[Macworld]

Post your comments for Japanese billboards are watching back here

[jpmhughes]

Of course one problem with divulging this information is that once the Japanese are aware of the cameras many people will be looking at the billboards to spot the camera.
That will obviously skew the results to a indeterminate amount.
Jim

[Cog3125]

Heh heh. And if the statistics aren't high enough for the advertisers' liking, the owners of the billboard can always hire people to walk by holding up signs with pictures of people's faces to trigger the computer to rack up a few more "hits."
But seriously, though. It's one thing if people are looking at the billboard. If they are, what are they thinking of what they see? Will they remember and ponder it further later? And ultimately, what (if anything) will they do about what they saw?
Seems like not many pertinent questions are answered by this technology, which makes the justification feels iffy. It seems more likely the technology is about fighting crime or terrorism (any camera sharp enough to resolve faces is surely sharp enough to use as a security camera).
I suppose there's not really a privacy issue (it is in a public place, after all, where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy), but still, it seems a little 1984-ish, having first digital billboards and then ones that look back at the people looking into them. At least traffic cameras look like cameras and don't try to disguise their purpose.