They see you when you're sleeping. They know when you're awake.

[tellner]

This just in from Chris Albrecht's blog...

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.

Of course there won't be recognition software. Not at all. And they'd never pass the data of who was in your house on to, say, the police or Homeland Security without a search warrant. And the camera would only be used to enhance your customer experience, not to spy on and record what you do in your house. No. Never.

One more reason I'm glad I don't have a TV

 

[thardey]

This just in from Chris Albrecht's blog...



Of course there won't be recognition software. Not at all. And they'd never pass the data of who was in your house on to, say, the police or Homeland Security without a search warrant. And the camera would only be used to enhance your customer experience, not to spy on and record what you do in your house. No. Never.

One more reason I'm glad I don't have a TV

I think I would teach the "little black box" that my "body form" has a striking resemblance to a piece of black electrical tape.

 

[newGuy12]

I think I would teach the "little black box" that my "body form" has a striking resemblance to a piece of black electrical tape.

Haha -- in 1984 they would just step to the side of the Big Brother screen to not be viewed.

Soon we will all rise in the morning for our exercises together in front of the tv -- it will be for our own good, of course.

After all, the government is there to protect us -- from the terrorists, and many other things. We shall see much more protection in the future, we will be sure to be quite safe, protected by government. And this is what we deserve, too. Anything to keep us safe. We are so very very very very scared! Such people desperately need a protector -- the government.

 

[MA-Caver]

I think I would teach the "little black box" that my "body form" has a striking resemblance to a piece of black electrical tape.

Aayy-fricken-men!!!
If I want to have someone pull up my favorite shows... it'll be me and nobody else but me! Don't need no steenkin help. Besides like I been saying, I rarely watch commercialized television anyway.

 

[tellner]

I think I would teach the "little black box" that my "body form" has a striking resemblance to a piece of black electrical tape.

Friend Citizen, you have to learn to trust The Computer. The Computer is your Friend. If you interfere with the work of Comcast who labors tirelessly to help your Friend the Computer we will have to put your name on a list. We aren't threatening you, oh no, not at all. But you might find yourself in violation of Comcast's Terms of Service or sued for harming its business model. You might, and we aren't saying would, just might, end up on the Terrorist Watch List or have The Computer's special friends the Blue Level Troubleshooters take an unguided tour of your body cavities at three in the morning. And not in a squishy fun way.

 

[terryl965]

Great just another way to see what is going on.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

Well, here's one customer comcast has lost, or rather has no future hope of gaining now, on a permanent basis as a direct result of this news.

 

[tellner]

Just as well. They were the first to roll over, hand over customer data and allow the NSA to snoop without warrants. They are also pushing hardest to eliminate net neutrality - even packing hearing rooms with busloads of paid shills so that supporters of net neutrality could not attend the FCC's public meetings on the subject. They've taken it on themselves to filter based on content which has interesting implications for them as a "common carrier". And they've announced to the FCC that even if they have broken the same Federal regulations they helped right there's nothing the Commission can do about it.

You're better off without 'em.

 

[thardey]

Friend Citizen, you have to learn to trust The Computer. The Computer is your Friend. If you interfere with the work of Comcast who labors tirelessly to help your Friend the Computer we will have to put your name on a list. We aren't threatening you, oh no, not at all. But you might find yourself in violation of Comcast's Terms of Service or sued for harming its business model. You might, and we aren't saying would, just might, end up on the Terrorist Watch List or have The Computer's special friends the Blue Level Troubleshooters take an unguided tour of your body cavities at three in the morning. And not in a squishy fun way.

My plan is to get on "everybody's" list. Conservatives will find me on liberal lists, liberals will find me on conservative lists. I will be publicaly recorded as anti-everything, and pro-everything else. That way no one will know where I really stand.

I realize that I can't avoid being on lists, so I might as well just confuse the hell out of 'em!

 

[Andy Moynihan]

I LIKE that. I'm gonna keep that and use it

 

[Carol]

My plan is to get on "everybody's" list. Conservatives will find me on liberal lists, liberals will find me on conservative lists. I will be publicaly recorded as anti-everything, and pro-everything else. That way no one will know where I really stand.

I realize that I can't avoid being on lists, so I might as well just confuse the hell out of 'em!

DAMN you're good! I like it!

I hope you don't mind if I borrow that quote sometime? "Anti-Everything and Pro-Everything Else" ? I promise I'll give it back when I'm done

 

[Andy Moynihan]

Hell, me, Carol, and everyone else who wants to can just form a new party!

I hereby announce the formation of the Extreme Middle!

 

[Carol]

Hell, me, Carol, and everyone else who wants to can just form a new party!

I hereby announce the formation of the Extreme Middle!

Hardcore centrism at its finest

 

[FearlessFreep]

My plan is to get on "everybody's" list. Conservatives will find me on liberal lists, liberals will find me on conservative lists. I will be publicaly recorded as anti-everything, and pro-everything else. That way no one will know where I really stand.

I realize that I can't avoid being on lists, so I might as well just confuse the hell out of 'em!

Oh..we've got a special list just for you

 

[FearlessFreep]

Hardcore centrism at its finest

Sounds pretty radical

 

[Empty Hands]

Friend Citizen, you have to learn to trust The Computer.

Ha! I haven't thought of that game in years!

 

[tellner]

Oh..we've got a special list just for you

I once made the mistake of asking for my records under the Freedom of Information Act. It turned out that somewhere in the bowels of the Justice Department there is a special list for people who want to see the information.

I think of our society as being a lot like three inches of rusted steel plate covered by a thin hardwood veneer.

 

[Carol]

Ha! I haven't thought of that game in years!

You saved the world from Commie Mutant Traitors too?

 

[Empty Hands]

You saved the world from Commie Mutant Traitors too?

Mostly just died.

 

[thardey]

I once made the mistake of asking for my records under the Freedom of Information Act. It turned out that somewhere in the bowels of the Justice Department there is a special list for people who want to see the information.

I think of our society as being a lot like three inches of rusted steel plate covered by a thin hardwood veneer.

Good idea! I need to get on that list, too!