Eye tracking can reveal an unbelievable amount of information about you:
Eye tracking technology is starting to pop up more and more, keeping track of where you're looking and how your pupils and irises are reacting for a variety of different purposes. It doesn't require particularly complex technology; a HD video camera that can watch your face is enough to collect the data.
But according to a 2020 research review, this data can divulge an extraordinary amount of information about you when it's crunched through advanced data analysis systems. "Our analysis of the literature," reads the paper's abstract, "shows that eye tracking data may implicitly contain information about a user's biometric identity, gender, age, ethnicity, body weight, personality traits, drug consumption habits, emotional state, skills and abilities, fears, interests, and sexual preferences."
That's not all; "Certain eye tracking measures," says the review, "may even reveal specific cognitive processes and can be used to diagnose various physical and mental health conditions." According to Grandview Research, "the analyzed data is used to study a myriad of psychiatric and neurological conditions, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Schizophrenia, among others."
[...] They can also track the length of fixations, rapid eye motions between fixations, smooth pursuit movements and things like the acceleration and maximum speed of your eye movements.
They can analyze your eyelids, watching how far open your eyes are, how often you're blinking and how long your eyes are staying shut when you do. They can take note of redness and see how watery or dry your eyes are through reflections. They can measure the dilation of your pupils – famously an indication of sexual interest or arousal, but also linked to drug use, fear and certain types of brain damage. They can note your eye color and iris texture.
[...] Biometric identity can be established using a combination of things. The colors and patterns in your irises, for starters, can be used almost like a fingerprint. But so can your pupil reactivity, your gaze velocity and the trajectories your eyes take when following a moving object; mechanical and brain function differences make these things unique to you.
Then there's mental workload – an area in which eye tracking sometimes performs better than an EEG. Pupil dilation can be used as a measure of task difficulty and mental effort. Your blink rate correlates with dopamine levels, signifying learning and goal-directed behavior.
[... The full study – What Does Your Gaze Reveal About You? On the Privacy Implications of Eye Tracking – is available for free at Springer Link.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @10:29AM (3 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @01:17PM (1 child)
juz cause i looked dunnit mean ima grabben em.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 09 2021, @12:43AM
(Score: 2) by edIII on Thursday April 08 2021, @08:33PM
Possibly. While Boobies are obviously wonderful gifts, kittens in between Boobies are even better. Boobies I can look away from (after dragging my eyeballs), but I break down into the abominable snowman when I see kittens in boobies.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @10:31AM (2 children)
Sounds like we should all start wearing camera goggles, watching the world on a live view screen so that our eyes are invisible.
Or perhaps just nail every camera in sight with a .50cal. Or the legal equivalent.
(Score: 2) by Mojibake Tengu on Thursday April 08 2021, @11:03AM (1 child)
Paintball. Pink.
Respect Authorities. Know your social status. Woke responsibly.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday April 08 2021, @05:02PM
Certainly more rational than a .50 cal. Though, probably still illegal to be firing in city limits, if not at least vandalizing charges for possibly destroying said cameras.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Funny) by c0lo on Thursday April 08 2021, @11:07AM (1 child)
In addition to face masks, privacy conscious people should consider gorilla glasses [art-sheep.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by edIII on Thursday April 08 2021, @08:35PM
$9.99 sunglasses at the convenience store. Simple & cheap.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by c0lo on Thursday April 08 2021, @11:15AM (3 children)
Voight-Kampff test
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by dale_dmanny on Thursday April 08 2021, @06:52PM (1 child)
Interesting that this was modded 'offtopic'.
(Score: 2) by bart9h on Thursday April 08 2021, @07:22PM
modding down is easier than a quick search to see what an unknown term is
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday April 08 2021, @08:06PM
If the Jews win the battle of the 'Roanhoax and manage to enslave the Goyim, we can also look forward to having peter-cuffs installed. Either that or being brought up to the Jewish bankers' dungeons for a shittin' good time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @11:21AM (3 children)
I've always wondered.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @12:28PM (1 child)
ATM machines do not because it's useless. Once there is a crime, the video can be reviewed for clues which could include what you are looking at, but that's mostly to determine if you are alone or not (eg. situations where you are withdrawing money from ATM and then you disappear)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @02:52PM
Really? I've always thought that the silver camera mirror circle was for capturing people's retina. It's certainly big enough. Also your face is right in front of it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @06:19PM
They all run on Windows XP, so no.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @12:25PM (4 children)
It's already 'discovered' that following people's browsing history makes little difference in their shopping impulses. This eye tracking is also mostly another moot point in this regard. And since there is no money here, who actually cares?
The only thing I can think of is actual diagnosis for mental issues like phobias, depression, and similar. Aside from this, this is like tracking your DNA - once thought to bring instant all-knowing information about you but now mostly just useless data that only really is applicable to that person.
(Score: 4, Funny) by SomeGuy on Thursday April 08 2021, @12:51PM
Higher up marketing managers who only believe what they read in shiny marketing brochures. It PROMISES there will something they can make money with in some vauge abstract way. Say, do you want a side of AI with your AI, AI, and AI?
If this eye tracking detects someone who rolls there eyes at every idiot, then it automatically signs them up for consumer re-education.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @02:20PM (1 child)
I expect that soon eye-tracking videos will be used to "prove" that women were being "eye raped" by men who dared to glance at them for a few milliseconds.
The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Friday April 09 2021, @12:08AM
You can't wear shades no matter how bright the future. Wearing shades is just you attempting to hide your criminal eye-raping nature.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by The Vocal Minority on Friday April 09 2021, @05:08AM
When was this "discovered" and by whom? Not to put too fine a point on this but it sounds like complete bullshit.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by VLM on Thursday April 08 2021, @12:37PM (5 children)
Its interesting to consider what will not be studied.
There's billions, maybe trillions of dollars spent on advertising and every one of those dollars knows they're about 99% useless and they don't want anyone to notice they aren't useful.
Just yesterday I was filling up my car, and the gas pump started displaying a video advertisement to me, very annoying. I found much like web pages, I automatically avoid advertisements so I instinctively looked away and looked around, watching the sunrise just start to light up the horizon. I see other people looking around at the gas station. In the "old days" at oh-dark-thirty when you're filling the gas tank people zombie like stare at the pump numbers or maybe the nozzle waiting for overflow LOL and its interesting how advertising and avoiding advertising forced people to be more aware and look around. Of course someone spent a lot of money to push those video advertisements at us at the gas station and they're likely to be pretty pissed off if its provable that gas pump users ignore them or actively look away. Of course that would result in higher gas prices, so maybe its better to waste money on advertising.
Imagine the absolute shitstorm industry wide if it could be proven nobody is looking at TV commercials.
I also found it interesting they didn't mention the most "obvious" eye related condition, which would be wakefulness / awareness. At some point cars are not going to run unless they notice their driver is wide awake and well rested. And then some rideshare/taxi company is going to start tracking their employee/contractors and doing "something" with the data. And then boring cubicle jobs are going to rate employees based on how awake they appear.
"Attention all employees: To save money, the new bathroom doors at work no longer open unless the eye tracking camera shows you've reached pants-pooping levels of having to go. Also the iris tracker will log (LOL) your bathroom visit and deduct the unproductive time spent from your paycheck."
(Score: 5, Interesting) by isostatic on Thursday April 08 2021, @01:01PM
> Imagine the absolute shitstorm industry wide if it could be proven nobody is looking at TV commercials.
Streaming services seem to make money without commercials. Maybe the solution would be to be happy with the money you're getting without trying to brainwash your customers.
> I automatically avoid advertisements
That's why I stopped getting taxis from JFK into New York - adverts in them. Taxi company/driver loses revenue, I hope they're happy.
> people zombie like stare at the pump numbers or maybe the nozzle waiting for overflow
I often do that, while my brain is thinking of something else. Interrupting that means I go to a different gas station, or am more likely to buy an electric car in future.
Advertising is evil, no question about it. In the UK Sky TV (legacy tv provider) charge a subscription fee. They also have adverts on top of that.
Last time I checked the annual report, the subscription accounts for about 90% of their revenue. The adverts about 10%. So someone spending £20 a month is getting a £2 discount by spending 20 minutes an hour watching adverts for insurance companies or selling gold or whatever. That's a terrible deal for everyone, and one of the reasons I don't have sky.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday April 08 2021, @05:27PM (1 child)
Advertising destroys every medium it ever touches. Billboards. Newspaper. Magazines. Radio. TV. Cable TV. Mass US Postal Ad mailings. Telemarketing. VHS. DVDs. Usenet spam. Email spam. Web advertising. YouTube. Smart TVs. Once the technology is available, they will want to put ads on the inside of your eyelids.
Next, your Google Home assistant or Amazon Echo will have ads.
Mark my words, eventually your phone lock-screen will have an ad when you first wake up the phone.
If gas pumps already have video ads, it is a sign of worse things to come.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Saturday April 10 2021, @06:56PM
I regret to report "Kindle with special offers" and in Chicago and NYC elevator tv commercials exist, or existed as of a couple years back.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @06:53PM (1 child)
If advertising isn't effective, what is it, money laundering?
At the very least, companies should be able to measure the impact of advertising on their own sales.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by deimtee on Friday April 09 2021, @12:13AM
The two things advertising companies are good at selling are themselves and confirmation bias.
Sales went up = Ads Worked, Sales went down = Ads not good enough, spend more.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 1) by visiblink on Thursday April 08 2021, @02:14PM
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/carleton-email-offers-vague-apology-for-fruit-machine-research [ottawacitizen.com]
It wasn't okay to use this kind of research to profile people then -- and it shouldn't be okay now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @03:47PM (2 children)
This is why I always stare at my shoes.
--
Helen Keller, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles walked into a bar...
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday April 08 2021, @05:29PM
Attn: Marketing Department
It has come to my attention that a good place to display animated advertisements is . . . on people's shoes!
(and on people's foreheads and their right hand)
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @05:34PM
--
...and only sustained minor injuries.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @03:54PM
Watch out for eyeballcrime sting ops.
(Score: 2) by pipedwho on Friday April 09 2021, @05:26AM
This starts out talking about things that might be statistically significant across a population, then goes on to extrapolate for use cases that involve individuals. Too often this is proved useless beyond pointing to 'further testing required' to get a result.
For example it may be true that there is an 87% chance that you are looking at an ad because you're interested in whatever 'hook' they provide. This is useful from a marketing standpoint, because they can select between 'hooks' that are 87% and 77%. But for an individual, this may or may not be true at all. And even for an individual where it is true, it may only be 'mostly true' and therefore can't be used to make a decision that isn't itself just a good guess.
So this type of thing might be useful for probabilistic research/marketing/etc, but is not good enough for individual assertion or diagnosis. eg. this guy is lying or this guy is gay/straight/bi, etc.