
The camera can distinguish a person’s sex and approximate age if the person walks in front of the display looks at the screen for a second. If data for different locations is analyzed, companies can provide interactive advertisements "which meet the interest of people who use the station at a certain time," the project said in a statement. Scary when pictures you are looking at look back at you.