I have been thinking about the announcement from TiVo a couple of days ago that they are going to to be sharing TiVo users viewing habits with a whole host of industry people.
Now I don’t own a TiVo but if I did I would be calling TiVo and asking to cancel my service. What people watch in the comforts of their own home is their own business and how they watch is no ones &^% business.
Any company that blatantly RECORDS and REPORTS viewing habits needs to be spanked in the marketplace. This is an invasion of Privacy and should not be tolerated. I don’t care if they aggregate the data they still have access to the source data.
TiVo is saying the data collection will be random and that they data collected will not be able to be tied back to a subscriber. The simple fact that they can do this tells me that this is only the first step. I do not want any device in my home that calls back to momma.
And you don’t think cable companies do this too??
Why do you think they push so hard for the continued use of a set top box vs. cable cards and built in tuners??
Also, wouldn’t this be a better method to judge TV ratings than the flawed Nielson ratings?
Setting aside for a moment that TiVo’s privacy statement allows them to do this, they’ve been tracking their users’ viewing habits for years. How’s this new?
EVERYBODY DOES THIS! This is Advertising 101. Everybody aggregates data on user archetypes. This is the same thing that Tivo is doing. If you don’t like it, you can not only cancel your Tivo service, but you can also sell all your worldly possessions and move to a small island in the south pacific. There, and only there, will you be safe.
I dont really care if they do this, I think it is a great way to determine what shows are really worth keeping instead of them always canceling the best shows mid-season, also I do not subscribe to any shady channels so why would I really care if they know I watch MythBusters?