Sunday, August 02, 2009

O Brave New World (that has such advertising in it)!

Amazon wants to start putting ads in electronic books.

Which is why U.S. Patent Application No. 20090171750 is so irksome.

It was filed last month by three Amazon technologists. It's a system for embedding ads in books. Both in special-run print books and in what is said to be the future of all reading, e-books on devices such as the Kindle.

There could be full-page ads. Ads in the book's margins. Ads that open when you click on them. Ads individualized to you the reader. And ads pinned to what the book is about.

"For instance, if the requested content includes a novel taking place in Europe, the advertisements may include information about European hotels, resorts, etc.," the Amazon patent application reads.

Or: "If a paragraph ... describes a sports competition, the content manager may place a sports equipment advertisement, such as an ad for a sports shoe, on the left or right margin closest to the paragraph describing the sports event."

Source

Why isn't there a movement to ban advertising entirely? Probably too "unAmerican."

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