Tivo Tracks Superbowl Viewing Habits 543
ThePretender writes "Sprinkled in the Janet Jackson boob stories is an alarming bit of information: Tivo tracks subscribers' viewing habits. They know how many times the boob was viewed, among other good-to-have (meaning data worth $$) information. Yes, if you agreed to Tivo's privacy policy you knew they could do this, with the promise that you aren't identifiable. Put on the tin foil hats? Or just another way for them to keep your monthly fee down (snicker)." A story from 2002 has more information and makes clear that Tivo does have the capability to record every click you make on the remote control, at all times. Previously Tivo said they tracked 10,000 people for the Super Bowl, this year 20,000.
Alternate Headline (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Alternate Headline (Score:5, Funny)
Justin Timberlink is going to do a follow-up free concert with Outcast on CBS.
"Sorry Ms Jackson... OOOhhh!!!"
Prudish hysteria (Score:3, Insightful)
"[Michaelangelo's David] shows part of the human body which, practical though they may be, are EVIL!"
Sorry for sounding a bit offtopic, but the people that are upset about this to get a life. In a country where it's okay to fry mentally ill people to death, let any eejit carry a gun, consume a huge proportion of the world's resources and invade a country for dubious reasons, exposing a bit of human flesh is greeted with the sort of outrage that you'd think would be reserved for the
No, boring, insulting pandering (Score:5, Interesting)
Think back to the rather sterile, emotionless and absolutely unerotic kisses exchanged betwteen Madonna and Britney/Christina. Same crap, nothing spontaneous, nothing titilating, nothing exciting in the least. Simply juvenalia at its absolute, unentertaining worst.
As to why this devolution into the mindnumbingly boring realm of poor imitations of a seventh grade boy's psyche, perhaps it is evidence that the entertainment industry knows they are obsolete, they are desperate to retain the spotlight, and uncertain of when the public will realize that this dinosaur has no more new tricks to perform, and their hired talent no longer has anything with which to keep our attention. If they can't have our devotion, it seems they'll settle for dissatisfied scorn.
Re:Prudish hysteria (Score:3, Insightful)
That being said, you do have a right as a parent to make this choice for your family and this incident prevented parents from making that choice.
Re:Prudish hysteria (Score:5, Funny)
When I saw it today I went and made a glass of chocolate milk for some strange reason.
Re:Prudish hysteria (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Prudish hysteria (Score:4, Insightful)
You do realize that clothes are a man-made invention as well? Fact is, being clothed is unnatural, look at every other mammal out there, how many of them wear clothes (not counting the abused cats and dogs that are dressed up by thier owners)?
We have adapted to colder climates by wearing clothes, but somewhere along the way, someone got the bright idea that men shouldn't let thier penis show, and that women shouldn't let either thier vagina or mammaries show. What's the friggin' point? People aren't going to become raving lunatics because they see other people naked, if anything suppressing those sexual urges, the way we do in our society, is going to lead to deviant behavior (catholic priests, anyone?). The worst that is going to happen is that some guys are going to get hard-ons, and some women are going to start to lubricate, and even that will not occur as often, when everyone becomes used to the idea of seeing other naked people.
The only reason people are so obsessed with being clothed is that they are afraid of being judged. Guys are worried that they are too small, and women are worried that they are too fat. So, they hide, and force everyone else to hide, lest they have thier inadaquicies infered by being covered. Add to that the religious idiots who want to portray sex as evil, and you get what we had Monday, people over-reacting to Janet Jackson showing off her breast.
Lastly, assuming that your reference to God is from the Christian mythology, have you even read Genesis? Adam and Eve didn't start out clothed, or even care about it!
Re:Prudish hysteria (Score:3, Insightful)
outraged (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Prudish hysteria (Score:3, Insightful)
In other words, you are claiming that there will be a similar outrage even if there was no breast bared. I disagree. I think it would've been business as usual otherwise.
This is exactly about a bared breast.
Re:Link to video please (Score:5, Funny)
man (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Link to video please (Score:3, Insightful)
The copyright notice video is basically a communication of "We are the NFL. We have laywers." aimed at putting a little fear into bar owners who subscribe to Sunday Ticket on a residential account when really they need to be paying the higher commercial rate
"accounts of the game" prohibited? (Score:5, Interesting)
This part I have no problem with. What I have a problem with is the fact that they not only claim copyright to the telecast, but that even "accounts of the game" are prohibited.
I guess if I watched the game on TV, they could hold me liable for copyright infringement (my account is a derived work of their telecast?).
But what if I'm at the game? Can I go home and give an account of the game without getting attacked by legions of rabid lawyers?
didn't use tivo this year (Score:3, Interesting)
Is there a privacy issue? (Score:5, Interesting)
- Privacy advocates have decried such technologies as invasive, but TiVo officials say they do not pass along information that would identify individual viewers.
While it's true that TiVo needs to collect "every click" as the first part of compiling this aggregate data, if the final data is just summarized habits of TiVo users with no individual information, is there a privacy issue?Re:Is there a privacy issue? (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course, the extent they could do this is very limited. TiVo units perge this data every time they make a call-in, and once the call is completed TiVo doesn't keep the association between the log file and who sent it unless they have flagged the user's account for support reasons. Also, I know of no real court cases where cops have actually tried to get TiVo data used as evidence...
Re:Is there a privacy issue? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's possible that if somebody was watching illegal content, the cops could get a warrant, grab the TiVo, and then have a log of every remote click
Exactly what kind of "illegal content" is your TiVo going to be playing? Only that which is broadcasted/streamed to your unit from giant media conglomerates. I fail to see how "8:45pm - Channel 725 - 0:13 minutes - volume_down x 3" is going to help convict anyone of anything? Even if you use your TiVo to control your DVD/VCR, how can button clicks associated with your zip code be used for anything?
Re:Is there a privacy issue? (Score:2, Funny)
just rig a little robotic arm to move the buttons and surf.
I'm so glad I took out that insurance policy now...
Re:Is there a privacy issue? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Is there a privacy issue? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Is there a privacy issue? (Score:2)
Tivo can only coordinate current broadcast/cable channel viewing habits, so how could it record that you were watching illegal content?
Re:Is there a privacy issue? (Score:3, Funny)
But if the cops get themselves a real warrant from a real judge, they're welcome to look thru my tivo logs.
Re:Is there a privacy issue? (Score:5, Insightful)
By contrast, if you created a TiVo equivalent from a home computer with a TV tuner card, it would be completely anonymous -- nobody would ever know what you watched unless they had access to your machine.
Re:Is there a privacy issue? (Score:2)
When TiVo starts sending what I watch through my VCR/DVD player, etc . . . then we have an issue.
Re:Is there a privacy issue? (Score:2, Insightful)
First, TiVo says they only track it by zip code. You don't completely have to take them at their word, since it's been analyzed. But the thing is, TiVo changes their "privacy policy" at the drop of a hat. And once they change it, you have no recourse but to agree, or to stop using their "service." And if you do stop using their "service" (which is to say, you stop paying them to not disable the hardware you've already paid for), you don't get any money back, unless you can find someone willing to buy it
Re:Is there a privacy issue? (Score:5, Interesting)
I watch a lot of obscure shows on cable. I'm glad the people who decide if they want to renew those shows have an additional source of information than the traditional Neilson family to know if people are watching.
Two questions though: Couldn't my cable company do the same thing with my digital cable box?
Are the Tivo watching habits really worth anything. Right now, as I sit here at work typing this message, my Tivo is on. It has no idea if the power to the TV is on or off though. It THINKS the digital cable box is on channel X, but I could have turned it or the TV off, or changed the digital box with a different remote. Does Tivo try to guess if I'm really watching the show on channel X right now by seeing how long it's been since I changed the channel/paused/used rewind/etc? I'm sure there are times when I spend several hours on a single channel and don't press any Tivo remote buttons.
Re:Is there a privacy issue? (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't mind banner ads on web sites. I occasionaly click through one and have made a purchase. In fact, it I know I'm going to order something from, say, ThinkGeek, I'll hit my favorite site that usually has ThinkGeek banner ads first and try to make the purchase via a click through. The company still got my money and I hopefully helped out the site. I never make purchases from unsoliceted e-mail though, and outright avoid those companies.
If I go to a web site, I expect to see some on topic, non intrusive banner ads, just like I expect commercials on TV. They're more useful for me and the advertiser (and in the long run, the site/show being sponsored) if they're ads I actually need.
I've written a few custome applications for companies that do marketing tracking, customer care card, coupon redemtion sorts of data collection. These people aren't evil. They're just trying to be more effective in their advertising. Most don't want to waste time or money advertising to people who don't/won't purchase. They aren't collecting the fact that I bought shoe polish and a frozen TV dinner at 2am to sell it to big brother, because that's just some wierd ass purchase and I must be a bad person that should be put on a watch list... they do it becuase if they can find out that people who buy X usually buy Y, or that any time Z is on sale for $.75 off, I buy 10 of them, they can better plan their ad campaigns. If they waste less money on marketing, but are just as succesful, in a perfect world, I'm better off as a consumer. In the real world, I remain employed because I sometimes write these applications that companies see a return on, and my 401K does better because these companies turned a proffit.
Re:Is there a privacy issue? (Score:3, Insightful)
Although I did have a momentary, "Holy crap! They can track in THAT much detail?" shock, it doesn't really raise my bloodpressure.
Re:Is there a privacy issue? (Score:5, Funny)
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo..
Imagine what the majority of users watch. It ain't the good stuff you know. It's whether Daisy is sleeping with Brad behind Eric's back whilst Jake is having difficulty running his business and Karen is deciding whether to give up her job and become an alternative therapist.
in other words
I'm calling DUPE!... sorta... (Score:5, Insightful)
See, TiVo's had their semi-permeable privacy policy since they started, as documented on
TiVo Data Collection Ramifications [slashdot.org]
TiVo To Sell Customer Data [slashdot.org]
Nielsen to measure TiVo usage [slashdot.org]
So, if this is shocking news to you that TiVo was able to quickly crunch the data and figure out the most rewound moment of the Super Bowl broadcast, you haven't been paying attention. They had this capability for any massively watched program since day one. It was part of the design of the system.
TiVo offers a detailed data service to broadcasters which lets them see by timestamp within an episode what moments people watched, rewound, and skipped. Rumoredly, TechTV's The Screen Savers bought that service once for just one episode, and it ended up proving that their managers where right about what people wanted to see a little more than the actual content-making staff wanted to hear.
The Super Bowl most rewound moment is something TiVo's been doing for years, just for the sake of putting out a press release to get the TiVo name into conversations about what we were gonna be talking about anyway the week after the event... and from Slashdot's coverage over the years, it appears to have worked.
Re:I'm calling DUPE!... sorta... (Score:4, Insightful)
Now, if a story comes out that they are making my specific viewing habits to anyone, then that would be news.
Re:I'm calling DUPE!... sorta... (Score:4, Interesting)
Wouldn't surprise me if that's the problem - the original poster not owning a TiVo, and commenting on something he therefore knows little about. Everybody I know that owns a TiVo, as well as TiVo owners I've talked to on various message boards (such as at tivocommunity.com [tivocommunity.com], seems to know and be perfectly fine with this practice.
And speaking as a TiVo owner myself, I have absolutely no problem with it. In fact, I tried to sign up to have my data collected non-anonymously - a service TiVo allows their customers to provide optionally (their web site wouldn't accept my TiVo model # when I tried to sign up). People complain constantly about the poor state of television in this country - this is how you go about changing that. If a show sucks, you don't watch it, and TiVo knows it and will tell the networks. I want TiVo to know that my viewing consists primarily of Antiques Roadshow, Once and Again reruns, The Office, Survivor and Mystery Science Theater 3000. And I want the added leverage (however small) of having an actual name attached to that data when it reaches the networks. I am not concerned in the slightest with how the networks plan to use this information, but if you're that embarrassed about your TV viewing habits that you can't bear the thought of anybody else knowing about them, then either just stay anonymous or don't buy TiVo. But they're not trying to hide anything - they post their privacy policy all over the place when you sign up.
VERY old dup.... (Score:3, Interesting)
my 13 yr old cousin.... (Score:5, Funny)
Easy to read between the lines (Score:3, Insightful)
Privacy advocates have decried such technologies as invasive, but TiVo officials say they do not pass along information that would identify individual viewers.
When gathering customer marketing research, TiVo says it does not link viewer data to their name, gender or age -- only into one big database that can identify users by ZIP code.
What's interesting is how the article points out what TiVo does not do. They don't "pass along" information "when gathering customer marketing research".
It's not stated outright, but that sounds like they do record all that information... but it's ok, 'cause they don't use it for marketing purposes.
Which, of course, puts TiVo right up there with the so-called loyalty cards [nocards.org] "privacy" policies. They promise not to resell personal information, but they do gather it, and it's available to anyone who knows a friendly judge.
The bottom line, as usual, is simple. Don't buy anything at Kroger, or watch anything on TiVo, that you wouldn't want [John Ashcroft | your wife's divorce lawyer] to find out about.
By the way, does anyone know if Dish Network's PVR phones home about my rewinding habits?
Re:Easy to read between the lines (Score:3, Insightful)
The TiVo has been hacked, and the information it sends analyzed. According to the hackers no such information is ever sent to TiVo. Or such was the case some time ago when I last heard about it anyway.
The article reference... (Score:2)
The Slashdot story now links here [cnn.com], but it originally looked like this:
Sprinkled in the Janet Jackson boob stories is an alarming bit of information: Tivo tracks subscribers' viewing habits [lubbockonline.com].
At first, I thought, "Is the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal not enough of a "major news outlet" for Michael?" Then, I compared the articles... the Lubbock newspaper didn't even mention the now-famo
Me (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Me (Score:4, Funny)
In the case of the SuperBowl booby, they won't even need to track people online. They just have to measure the incoming rash of remotes coming back under warranty for repair of the replay button.
It's not a big deal... (Score:5, Insightful)
And you know what?
-DirectTV pay-per-view tracks what I watch...
-My ISP knows what web sites I've requested...
-My credit card company knows what I spend my money on.
-My hospital shares its information with my insurance company, which in turn shares its information with my company. (Because they have to pay their share of the bills)
It's my TV viewing info... I don't care. If anything, if they sell my viewing habits and realize that Firefly and Farscape are more watched than My Big Sweaty Boyfriend... That's a GOOD THING!
Re:It's not a big deal... (Score:2)
Apparently, what people say they watch and actually watch are not the same sometimes...
Re:It's not a big deal... (Score:2)
Voluntary acceptance (Score:2)
What I'm more concerned about it what happens when insurance companies use my genetic data to figure out that I have a genetic flaw which makes my stomach explode and refuse to insure anything dealing with my stomach.
When the Nazi argument comes out... (Score:4, Insightful)
Incidentally, the (correct) quote, from the Congressional Record, is:
When Hitler attacked the Jews I was not a Jew, therefore I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the Catholics, I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists, I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned. Then Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church -- and there was nobody left to be concerned.
-h-
Well that's it now! (Score:4, Funny)
This is unacceptable. From now on, I'll keep my Tivo box disconnected from the phone socket.
Just try to track my boob viewing habbits *now* mssrs Tivo! Ah! That's turned you white hasn't it, hey, hey?
There haven't been more people staring at a boob.. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:There haven't been more people staring at a boo (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, but people were using fast-forward with that one, not rewind!
Re:There haven't been more people staring at a boo (Score:2)
State of the Union Drinking Game [drinkinggame.us]
Unfortunately, I found out about the site a day too late, but it seems to be an annual event. So, bookmark the site and play next year!
ANI makes anonymization worthless (Score:3, Informative)
The marketing opportunities are too valuable to the company for them to ignore the possibility of selling detailed, individual viewer data as a revenue stream.
"Tivo: It's like Gator, for TV!"
-Isaac
Re:ANI makes anonymization worthless (Score:5, Insightful)
What TiVo provides in an acurate count of what people watch, each within a small segment of an advertised area.
Any finer data is worthless.
TiVo:"hey this address watches Bud Commercials, call budwieser and let them know! this way budwieser can try to sell this ONE houshold beer. Of course since it is so individual, it will cost $5000 a six pack."
Re:ANI makes anonymization worthless (Score:3, Funny)
Now in my case, that's a DSL line, but there's no call setup going on, so ANI is not an issue.
Can they still track me? Of course they can. Do I care? Not particularly. I wasn't even watching the game at home. If they are checking on me, they are probably bored spitless. "Oh geez, he's watching Angel again."
Fortunately... (Score:5, Funny)
> A story from 2002 has more information and makes clear that Tivo does have the capability to record every click you make on the remote control, at all times.
Fortunately, they still don't have the ability to track what your other hand is doing, at any time.
Re:Fortunately... (Score:2)
The other hand is fiddling with the Tivo remote
I LIKE It (Score:5, Insightful)
Crispin, always wanted to be in the Neilson ratings
----
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
CTO, Immunix Inc. [immunix.com]
Re:I LIKE It (Score:2)
Although, hottie blueish grey alien chicks or jennifer anniston... dilemas dilemas.
Alarm? (Score:2, Funny)
What alarm?
This is a non-story.
much more reliable (Score:3, Insightful)
Well here is the TiVo press release. (Score:5, Informative)
Is show some more detail about what commercials were most watched also...
I *want* them to know what I watch (Score:5, Interesting)
I just can't help but think that if real viewing stats were used as predictors of progamming popularity, we might have more stuff like Firefly, Mythbusters, Penn & Teller's Bullshit, etc. and less Everyone Loves Raymond, Friends, Frasier, or a million indistinct reality TV shows.
If it keeps shows I want to watch on the air longer, then let them see what I'm watching and recording, I say.
-B
Re:I *want* them to know what I watch (Score:2)
What you really mean to say is "I just can't help but think that if real viewing stats of Slashdot readers only were used as predictors of progamming popularity, we might have more stuff like Firefly, Mythbusters, Penn
as a longtime Tivo owner... (Score:5, Insightful)
OH NO! THEY CAN TELL THAT LOTS OF PEOPLE WATCHED THAT SCENE! DEAR LORD, THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
Ummmm
They haven't said that, or anything remotely resembling that. They have said "Tivo users watched this particular segment of the Superbowl more than anything else." So?
Yes, Tivo could do something horrible with my personal information. But then again, Hustler could also publish a big long list of everybody that subscribes to it, complete with home addresses, but they don't. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but at some point we just have to have some level of trust in other people. Tivo has said that my information is kept anonymous, and has given me no reason to doubt their word, so I don't see a big problem with trusting them.
And before you start the "oh-my-god-what-an-idiot-for-trusting-a-big-compa
If you have used a credit card, you must trust every single store at which you have ever swiped your credit card at least as much as I trust Tivo. If you have ever applied for a loan, you've coughed up your bank account information. And you're worried about someone knowing what television shows you're watching?
To all non-TiVO people who didn't see the boobs. (Score:5, Informative)
Click on "Neste Bilde" to see the next picture [www.vg.no]
Video [www.vg.no]
Re:To all non-TiVO people who didn't see the boobs (Score:3, Insightful)
From the long TV shot, I couldn't make out what was written on his back. It looked like a domain name. Anyone catch it?
Back to Janet's boob- I used my Tivo to fast forward through the entire aweful halftime show and didn't even know about the flash until Monday. When was the last time Janet had a hit song? Like 10 years
The real problem. (Score:3, Funny)
I am going to be scarred for life.
This could be a good thing (Score:3, Insightful)
MoveOn.org's Boycott (Score:5, Interesting)
Presumably, Tivo knows precisely how many people actually went through with it.
Re:MoveOn.org's Boycott (Score:5, Funny)
bravo, CBS, for keeping our children safe.
Re:MoveOn.org's Boycott (Score:3, Insightful)
As long as it's Anonymous it's a "Good Thing" (Score:2, Insightful)
Phew (Score:2)
I am sure that it doesn't account for my Dad's Tivo or else it would say 180 percent and counting...
I'd like to formally announce that it's my ... (Score:3, Funny)
Big Deal (Score:2)
More Than Superbowl Tit-ilation (Score:3, Interesting)
To put it into some perspective (Score:5, Funny)
Ms. Jackson needs some support, and I don't mean from her family. One would think that they could implant some convictions to prevent this sort of droopy moral character in the future. We need more pert personalities to provide better role models for our country.
Worried? No (Score:5, Insightful)
I do think that disclosed practices (such as anonymously monitoring for viewing habits) isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm certain that Tivo has found and created new features based on viewing the tracking information.
I also think that Tivo stands a decent chance of displacing Nielsen's as a premier rating service. And as long as it is done anonymously, it is a god send. As I think that Tivo would more accurately reflect "real" viewing habits. (And of course possibly give it a geek edge, so that our favorite programing gets better ratings).
The second Tivo transitions over to a non-anonmous tracking service, is probably the day that their company headquarters will burn down. Outraged geeks will storm the place.
I think Tivo is continuing to walk on the correct side of a very tenuous debate over usability, tracking, and privacy invasion.
The comparison to Microsoft has to be made... If this were Microsoft I wouldn't trust them to track it, as they have a history of repeated violations of their own policies, written and stated. Whereas Tivo does not have that same history, that I am aware of.
Who cares? (Score:2)
However, no one has noted the obvious: TiVo is a business! They do things like this to *gasp* make money. Leave it alone people.
Unplug the phone (Score:4, Informative)
Sure, I rewound the Janet thing a dozen times while my wife and I discussed if that thing was a pasty or tassel or what, but TiVo didn't include me in the 20,000 because our TiVo isn't hooked up to the phone.
Link to stats (Score:3, Informative)
Marketing info sometimes helps *you*. (Score:5, Funny)
Of course, next year, her nipples will have little stickers that say "Drink Pepsi!" on them... but hey, life's full of compromises.
Re:Marketing info sometimes helps *you*. (Score:3, Funny)
Yes, but if I twist the nipples will I get a free iTunes Music Store song?
For those with tinfoil hats (Score:3, Interesting)
The modern method would be an IR-equipped laptop which can change channels/volume/etc randomly while you're away (just have your TV volume down).
Or you could do it the old fashioned way (tape a few dozen remotes to the ground of a small room, put a few dozen cats in room... or just tape remotes to cat's feet).
Okay, so what did all this tracking discover ...? (Score:5, Funny)
Especially when we've^M^M^M^M they've been drinking.
ReplayTV Skipped All Football, Showed Only Adverts (Score:3, Funny)
I hope somebody tracked that.
So don't plug it in... (Score:3, Interesting)
Admittedly, my Tivo has been complaining forever that it needs to make a call - but that doesn't seem to affect anything. (They claim it needs to make a call to "get the latest updates and channel information" - but so far it hasn't been necessary)
Hack Your TiVo! (Score:4, Informative)
Once properly hacked [9thtee.com] you can telnet to your TiVo and purge the keystroke logs! (in /var/log, where else!?) Not to mention the other nifty capabilities, like web-based control [lightn.org] and Video Extraction [sourceforge.net]...
Some Thoughts (Score:3, Insightful)
However, this honestly seems to be one of those moments where Slashdot, as a community or group, becomes somewhat hypocritical. Note: individual posters agreeing with Tivo are not necessarily being hypocritical and this isn't me trying to lecture anyone who does support that company. Please allow me to explain why I think this.
Look at other cases where companies, or even governments, can or do collect anonymous information (or information that is then only handled in an aggregate way) and Slashdot usually cries out against them with the usual tinfoil hat jokes.
RFID tags is one such example. These are inherently benign and don't have much connection with an individual. Say you have a coat with an embedded with a chip which when read says, "CoatCo Coat, black, large" to the reading device. What if a reading device read that each time you walked into a store and that store then showed companies in an effort to get more direct marketing? It is essentially the same thing, as long as anonymity is kept.
"Ah ha!" some might say. "But hooking it up to video-cameras and receipts with my credit card, they can identify me readily." This is all quite true, but you could say the same with Tivo; they could correlate your credit card number, address and telephone number if they wanted to. Obviously, many people would not agree to such an invasion of privacy and Tivo probably would not succeed in doing so, nor am I trying to suggest that Tivo is just waiting for the right moment.
Now, RFID tags are not exactly the same as Tivo watching television habits. One big one is that you choose to watch Tivo, but you may not necessarily be knowingly choosing to have a RFID tag in your merchandise. But I think the comparison is still valid. Too, I find Tivo recording my information somewhat more disturbing than someplace finding out I prefer some type of jacket; in the store I'm in a public place and therefore have a lower expectation of privacy (people can see and recognize my jacket with their eyes), while at home it's somewhat unnerving.
Just to reiterate, Tivo is not "wrong" or "right" in this case. This is a personal issue between customers and a company. I just wanted to point out that perhaps Slashdot as a whole is giving Tivo a little bit of an easy ride. Then again, perhaps they've earned it for seeming (I don't own one) to respond so well to their customers.
TSage
Re:Lots of rewind + pause during halftime I'll bet (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Lots of rewind + pause during halftime I'll bet (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:What I want to know... (Score:3, Informative)
The joke would have been funnier if John Ashcroft [bbc.co.uk] had been the target.
Re:Duplicate? (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re:Cable TV? Satellite? Hello, McFly?? (Score:2)
oh yeah they can't unless you plug the damn thing into a phone socket.
It's good you made the McFly reference, because you're post makes you look like Biff.
Re:Dire Straights meets Linux? (Score:2)
He's got a valid point, MythTV being an purely "Free" open-source project doesn't have these data collection issues. Then again, is a survey that confirms us something that we could have figured out just by guessing really that scary?
Re:Dire Straights meets Linux? (Score:2)
Anyway, I never really paid attention to tivo before so this data collection thing is new to me. I don't really see how it's much different from the internet. Sites can see where you go throughout their site and what site you just came from etc etc...and if you use IE they can also see your credit card #, your name, address blood type, how much money is in your accounts, what cars you drive, and where you drive them too. Sure am
Re:Tivo (Score:2)
Re:We're not spying on you! (Score:5, Insightful)
Why don't I care?
1) I want TV exec's to know what I watch, so they keep it on the air.
2) I want Ad exec's to know what I want to buy, and how to make a commercial that captures my interest; I have free will and don't buy things just because Jamie Lee Curtis tells me too.
3) I want Tivo to stay and business, and better yet find a way to make enough to waive my monthly fee, without resorting to being asses about me hacking my Tivo to add a bigger drive, etc.
If it bothers you, grab a set of rabbit ears and disconnect from the grid. If you are upset that there isn't a full screen pop-up every time you push a button that the click has been recorded and may be sent to Tivo during the next phone connection, I don't want to hear it. If you own a Tivo and are just figuring this out, then I gotta feel you really aren't all that concerned about this anyway, or you would have bothered to check why your Tivo wants to call out every night.
Personally, I'd be more concerned about why the cable companies are working hard at getting their boxes installed in your house connected to their two-way network full time. How do you know there isn't a camera inside there?
Re:We're not spying on you! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:We're not spying on you! (Score:3, Informative)
To download guide data?
I have a TiVo and knew about the policy. As long as they don't identify me specifically but use aggregated data, I'm fine with how they do it.
I wish networks would use more TiVo info to know what shows to cancel and what not to. But users are such a small sample of the population it's hard to do that...yet.
J
Re:Tivo should be free.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Do you go to movies in the theater? Do you see ads before the movie? Do you get in free?
Do you ever go to professional sporting events? Do you see ads everywhere in the stadium? Are tickets free?
Do you have a credit card? Do they send you ads with your monthly bill? Do you also pay them an annual fee (or maybe you don't)? Do you pay when you are late with a payment? Do they charge you interest?
Lots of companies cannot survive on just one revenue stream