Sounds of couples arguing would trigger ads for marriage counseling while sounds  of "cuddling" would prompt ads for contraceptives.

It won't be long before our televisions are watching us.

You don't have to be paranoid or even a  privacy expert to find this development a little creepy. Verizon has filed a  patent on a new DVR technology that works by filming and recording viewers in  order to send them targeted ads through their TV's.

"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 its application,which was first reported by Fierce  Cable.

The patent was actually filed  by Verizon in 2011 but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office isn't  required to release patent filings for 18 months.

And before you dismiss concerns over the  new technology, which works as a software application, just consider two of the  examples Verizon gives of how its new DVR technology could be used: sounds of  couples arguing would trigger ads for marriage counseling while sounds of  "cuddling" would prompt ads for contraceptives.

All together, the patent filing listed 20  examples, or "claims," of when the DVR technology could be used for the  application, which is entitled, "Methods and Systems for Presenting an  Advertisement Associated with an Ambient Action of a User."

As ArsTechnica points out, Verizon is not  alone is filing patents of this nature. Comcast filed a similar patent in 2008  for using  technology that would deliver ads based on which people were in a room at a  given time. And in 2007, Google filed a patent for its Google TV service  that would use  cameras and audio recording devices to determine how many people were  simultaneously watching a program.

If you're afraid like I am, raise your hand.