Back in the old days advertisers had to speak to everybody
to reach the few interested in their product.
(TV announcer) From the dairy case, only a $1.39.
Smile at the 50 cents savings. MAN: Nice!
But today, companies can reach us directly
with the right offer at the right time.
(TV announcement) I'm going to have a full head of hair
again, guaranteed.
NARRATOR: Even if we don't know it yet.
Right now in Australia, some retailers automatically
offer us personalized vouchers based on what we've just run
through the checkout.
MAN: 15% off TV props!
NARRATOR: But in America, it's gone way past that.
Last year, Target sent a teenage girl vouchers for baby clothes
and maternity wear. Angering her father in the process.
FATHER (yelling): This is totally inappropriate! You're sending
these out to children!
NARRATOR: That was until he discovered that his daughter
was, in fact, knocked up. FATHER: (sobbing).
NARRATOR: Target worked it out before Dad did by analyzing
the shopping records of women on their baby shower registry
and noticing there are a whole bunch of products that women
tend to buy when they are pregnant.
So they came up with a pregnancy prediction score for other women
buying the same items and even roughly guessed their due dates
to send out perfectly timed baby bargins.
SALESMAN: 50% off Nappys! WOMAN (screaming)
SALESMAN: I'll see if I have any in stock.
NARRATOR: Companies can tell when you are about to move house,
when you're kids are going to graduate, when you're thinking about buying
a new car, They can pretty much read our minds.
MAN: Ooooh 20% off vasectomies.
NARRATOR: And in most cases, we have willingly handed our
information over. Take loyalty programs for example.
They aren't about rewarding you. They are about spying on you.
SALESPERSON: Would you like to join priceline sister club?
MAN: Ooooh, what does that involve? SALESPERSON: Well, you give us
your name, address, date of birth, sex, phone number and email
and we record every single purchase you make and share that information
with third parties, then we can buy even more information about you
from third parties so we can sell you more stuff,
and, if you not only give us all that information,
but also spend $100 in store, we'll give you voucher for $3.00
which you most certainly can throw straight in the bin.
MAN: Where do I sign!
NARRATOR: All those lifestyle surveys and competitions,
they are just bribes for market research.
MAN: Yeah, but all I need to do is tell them how much I earn, where I live,
how many kids I have, what magazines I read, my debits and securities
and I can win an electric golf trolley! For golf!
NARRATOR: And then there is the mountain of data we create using
our credit cards, mobile phone location services, social media updates,
google searches, actually pretty much everything we do online.
MAN: Wait, wait, wait.. everything? NARRATOR: Uh ha..
And it's only going to get worse.
With an estimated one trillion internet connected devices
in the world, by 2015, real life and the digital universe
will soon become one. MAN: Like in the Matrix?!
NARRATOR: Not the Matrix - Minority Report.
In 2010, General Motors filed a payment for billboards target
passing vehicles based on data from their onboard navigation systems.
They want to show you ads based on where you are going,
or how long you've been driving. They even plan on working out
the age and sex of vehicle occupants through voice analysis. That's right.
You're GPS could be listening to you. MAN: Are you???
MAN: Cool. NARRATOR: It's not cool, Ben.
Companies like Axiom are selling your data right now.
(on monitor: We have 1600 elements including ethnic and behavioral categories
and with more sources than ever before, our accuracy is unparalleled.
NARRATOR: They are making a mint out of your information.
MAN: Yeah, so am I. NARRATOR: Jees Ben, can't you see
where this is going.
It's weird.
MAN: It's Tom Cruise! Everything he does is weird!
NARRATOR: Ok, let me get some help here.
MAN: Who are you? MAN (2): I'm an expert.
MAN: Expert in what? MAN (2): This is TV. Does it really matter?
MAN: I guess not.
MAN (2): I mean sure it's great to get advertising that's particularly relavent
to you. But now that companies know more about you and your behavior
than you can possibly imagine, they target you when you're
at your most vulnerable and open to suggestion.
It's not that you're actually getting the best products,
you're getting the best marketed products.
What about if this company that has all your information
and sells it illegally, like T-Mobile did in 2009 in the UK.
MAN: Well, that sounds... (cell phone beep)
MAN: Cheap ice cream! I'll see ya.
NARRATOR: I think we lost him.
NARRATOR: In Europe they are trying to fight back against this sort of thing
with laws that force companies to tell you what data they're going to collect
and what they want to do with it
But in Australia, you're pretty much on your own.
So, if you don't want to be bombarded with personalized ads,
don't sign up to loyalty programs, install tracking blocking software
on your computer, only use cash, turn location services off on you mobile,
and that way advertisers won't be able to target you.
I'm not bloody pregnant!