TiVo To Sell Customer Data

camusflage writes "Yahoo has a story that details TiVo's plans to sell customer data to advertisers and broadcasters. While individuals will be anonymous, data will be made available in aggregate form, including ZIP code. The San Jose Mercury News has additional coverage on the news."

Comments

Good for them...

[GreenJeepMan]

No one individuals personal privacy has been violated. So what is the big deal? Hopefully if they can sustain enough income from this, they can drop their monthly fees.

Re:Good for them...

[PhilHibbs]

Yes, but maybe dropped fees = more customers = more profit.

Not a problem

[Zirnike]

"in aggregate form"

Nothing to see here. Move along.

Aggregate data is fine, for the most part (obviously, if your consumer base is 5 people, there might be an issue), but for this, I don't see the problem. And I'm a serious privacy advocate...

Nothing to see... Move along.

[TedTschopp]

To me this doesn't seem like a big deal. This type of information is a marketing pleb's dream. And it looks like information about you personally would not be viewable. Aggregate is the way we as privacy experts should be pushing as a compromise. This is no big deal. And as someone who has seen how this aggregate data is used with GIS software. Again, I say... Nothing to see, move along. Ted Tschopp

And again

[psychophil.com]

This came up during the superbowl commercial rating. Tivo released info saying which superbowl commercials its viewers watched most.

Again I say, Tivo selling the viewing info is a GOOD THING. I am tired of shows I like getting cancelled for lack of Neilson ratings. I've never been nor have I even known a Neilson family. I don't like the fact that someone else is deciding what's good TV and what should be cancelled.

This will broaden the base of input for TV ratings. Another plus, Tivo owners tend to be geekish. This will most likely help the rating and staying power of shows that geeks watch (sci-fi to be specific). Maybe we finally have a fighting chance against inane 30 minute sitcoms and 'reality' TV.

Focused Advertising

[mjmalone]

My brother works for TiVo, and they have been planning to do this from the getgo. The idea is that they will be able to target advertising to different customer groups. For example, Ford might buy a 30 second ad spot, on a TV owned by a single man, 25 years old, might display an ad for a Ford Mustang while a TV owned by a family of 5 might show an ad for a minivan. This doesnt seem like a big deal to me, in fact I kind of like the fact that I wont have to sit through as many ads for crap I really am not interested in... I can finally watch the beer and sports car commercials I love so much.

Re:Demographics are not an invasion of privacy.

[M.C. Hampster]

True, maybe I over-generalized in saying that ZIP+4 resolves to a house - it does not ALWAYS resolve to a house, but it frequently DOES.

This one statement almost completely sums up most of what is wrong with the mentality of Slashdot. You have one experience where ZIP+4 resolves to your house and your house only, so you generalize it to mean that it does for everyone. When people point out that it does not for everyone, you retract your statement, only to replace it by another one in which you no data. If you see some of the other posts here, linking to the USPS web site, you will see that for most people, it does not link to a particular house.