The entire Super Bowl story (you know which one) has apparently made a lot of people uncomfortable, particularly the fact that TiVo knew how many people had rewound and rewatched the scene in question.

According to CNET, TiVo says it keeps personal data separate from demographics and does not study any particular customer's viewing habits.

But it could.

That's why I wont get one.

so much for tv being one way communication....

If they can spy on us, why can't we spy on them?

i really didn't find tivo useful anyway

This is where it gets rediculous.

Data is data. Just like finding out how good a shows ratings is. If people start getting stupid over this, well... that's pretty stupid.

Besides, what freakin' "personal data" can you get from a freakin' TiVO? Wow, you have a parental lock, you bought a payperview "Lord of the Rings" movie pass for the day, and you bought a porno from channel 500million that was a 3 hour combo. Wow. How personal. Somebody slap them on the wrist!

Or does "personal data" mean which way your satellite is facing? (If you have one). Ridiculous.

"According to CNET, TiVo says it keeps personal data separate from demographics and does not study any particular customer's viewing habits."

Then why do they need said info?

It goes back to the old horror story, about how you may be watching your tv, but the tv is watching you back and seeing your every move. What we watch on tv, personally, is our business and no one elses. You can have a total sumnation of what every did, but not each individual household, that's a personal invasion of privacy

Folks one thing is clear...we are now officially a country under suverveillance.
Britiain is blanketed with surveillance cameras, and the same thing is increasing here in the US. There is this mad obsession with collecting personal information (or as some call it..."data mining"...not just "demographics", but tracking what you do personally...

I reported on MetaCarta recently, but let's think about the other methods...
Echelon, Carnivore, the mysterious "Magic Lantern", RFID chips, the highway cameras, your cell phone with that cute little GPS tracking signal that they admit tracks your location all the time the phone has power...

And, how about that Amber Alert system...if they wanted to...they could use the "Amber ALert" system (started in the state Bush was governor of...Texas) to track someone they decide is an "enemy of the people"...

There are various locations sucb as at the borders (I've personally seen these up close) where they have cameras aimed at you, tied to face recognition software...and you get scanned....

Don't kid yourself...these data collection systems are interconnected and are sharing data on you and me..and also, don't think for a second it is just a harmless exercise...there is a purpose for collecting data on you...for tracking you....

We all need to wake up and demand accountability on this...and don't accept them throwing up the "homeland (or "Fatherland..Seig Heil") security" explanation...

What an invasion or privacy! Your tv..the one you bought with your money...isn;t justbeing watched by you in the privacy of your own home...it seems corporations are watching our tv too.

From whatI see..there needs to be another war started right in your country..the consumer against the sorporation.

Whats it gonna take for you guys to stand up against it. When they passedthe gun law here..everyone down in the US was like, "Yeah well they won't be able to do that here...because our constitution protects us!"

Dudes? By the looks of things lately..your constitution protect nobody but the ones who puts the most money in your governments bank acount.

It should bre interesting at voting time. You guys are called "The United States Of America"....I can't think of a better time to start practicing that....be united and put an end to this...time for everyone one of you who care about your civil liberties to stand up and say.."Thats just about enough of this crap!...Goerge get in the corner...Mr.Gates..you sit the fuck down...Carey...drop em!...the rest of you corporate dicks..listen up!"

This isn't just about sharing a few mp3's. As you know..its a systematic design to gain control of you and make you all into cash cows But control is the main issue. The internet has amde it possib;e for everyone to get together and talk...I think they may be afraid that we may find something out.... Bringing Babylon to its knees

why not use this to throw ratings curves?
say.. #@$#$ neocon fox networks out of their sponsors by making their ratings plummet? =)

how would tvio know how many people watched it again? I have never seen a tivo in use, do you have to hock it up to a phone line? or Internet connection?

Don't you also have to pay a monthly fee? (or yearly or something?)

If so, they're getting you to pay for the servers that collect the data about you.

The whole reason I would never buy a tivo is because of the monthly fee.. Why is there a monthy fee when this thing is basically like a Hard Drive? When I buy a digital video recorder it's not going to have a monthly fee, for the price of that I think I can just as easily look through my tv guide and program what I want recorded at what times I want them recorded.. Talk about invasion of privacy

Here's a loophole... Make your own TiVo. All you need is a few parts and an operating system. Several enterprising people even show you how to.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1016212,00.asp