"Person Of Interest" Takes To Streets To Give People A Taste Of The Show

‘Person of Interest’ Takes to Streets To Give People a Taste of the Show






BARBARA CHAI
The Wall Street Journal
September 12, 2011

To promote its new fall drama “Person of Interest,” CBS Corp. is turning its eye on viewers.

To highlight the show’s theme of citizen-surveillance, CBS is tapping into the trend of interactive billboards, installing one each in New York City and Los Angeles. The window display looks like a mirror, and when passersby stop and turn toward it, sensors zero in on their faces with the notification, “Person of Interest Identified,” followed by “Taking Photo.”

After a count of three, the photo is taken and the person’s face is incorporated into the display. The photo is accompanied by a phone number and identification number to text-message. If the person sends the text, they receive a link to their “classified file” and can post the photo on Facebook or Twitter.

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Synopsis --- PERSON OF INTEREST stars Jim Caviezel, Emmy Award winner Michael Emerson and Academy Award nominee Taraji P. Henson in a crime thriller about a presumed dead former-CIA agent, Reese, who teams up with a mysterious billionaire, Finch, to prevent violent crimes by using their own brand of vigilante justice. Reese's special training in covert operations appeals to Finch, a software genius who invented a program that uses pattern recognition to identify people about to be involved in violent crimes. Using state-of-the-art surveillance technology, the two work outside of the law, using Reese's adept skills and Finch's unlimited wealth to unravel the mystery of the "person of interest" and stop the crime before it happens. Reese's actions draw the attention of the NYPD, including homicide detective Carter, and Fusco, a cop whom Reese uses to his advantage. With infinite crimes to investigate, Reese and Finch find that the right person, with the right information, at the right time, can change everything.



From M.o.1 -- This stings on so many levels here......we have a show on "citizen surveillance" which features "pre crime" scenarios. You have a software that predicts whether or not a person is going to commit a crime and then you have facial recognition technology on the streets. They are just priming people for this and it disgusts me. The bad thing is that people will just LOVE these billboards and can't wait to stand in front of the camera to get their facial recognition done so they can post it on their Facebook account.