Technology leading to more invasive marketing

Sure, flying cars may not be zooming near the windows of our 40th-floor lofts and robots with aprons aren't cooking our meals, but the future is getting here. Unfortunately, it's starting to look like something between "Minority Report" and "1984" - at least when it comes to marketing.

Advertisers and retailers are increasingly using technologies to mine for consumers' demographical information, create super-personalized ads and zero in on people's shopping habits.

Proponents say new technologies are getting products that consumers want into their hands faster and eliminating ads that don't speak to them. But privacy advocates are concerned no one's asking people if they want targeted ads or if they agree to be studied as they shop.

Last September, a Castrol oil campaign in London used cameras along roads to capture license plates of passing vehicles, then cross-referenced them with vehicle registration records, and displayed in a digital billboard a few feet away a targeted ad suggesting which type of oil the drivers should use.