Sky Deutschland Considering Using Bone Conduction To Force Ads On Train Riders 205
KindMind writes "Sky Deutschland is considering a proposal to use bone conduction to broadcast ads to train riders. The idea is that the riders rest their heads against a part of the train, like the train window, and then bone conduction would broadcast ads directly into their ears."
We need a new right... (Score:5, Insightful)
We need a new right - the right NOT to be advertised to.
I'm sick of being a product.. I mean, ok the old model of Television and Radio where you the viewer gets something of value (the programming/entertainment) without directly paying for it, then it's a reasonable tradeoff that it's paid for by advertising
However, when you're paying for a train fare, you've paid for the transit... it's not like you're given the option of "pay full price to not be subjected to adversising, or get a discount for being advertised to"
I know I'm unrealistic, but damnit I'm sick of being monetized against my will.
Re:We need a new right... (Score:4, Insightful)
You mean the television that you have to pay a monthly fee to watch? THAT television?
Re:We need a new right... (Score:5, Insightful)
I like this idea.
Advertising is becoming increasingly intrusive in our day-to-day activities. Billboards are bad enough, then it became the sides of busses and tops of taxis, and then gigantic LED displays that blind you at night. Now it's while you're sitting in the theater, broadcast in public areas, it's at the gas pump and the urinal stall, they come up when you press pause on a blu-ray... enough.
Specifically, advertising needs to be prohibited from all situations where a person has paid for access or entrance to something. More ideally, it would also be prohibited from any context where the person hasn't explicitly agreed to be subjected to ads in exchange to some product or service.
Why stop there (Score:5, Insightful)
Why not just go full Clockwork Orange and strap us down and pry our eyes open and force us to watch ads?
Ironically any product forced on me using this bone conduction method will just piss me off so much that it will leave me deliberately avoiding that product.
Re:This is why I take a pillow on trains (Score:4, Insightful)
Not unlike the damn TVs they stuck on the back seats of some cabs in Boston. I just want a moment of peace in a cab (even chatting with the driver would be better) not be forced to watch news about the latest disaster or murder. News is like finding pennies, it is available everywhere and you'll get it eventually. I don't need it shoved at me in every venue. Fortunately I was able to turn it off. I'm sure someday they will remove that option.
Better idea: Cancel engine noise (Score:5, Insightful)
You know what would be great, is if leaning my head against a window in a plane (or train) would, the fullest extent possible, emit a nose canceling signal that would cancel out engine noise from whatever I was traveling in.
Just throwing the idea out there in case some company would like positive, instead of negative, PR.
Re:We need a new right... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not just economically damaging, it damages our trust in the intrinsic human properties that hold our society together. Advertising increasingly co-opts the signals that humans use to indicate familiarity and trustworthiness and uses them to deceive people for profit.
A smile from someone you don't know now puts you on your guard. I almost threw out a handwritten letter the other day because so much junk mail uses fake "handwritten" fonts to try to trick people into opening them. There are countless examples of this and our society suffers as a result of this trusted interpersonal interaction breakdown.