Posted on 07/28/2013 10:41:21 PM PDT by george76
Pay-TV providers like Verizon and tech giants like Microsoft are developing devices that can monitor our behaviors as we watch TV and play games.
“Watching the watchers” is taking on a whole new meaning.
News that Google .. may be developing a television set-top box with a motion sensor and video camera has rekindled the debate over technology that can record so-called ambient action. Should a TV-mounted box have the ability to track our movements, record our voices and monitor our behaviors? Should cable providers and tech companies be allowed to collect such information without our consent?
Lawmakers and privacy advocates are asking such questions as companies continue to experiment with data collection that will extend beyond our gadgets and into our living rooms and bedrooms. On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google privately showed off a prototype device at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last January. The company is one of many tech players looking to compete with pay-TV providers, who themselves have been exploring new ways to capture information about viewers’ behavior.
In November, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) filed a patent application for a set-top box that delivers advertisements based on users’ behaviors
...
Creeped out yet? You’re not alone
(Excerpt) Read more at ibtimes.com ...
If memory serves, an Englishman by the name of Eric Blair was first to imagine it.
How do you think your DVR is reporting to Neilson? It’s part of the cable and DVR box and Neilson ratings collusion.
no cable, no dish.
Cable-free since last year. Savings are now close to $1K.
> A couple minutes with a screwdriver and a soldering iron and it will be blind and deaf like it ahould have been in the first place.
But then they will get you for tampering with an FCC regulated device or Obama monitoring device made legal by Obummer administration and fine you to death or send you to prison.../s
> Big Brother.
1984
Here...now.
And much worse than anticipated with technology that will be far more intrusive and lethal than Orwell could have ever imagined...
I paid my last cable bill in 1989. Never had satellite or Fios tv either. Saved a ton of money over the years, and never really missed it. Watched many a Super Bowl with the assistance of rabbit ears, now with digital broadcasting I can watch the occasional sporting event with cable quality.
“What pitch would Huma and Anthony see? “
Oscar Meyer ads.
There was actually a huge fan base backlash over this. It was fascinating to observe. It remains to be seen what will come of it. So far, Microsoft has said they will no longer require the "always online DRM support" policy.
The XBOX One appeared to be designed by lawyers to be managed by publishers. The gamers seemed to be last in the equation. It will be interesting to see the continuing developments resulting from their initial fiasco on announcement.
Nope. I don’t have a cable box!
Duct tape.
...or you can use a few bits of tape.
The price you pay for cable was supposed to give you commercial-free TV.
Somehow, it doesn’t seem to have worked out that way.
The objective here is to run metrics on reactions to various news stories, ads, political campaigns and programming so that the manipulators of media know where, when and how far to push a particular spin. They would be able to suss the public’s tolerance for martial law, the militarization of police, drone surveillance, apathy vs. activist levels, etc. This is a tyrant’s wet dream.
I’d be inclined to return the item to the supplier with additional ventilation.
Yellow stickie
That’s what I did...all OTA and/or internet based.
On topic, how long do you think it would take the ‘net/tech savvy teens/’hacker’ community to post-up a HOW-TO to show the average user how to block all OUTGOING ports, but allow the incoming needed to by-pass this kind of thing?
Or yet, the strategically placed piece of electrical tape, etc.
Yes, that too. Give it the finger as well. I am typing this on my IPhone 5. I wonder if it is looking back at me too?
I remember trying out a PS3 when it came out. It was fun to browse the net, and I remember watching HD videos from a variety of sites on its browser.
XBOX 360 didn’t have a browser when it came out and when they finally added one it was horrible. The only video I can make it play is Youtube and its only reliable on its own app and not in the browser.
You would think this would embarrass Microsoft but I don’t think it does.
Hopefully the new boxes will have a direct link to the NSA.
No need for that pesky FISA middleman!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.