Posted on 06/17/2013 7:05:04 AM PDT by justlittleoleme
Cameras in your cable box? No way, said Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.), who has introduced a new bill that would stop technology and TV video services from monitoring viewing using cameras or microphones built-in to set-top boxes or DVRs in order to analyze viewing behavior and serve up targeted ads.
The bill, called the We Are Watching You Act of 2013, would prohibit video service operators from collecting visual or audio data from the vicinity of the device without express permission from the consumer. For viewers that opt in, the monitoring company would have to display a "we are watching you" message on the screen and provide to the consumer what types of information is being collected and how it will be used.
While such Big Brother TV monitoring hasn't yet been deployed, Verizon last year filed a patent for monitoring technology that would use infrared cameras and microphones to track and collect consumer behavior in the vicinity of a TV or mobile device. According to the patent application, the technology could detect ambient action, like people eating, exercising, reading, sleeping and more.
(Excerpt) Read more at adweek.com ...
Build your own cable box!
Look up “HTPC” and follow any of the myriad options for creating your own. You can get a cable codec box and order an M-card from a majority of cable providers for less than the cost of renting one of their boxes. You can customize your interface, play DVDs/BRDs, and even play video games, home videos, picture slideshows, etc. from the same unit.
People need to start building their own stuff to keep their privacy intact. It’s getting nasty out there.
there are already cameras in our game consoles.
Believing something a politician says, any politician, is an exercise of “willful suspension of disbelief.”
As far as I’m concerned, if they live in DC, they are lower than crap from a snake.
A lot of the new TV’s have camera’s built in, so I am sure someone could be watching as we speak.
Already cameras in most new laptops. Soon they will be able to turn them on when you are on your laptop and without your knowledge. Just guessing.
And in our pc’s.
Just a little piece of electric tape can fix that
LOL, buy an X-Box One, and it will be sitting in your living room anyway.
I hope no one buys that thing.
A microphone next to TV speakers wont do them much good.
And cameras can be covered up. I disabled mine on my last laptop using controls window.
Snort. The NSA doesn’t want the competition. All your cable boxes are belong to us...
Actually, this little gadget is fantastic. It monitors what we’re doing. Add the phone surveillance, mail scanning, cameras everywhere, drones and soon there will be no need for police or lawyers. All the judge would have to do is gather all the info from NSA or IRS by pushing one button, and the guilty party is identified. Case closed. Heck we may not even have to show up in court. LOL, no need for Court houses.
Another new technology, in the same vein, is a proposal by movie studios and distribution houses to charge for digital viewing based on the number of people in front of the device that is showing the material - ie rent a movie from VUDU or Netflix and be charged per set of eyes as if you were buying tickets at a movie theater. Pay per view providers salivate over this proposal as well.
the new x-box one (all in one entertainment box) have a built in camera that’s required to be on for it to work.
fyi, you can probably put a piece of cloth on it. but i don’t not plan to buy something that i don’t want to use.
oops..
i DO NOT plan to buy.
Place cockroaches in cable boxes into any search engine, and there will be a lot of hits.
No it’s not BS.
Virtually all patents are applied for before they are “deployed” and many are not deployed until well after they are issued. It depends on the US / International patent situation, and whether the patents are truly novel and innovative, are extension patents, or are defensive patents.
Companies will develop a “patent thicket” around a technology, applying for numerous patents in a particular area which they have no intention of pursuing, either to block other parties from their own development, OR to have trading chips for latter business negotiations.
And some patents are issued for “inventions” which are technically not possible to do.
And soon the the camera you see will not be the only one. They can embed cameras inside your screen that you cannot see.
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.