When you use Comcast, TV watches you.

[Blind_Io]

http://newteevee.com/2008/03/18/comc...-watching-you/

Comcast Cameras to Start Watching You?

If you have some tinfoil handy, now might be a good time to fashion a hat. At the Digital Living Room conference today, Gerard Kunkel, Comcast’s senior VP of user experience, told me the cable company is experimenting with different camera technologies built into devices so it can know who’s in your living room.
The idea being that if you turn on your cable box, it recognizes you and pulls up shows already in your profile or makes recommendations. If parents are watching TV with their children, for example, parental controls could appear to block certain content from appearing on the screen. Kunkel also said this type of monitoring is the “holy grail” because it could help serve up specifically tailored ads. Yikes.

Kunkel said the system wouldn’t be based on facial recognition, so there wouldn’t be a picture of you on file (we hope). Instead, it would distinguish between different members of your household by recognizing body forms. He stressed that the system is still in the experimental phase, that there hasn’t been consumer testing, and that any rollout “must add value” to the viewing experience beyond serving ads.
Perhaps I’ve seen Enemy of the State too many times, or perhaps I’m just naive about the depths to which Comcast currently tracks my every move. I can’t trust Comcast with BitTorrent, so why should I trust them with my must-be-kept-secret, DVR-clogging addiction to Keeping Up with the Kardashians?
Kunkel also spoke on camera with me about fixing bad Comcast user experiences, the ongoing BitTorrent battle and VOD. But he mostly towed the corporate line on these issues (the monitoring your living room came up after my camera was put away).

Video at the link.

[FATMOUSE]

Comcast can go fuck off, as always.

[IceBone]

Just stick a pic of ****** in front of the cam or something...

edit: nice XD

[vegasrebel29]

GOOD THING I DON'T WATCH TELEVISION.
Seriously, if it weren't for the government keeping these dinosaurs alive,
we'd all be streaming over the internet. While in our hovercars, presumably.

[cvrefugee]

TiVo isn't any better:

Hollywood Keeps Making The DVR Less Useful

[Cobol74]

It is amazing what businesses think works. There are some weird people in charge of these organisations.

[Crazyjeeper]

Yeah, small camera on cable box, meet mr. duct tape.

[RoamingGnome]

All my AV equipment's in a media closet. If I were to get such Comcrap device it might feel a bit lonely.

Seriously though not a novel idea (as seen in many sci-fi movies before) and it is kinda cool, though in a device served by a cable (or any other) company? No, lol, I really don't thinks so.

[ESPNSTI]

Err... how would this work for a family with twins?

[Lupin_IV]

Originally Posted by ESPNSTI

Err... how would this work for a family with twins?

It doesn't matter as it would probably just scan for demographics.

[gtrietsc]

So glad I ditched them. They can DIAF.

[Momentum57]

Originally Posted by Cobol74

It is amazing what businesses think works. There are some weird people in charge of the organisations.

Seems like a good idea to me. Think how many things would be better if it tailored specifically for you. Think about this if your car would recognize the difference between you and your wife's driving position favorite radio station even temperatures (come to think about they have things like that). How bout if you went to your neighborhood bar and the people recognized you (ok that happens if you go to outside places frequently and not to applebee's)

Come to think about it your all paranoid that THEY are out to get you. Get over yourself your not that important. AND THERE IS NOT THEY JUST US

[tigger]

Originally Posted by Momentum57

AND THERE IS NOT THEY JUST US

Have you been drinking?

Heh, why shouldn't people be comfortable with a major corporation videotaping their living room? That's not weird or anything . God forbid they just let people program in the kind of stuff they like to watch, or use the parental control stuff to keep their kids from watching Cinemax.

Then again, it's not really a big deal if they did implement that. Like Crazyjeeper, I'd just find another use for my duct tape.

[phuckingduck]

Originally Posted by Lupin_IV

It doesn't matter as it would probably just scan for demographics.

One word: Midgets.


I enjoy my basic Comcast cable with piped down OTA HD channels. I don't need the digital channels, or many of the premium HD channels. Seriously, PBS-HD > *

[Blind_Io]

Originally Posted by Momentum57

Seems like a good idea to me. Think how many things would be better if it tailored specifically for you. Think about this if your car would recognize the difference between you and your wife's driving position favorite radio station even temperatures (come to think about they have things like that). How bout if you went to your neighborhood bar and the people recognized you (ok that happens if you go to outside places frequently and not to applebee's)

Come to think about it your all paranoid that THEY are out to get you. Get over yourself your not that important. AND THERE IS NOT THEY JUST US

This is not about your local coffee house cute-barrista-girl knowing your order, this is about a major corporation putting a camera in your living room. Some people have a TV in their bedroom or live in a studio or loft-style apartment, do you really think they want Comcast with a camera on them as they watch movies with their S.O.? What about when I'm someone is enjoying the many adult entertainment options? Do you think they want a camera watching them? (Ok, some probably would, but that's not the point). We are profiled everywhere we go. Those "discount" cards at supermarkets are not there to save you money, they are there to collect information about your shopping for marketing purposes. Credit card companies and banks do the same thing. Read the EULA on software sometime, it's scary what it says companies can do with your information. File an insurance claim? Read the papers they want you to sign, it can give them the right to get into your email, tap your phone, you name it - all to try to disprove your claim.

There sure as hell is a Them. They do exist and we let Them get away with it. Unlike the movies where They are a shadow government organization with black helicopters, in real life They are much scarier. They are companies, marketing firms, and in many cases the very entities we trust with our sensitive data.

Call me an alarmist if you want, but this is the nature of the world. My fear is that eventually these various profiles will be linked. Can you imagine what would happen if your health insurance were linked to your grocery discount card or credit/ATM card? You might go to the mail box to find a notice that they are raising your rates because you bought too much beer and junk food last month, or patronized your favorite Taqueria more than they allow. They fear your health would be adversely affected, so they are putting you in a higher risk category.

But don't worry, This Is For Your Protection.

EDIT: Am I the only one who sees the eerie similarity between this idea and The Screens in 1984?

[Firecat]

One more reason why I really hate comcast. I doubt they can pull this off....I've ran through 4 or 5 of their dvr boxes which keep on breaking down. Fucks up my recordings, and I take my television watching very seriously.

[No Boss]

I hate Comcast.

Especially the fact that they advertise constantly 24/7 on my TV for me to switch to their service, WHEN I ALREADY HAVE THEIR SERVICE.

FUCK!

[Momentum57]

Originally Posted by Blind_Io

This is not about your local coffee house cute-barrista-girl knowing your order, this is about a major corporation putting a camera in your living room. Some people have a TV in their bedroom or live in a studio or loft-style apartment, do you really think they want Comcast with a camera on them as they watch movies with their S.O.? What about when I'm someone is enjoying the many adult entertainment options? Do you think they want a camera watching them? (Ok, some probably would, but that's not the point). We are profiled everywhere we go. Those "discount" cards at supermarkets are not there to save you money, they are there to collect information about your shopping for marketing purposes. Credit card companies and banks do the same thing. Read the EULA on software sometime, it's scary what it says companies can do with your information. File an insurance claim? Read the papers they want you to sign, it can give them the right to get into your email, tap your phone, you name it - all to try to disprove your claim.

There sure as hell is a Them. They do exist and we let Them get away with it. Unlike the movies where They are a shadow government organization with black helicopters, in real life They are much scarier. They are companies, marketing firms, and in many cases the very entities we trust with our sensitive data.

Call me an alarmist if you want, but this is the nature of the world. My fear is that eventually these various profiles will be linked. Can you imagine what would happen if your health insurance were linked to your grocery discount card or credit/ATM card? You might go to the mail box to find a notice that they are raising your rates because you bought too much beer and junk food last month, or patronized your favorite Taqueria more than they allow. They fear your health would be adversely affected, so they are putting you in a higher risk category.

But don't worry, This Is For Your Protection.

EDIT: Am I the only one who sees the eerie similarity between this idea and The Screens in 1984?

You are an alarmist just like people who fear the patriot act and never read it. I am in annuities and let me tell you between the MIB (medical information bureau) and what we dig up from public information today is well enough. So they watch you having sex with someone thats not your wife big deal you really think that Comcast is going to waste its time blackmailing you. Ok how bout we go a little more into reality at least legal ideas Comcast links the camera to advertisers and they send you more junk mail.

Come on people have been crying the sky is falling for too long. Simple idea: just don't get cable then. For the last two years I have done without and have found between NPR and the internet I have more than enough entertainment and my work and play have become much better.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally Posted by Blind_Io

EDIT: Am I the only one who sees the eerie similarity between this idea and The Screens in 1984?

That was the first thing that came to mind for me.

[IceBone]

I never saw 1984, but i was reminded of the screens from Serenity.