Verizon has just filed a very creepy patent, which is for a DVR that would be capable of recording what happens in your living room. Not just audio, but video, too. Verizon say that the technology could help provide targeted ads for whatever you might be doing in your living room.

So, if you were jumping around doing Zumba for example, the DVR would provide ads for fitness. If you were sitting down talking to a friend about your latest Johnnie Walker Blue Label, it would serve up ads on alcohol or other related areas. The other problem is that Verizon aren't the only ones who are looking at doing this, or who have already filed patents for this type of creepy DVR tech.

Comcast patented a similar technology back in 2008, which recommended content based on people that it recognized in the room, and Google proposed a patent for Google TV that would feature audio and video recorders that would work out how many people were in the room watching TV. Verizon's patent was published just last week, but was filed in May 2011. It gets worse: Verizon provides two examples of the context-sensitive DVR's use in a couple's living room - where sounds of an argument would throw up ads for marriage counselling, while sounds of "cuddling" would provide ads for contraceptives.

Creepy. Stalker-y. Wrong.