As for privacy—you’re in public. There should be no expectation of privacy. The only difference between what a computer can do and what a human can do is speed—and that falls both directions at this point in time. I can stand a salesperson for my product in a mall kiosk and he or she can look you over and, in an instant, determine your gender, age, ethnicity, relative affluence, etc. A computer can’t do that—yet. But, that’s simply a matter of honing algorithms and harnessing more computing power.

However, if a human in the mall is allowed to do it (which is a protected right, at least here in
the States) why should a machine not be allowed?

Just wait for the machine-rights movement, heh.

I disagree wholeheartedly with the assertion that advertising is “lies”. Advertising is the force that allows us to enjoy much of what we take for granted every day.

As a strong believer in personal responsibility, it’s up to me whether someone “gets in my head,” and more importantly, how I choose to respond to their attempts.

Ty: they can turn around and sell that info, they will know exactly what you do, were you do it, and at what time of the day. Cross reference that info and do some data mining and they will profile you to a point were they will know more about you than yourself.

Enter face recognition: the possibilities of this entities finding a picture of you on the internet are huge. How many of your friends tagged you on a picture on any of the social media outlets out there? do you know how many of those are lying around? do you have the time to read the EULA of all the sites you subscribe to and keep up with the changes they make over time to them?

Some food for thought