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TiVo Watches the Super Bowl
Boone^ writes: "While millions of people were seeing a tremendous football game, TiVo was busy collecting statistics about the Super Bowl viewing habits of its subscribers. Based on a random sampling of 10,000 of the 280,000 subscribers, they found out that Pepsi/Britney was the subject of the most replayed Ad(s), and not surprisingly the play that got the most attention was Vinatieri's game-winning FG."
You are most welcome to opt-out of this data gathering.
I leave it on because 1)I believe them when they say they only aggragate the data and 2)It's an important part of their business model and I want them to succeed.
I'd rather like to know how many people fast-forwarded to skip through commercials. I would have!
Moderation: Put your hand inside the puppet head!
I'm with you. Something is kind of spooky when you get a little PPV spice channel and they know how many times you rewound to see the money shot.
If your not cheating your not trying. If your not trying your not winning and if your not winning why play?
Does anyone remember the premise of the show? TV Reporters only get to be on-air for as long as people are watching. The networks have big control rooms with real-time statistics of watchers. If the bar graph goes too low, you get pulled. With enough TiVo units, the networks could get the instant feedback they really want. Imagine TV lineups changing weekly, daily, hourly in direct response to viewers desires based on their TiVos. Scary, isn't it?
I think...I think it's in my basement. Let me go upstairs and check. -M.C. Escher (1898-1972)
Yeah. Take a look at this report, which goes into some technical detail about what your TiVo sends back (they watched the modem line as data transferred):
http://www.privacyfoundation.org/privacywatch/ report.asp?id=62&action=0
Your TiVo machine basically just sends its syslog home every night, complete with information like this:
Except it's transmitted in a form that looks like this:
and of course it's anonymized, traceable only to your zipcode.
The PrivacyFoundation.org report linked above broke the news that the way the anonymized data is FTP'd up to TiVo's homebase leaves a way that an insider employee (or an unscrupulous, lying company) could potentially correlate your syslog to your name, instead of just your zipcode. I've no idea whether TiVo has changed its practices after the report came out two years ago, but I'm not aware of them having done so.
IMJHBT (I May Have Just Been Trolled), but do this:
Enable backdoors. Then use the keystroke sequence that allows you to view log file (it might be Select, Clear, Select, Instant Replay, Select or something like that--check out tivocommunity.com and search for "backdoors". Then look at the file containing a log of all your remote control presses. Now don't tell me not to get in a tizzy because it isn't "warranted".
If they did that to you at work on your computer, I'd bet you'd be in a tizzy. I'll bet if the version of XP you're using at home did that, you'd be in a tizzy. The fact that it's TiVo and that it's an undoubtedly cool product does not in any way make this right. I support TiVo--I subscribe to their monthly service, I use my TiVo faithfully, but it does not make this sinister tactic right, especially when they send me e-mails and messages to the TiVo about how much they value my privacy.
Maybe you're not so bothered by it, but there's no way you can justify what they're doing simply because it's new technology and they need to get a foothold. They need to get a clue.
Karma: Excellent Birds (mostly as a result of listening to Laurie Anderson)
You apparently believe whatever TiVo tells you regarding how its keeps your information private. OK, they might do that, but should TiVo ever experience some serious financial trouble and need a way to make money quick, I don't believe for one second the information they collect won't find its way into the hands of the highest bidder.
And of course they know who you are--the TiVo serial is sent as part of the authentication when the daily calls are made. They know your entire demographic, and I'm sure it's not a huge stretch to go through those logs and calculate how many 18-24-year-olds reviewed the commercial 7:30 into ESPN's Sportscenter.
TiVo might not do this now and they might not in the future, but I sure as hell am going to remain vigilant to make sure it never happens. It's pretty scary as it is. If you want them to have that information, great, but don't expect me to want to volunteer it.
Karma: Excellent Birds (mostly as a result of listening to Laurie Anderson)
I think I'll be opting out.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
Exactly!
If buying drugs makes you no better than a terrorist...
Then why doesn't resorting to blatantly false propaganda and scare tactics make you any better than a communist?
~GoRK