[mythtv-users] [OT] Commercial Nosiness

[Andrew Dodd]

Quoting Patrick Reynolds <reynolds at cs.duke.edu>:

> On Wed, 4 Feb 2004 steve at nexusuk.org wrote:
> 
> > I'm very supprised how public TiVo are in the amount of data they collect
> > - people generally don't like spyware, and it gives the advertisers more
> > ammo when they complain about PVRs cutting the number of people who see
> > their ads.
> 
> On the flip side, Tivo gets itself lots of press whenever it announces
> what the most-watched part of the Super Bowl was.  And advertisers and
> producers must appreciate knowing what things people _will_ watch, even if
> they hate being reminded that some of us don't watch commercials anymore.
> 
> Clearly, someone at Tivo has decided that an annual press release about
> their spyware is doing more good than harm.
Given that TiVo has repeatedly stated that their data is no more fine-grained
than the zipcode level (which people can most likely verify with packet sniffs
of the TiVo's network traffic when it "phones home"), I don't see the problem here.

TiVo has publicized the following:
Yes, they do collect data on viewing habits.
Yes, they do sell the data.
No, it cannot be tracked at the individual level, only at the level of zipcode.

You realize that if we ever want a reccommendations engine similar to TiVo's,
we'll have to accept our Myth boxes "phoning home" to a server somewhere too. 
Personally, as long as I know exactly what data is being sent, I don't care.  I
want this feature.  :)