TiVo Changing Privacy Policy?

nigiri writes "Got a message on the TiVo this morning. It read in part, "The purpose of this communication is to notify you that we've updated our Privacy Policy. " And further, "For example, if you are a customer of one of our hardware manufacturing partners (such as Philips or Sony), or one of our service partners (such as DIRECTV or AOL), we may share your account information with that partner"" Can I opt out of this, or is my only choice cancelling my Tivo service? I'm fine paying for it, but if this stuff starts happening, I'd be more prone to try to hack in a new way to get listings into the box. Updated 4:45 EDT by J ...

Update 4:45 EDT: I spoke with TiVo about this. They are rolling out a DirecTV/TiVo combination box this weekend, and the new privacy policy was intended to reflect the fact that, when you register using the new combo box, both TiVo and DirecTV get your Account Information.

"We reserve the right to disclose to our hardware manufacturing partners (for example, Sony, Philips and Thomson) the Account Information and Anonymous Viewing Information of subscribers who use a Receiver made by that manufacturing partner..."

"Account Information" includes "Contact Information," which includes your name, address, phone, email, and other sundries, but not your viewing habits. "Anonymous Viewing Information" is a statistical aggregate of what you - and everyone else in your zip code - likes to watch.

The partner corporations will only get access to your "Personal Viewing Information" if you already expressly gave TiVo permission to have that information (I'm not sure why you would).

Two things to note:

First, you cannot opt-out of this information sharing with their hardware partners. If you sign up with DirecTV and TiVo simultaneously on your new combo box, then sorry, both companies get that info. The way they described it, there isn't much they can do about this.

This is despite my being told, when I called their customer support line as a customer rather than a reporter, that my opting-out of the Anonymous Viewing Information collection would also opt me out of the Contact Information. Oops. My guess is that their customer service people aren't hip on the new privacy agreement change yet. Give 'em a week.

Second, I was verbally assured that existing TiVo customers, without combo boxes, will not just have their Account Information or Anonymous Viewing Information given to the makers of their non-combo box. In other words, just because I own a TiVo box made by Philips, Philips won't get my name, address, email, etc. It would only be if I owned a (hypothetical future) combo box made by Philips.

Of course it would be nice for this assurance to be in the privacy policy itself! It really should be more specific.

They didn't promise me anything except that they'd try to be more specific in the future. I hope we'll be able to run a Slashback story in the next week or two, to let you know whether their policy has been appropriately updated. Stay tuned.

Comments

They'll do it for you.

[Otto]

There's a flag on the machine that controls whether your personal info is sent at all. If you enable that flag, it doesn't get sent. So, you can either hack the box and set it, OR you can call Tivo and opt-out of the viewing info. They send a script to your machine on the next call it makes that has been verified to set that flag.

Anyway, this policy change has nothing to with your anonymous viewing information. Next time, get the details before you start spouting off.
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TiVO's at least acting responsibly

[firewort]

Tivo's at least acting responsibly about this.

I took the suggestion of other poster's here and called them on the 877 number.

Their rep asked me what I did or didn't understand about the new privacy policy, and made sure to reiterate that it's anonymous information they're sharing.

And he DID let me opt out. Their rep was pleasant, informative, and quick at noting in his workstation that my information is not to be shared.

He asked me why I was concerned about it, since it was anonymous information.

I explained that it's very easy to go from a snowflake of anonymous information into an avalanche of exploitation, that it only takes someone saying, "well, last year we sold that much information, maybe it's more valuable if we sell it *this* way!" and that I'd rather not contribute to that sort of future. He agreed and noted it, saying he'd mention that to his supervisor.

Do I think that makes a difference? no, but at least they're acting responsibly.



A host is a host from coast to coast, but no one uses a host that's close

Just read the print!

[DragonMagic]

Summary of TiVo's Privacy Promise to You

TiVo knows how important personal privacy is to you, so we have established strict policies to help protect the privacy of your personal information. In summary, we promise that:

No one outside your home, not even the TiVo staff or any of TiVo's computer systems, will ever have access to any of your personal viewing information without your prior consent. Your preferences are personal. The TiVo Service has no way of knowing what shows you have rated with "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down." If you don't want even your anonymous viewing information (information that does not identify you or your household) used in any way, simply tell us by calling our toll-free telephone number (1-877-FOR-TiVo).

This is in fact repeated a few more times in the promise, that "If you do not wish this information disclosed, call our toll-free number." So yes, you can opt out.

Dragon Magic

Re:Just read the print!

[marcop]

The fine print doesn't mention your "account information"; the above refers to your "personal viewing information". There is a distinction between the two throughout the privacy policy.

BTW, their "policy" is crap. They say it can be changed anytime:

This privacy policy may change over time.

And you accept their DYNAMIC policy by using the Tivo service:

Use of your Recorder or the TiVo Service will signify your acceptance of these privacy policies.

By using their service you are agreeing to allow them to alter their privacy policy at whim. So if you want to use their Tivo service and they want to share ALL your information with everyone in the world then the only choices you have is: let them or drop their service.

Question is, will they reinburse a lifetime subscription if you don't agree with a change in their policy? IANAL, but what kind of contract is this if you agree to the terms(by using and paying for their service) then they can go ahead and change the contract to seemingly limitless ends?

Here's what's new:

[Otto]

Mainly, this:

4.3 Contractors and Third Party Service Providers. We use contractors to help with some of our operations. Some of these contractors will have access to our databases of Subscriber Information on a temporary basis for specific tasks. TiVo also uses third parties to help with certain aspects of its operations, which may require disclosure of your Subscriber Information to them. For example, TiVo may use a third party to communicate with you (via telephone, email, or letter) about your account or upcoming features or services, to mail rebate checks, to process and collect payment for your TiVo Service via your credit card, to generate demographic profiles based on Subscriber Information of current TiVo subscribers, and to perform other work that we may need to outsource. TiVo contractually binds these contractors and third parties to use your Subscriber Information only as necessary to perform the services they are asked to perform; such contractors and third parties are legally liable for misuse of Subscriber Information.

This is in order to let DirecTV directly bill the DirecTivo users for the Tivo service. With the old privacy policy, they couldn't do that.

That's it, fellas. Your viewing info (that everyone worries about) is still completely anonymous, and only used in an aggregate form.

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