Verizon's creepy spy-cam idea

Say you're fighting in the living room with your spouse. What would you think if the TV noticed and showed you a commercial for marriage counseling?

Or maybe your young daughter is in the room watching a program with you. What if the TV saw this and started showing Barbie commercials?

That's exactly what Verizon (VZ) is proposing in a patent application filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The application describes a system that uses infrared cameras and microphones to watch what people are doing in front of a TV.

If two people are cuddling on a couch watching TV, the system might show them a commercial for a romantic vacation, flowers, and yes, even condoms, according to the application. The system could even figure out what pets are in the room and start showing dog food commercials or flea treatment ads.

Verizon declined to comment on the issue to FierceCable, the site that first uncovered the patent application. But the company later released a statement that said it "has a well-established track record of respecting its customers' privacy and protecting their personal information." Verizon said that such futuristic patent filings are routine, and anything it did in the future would be in line with its track record of protecting customer privacy.

Companies often file patents as a defensive move to protect an idea from competitors. Verizon likely wanted to cover this ground to keep anyone else from getting there first. And as shockingly invasive as the idea might seem, someone is going to go down this road eventually.

The problem with traditional TV advertising is that it can't account for what users are doing, the patent says. This limits the effectiveness of the ads.

Some observers have likened the idea to Google's (GOOG) Gmail service, which scans a users email and shows them ads based on messages they have sent or received. This practice has raised quite a few privacy alarms in the past, even though Google claims the entire process is automated and no human is actually reading your email. Now, Gmail users don't seem to care much at all.

Google is one of several companies interested in what Verizon is doing. In fact, Google filed a patent years ago for an "image capture device" that could measure how many viewers are watching a particular broadcast, Ars Technica reports. Comcast (CMCSA) has already patented an idea to recommend TV shows based on who it sees in the living room.

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