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Nielsen to measure TiVo usage
ny_cable_guy writes "The following letter went out to all of Nielsen's clients this morning: 'Working together, Nielsen Media Research and TiVo have developed software that will enable the extraction of tuning, recording and playback information from TiVo's PVR system. TiVo has downloaded this new software as part of a normal system upgrade via phone lines to existing TiVo subscribers across the country. This software would be used only by Nielsen Media Research to retrieve data from sample households, and only with permission from the household, as is the case with all homes in our samples. It is otherwise inactive in non-Nielsen homes.' The full letter has been reprinted here on netWert."
Why do companies think it's ok to "upgrade" software like this? Microsoft wants to control our computers, Nielson wants to monitor what we watch (with the help of TiVo), and these companies want to slip these changes in without real notice or discussion (especially in the case of TiVo).
What happened to the rights of the consumer? Does TiVo promise not to "upgrade" their software in a way that allows anyone else into your viewing habits, or is it just a matter of how much money they are paid? Do we have any assurance that there is not another listener on our habits, nor that they sold that right once? Could this be the same software that the court almost ordered them to install to monitor comercial skipping, used in a way that makes them money?
The right to privacy in your own home, and the ability to use devices and software you purchased, for the reasons you purchased them, seems to be in danger currently. This type of thing may be "technically legal", if the EULA is legal, but is this really how we want our world to work, totally run for the convenience of corporations?