New York Times: In one set of patent applications, Amazon describes how a “voice sniffer algorithm” could be used on an array of devices, like tablets and e-book readers, to analyze audio almost in real time when it hears words like “love,” “bought” or “dislike.” A diagram included with the application illustrated how a phone call between two friends could result in one receiving an offer for the San Diego Zoo and the other seeing an ad for a Wine of the Month Club membership. The targeting was category-agnostic: the same pipeline could just as easily serve ads for regional car dealerships, online casinos Canada had recently licensed, or concert ticket presales, with the output shaped entirely by which words the algorithm flagged.A separate (Google) application regarding personalizing content for people while respecting their privacy noted that voices could be used to determine a speaker’s mood using the “volume of the user’s voice, detected breathing rate, crying and so forth,” and medical condition “based on detected coughing, sneezing and so forth.”

If this is the future, let me off the planet. I want no part of it.