AVA: The technology that’s allowing digital signs to stare back at you

That digital sign you’re reading knows you’re there, and it’s reporting that fact.

No, it’s not Nineteen Eighty- Four’s Big Brother, it’s Anonymous Video Analytics (AVA) software, and its job is to record and file your approximate age, gender and how long you gazed upon the sign.

Despite its Minority Report-ish feel, AVA doesn’t really know it’s “you” as it uses benign facial detection algorithms to provide digital networks with metrics about signage viewing. The problem is some people believe it’s “facial detection” technology (or a step away) and are convinced it’s on the path to personal privacy invasion.

Yet, these fears are groundless, says David Haynes, digital signage expert and industry consultant. “Anonymous video analytics is not facial recognition software that is used by the likes of Homeland Security to identify terrorists,” says Haynes. Actually, AVA is merely a face detection program that simply “recognizes” when a human face shape stands in front of the micro camera built into the digital signage frame.” The data it collects is recorded and then destroyed in real time, without ever identifying a real individual.

The technology uses off-the-shelf optical sensors embedded into the display fascia along with complex computer software to analyze the video feed of the audience in real time. The metrics recorded are total number of views, demographic (age/gender) and average attention span.   All is invaluable information for the advertiser or network owner, who is constantly in search of ways to better engage with an audience. But the technology has raised enough red flags that both official and non-official authorities have weighed in.

“The consumer is completely confused by this technology,” admits Haynes, adding it’s impossible to use AVA as facial recognition because there is no database of identified faces to compare with. Even if there was access to such an astronomically expensive and government-protected database, advertisers would never take the risk of alienating customers by breaching their privacy in such a blatant way, he adds.

Privacy Commission Weighs In

Dr. Ann Cavoukian, the Information & Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, is a world-renowned privacy expert and is highly regarded as a fierce guardian of individual privacy. In 2011, her office released a report dealing with AVA technology that addressed this issue, which stated, “face pattern detection technology is not designed to recognize (or capable of recognizing) individuals, but it is still gathering data on consumer viewership behavior. It is incorrectly perceived at times to be in the same technology family as surveillance and biometrics that can recognize, log and track individuals.”

Cavoukian urged a proactive stance by the advertisers and networks that use this AVA technology. Privacy by Design, a global standard for privacy and developed by Cavoukian’s office, gives organizations a framework to build their privacy policies, and includes the usage of AVA technology.  (See Foundation Principles sidebar) Only by getting ahead of the privacy issues and revealing to the consumer that they are being “watched” and how this data is used is thought to be important to ameliorating consumers’ privacy concerns.

But how the data is used can be improved, according to Haynes. Companies that sell AVA as a service say the benefit is the real time data about who is watching so the advertiser can quickly “switch” to ads that will appeal to the viewer. The premise here is tailoring the content to the viewer demographic.   This would mean If a male between the age of 18-35 is detected watching in real time, the content on the screen will change to reflect something of interest to that demographic – Axe body wash, for example. For females detected, the ad will switch to products such as cosmetics.  But Haynes says the “fine tuning of advertising” is not the true benefit of AVA metrics. He believes that advertisers would be far better off to pay attention to the “viewing length” of those reading the digital ads in order to better gauge the quality of the content and to quickly change content that isn’t engaging viewers interest.

While AVA technology is not ubiquitous because of the extra costs incurred (it can range from $8-$15/month/unit), it certainly can provide insight into consumer interest in viewing a digital sign. How valuable it is remains to be “seen.”  But rest assured, that consumer will always remain anonymous.