Verizon patent would allow set-top boxes to snoop in your homes

I'm surprised this isn't all over GLP, as it was on Drudge.

You can worry about the government intruding, but here comes the cable company as well. Verizon has a patent filing to permit the set top box to effectively "listen" and "observe" what is happening in the room its in. That means YOUR HOME.

This is what you get with a corporate-driven economy motivated completely by greed. Wonder where this will stop? What are the legal issues here? I can certainly guarantee that there will be no Verizon equipment or service in my home if this happens, and I have nothing to hide!

"WASHINGTON (CBS DC) – Verizon has filed a patent for targeting ads that collect information from infrared cameras and microphones that can detect the amount of people and types of conversations happening in customers’ living rooms."

“If detection facility detects one or more words spoken by a user (e.g., while talking to another user within the same room or on the telephone), advertising facility may utilize the one or more words spoken by the user to search for and/or select an advertisement associated with the one or more words,” Verizon states in the patent application."

[link to washington.cbslocal.com]