Is Big Brother watching YOU?!

[lakebum431]

dish already knows what i watch the outdoor channel as thats the only channel in my package

I never gave dish the right to monitor me, i just will have to make sure to keep phoneline unplugged then and lets see how much data they collect from me

I just feel it rather its intrusive imho

I think you did. I think it is in the service agreement (that was posted in the beginning of this thread).

 

[stone phillips420]

I think you did. I think it is in the service agreement (that was posted in the beginning of this thread).

hmm, not the first time i can be accused of not read in entirety

 

[lakebum431]

Hehe, no worries

 

[KE4EST]

I knew this thread would go carzy as soon as I seen the title.

 

[Jhon69]

Doesn't D* do the same thing with the interactive on the mix channels? Hit the red button and you see what everyone is watching in the eastern us (my home region), then you can go to national, etc! I was showing my mother it and I even said, kinda scary big brother is watching you. Seems E* is going to be doing the same. Tivo has been doing it as well, if I recall for a while now.

Yes they sure do I really like it too.Does it bother me?Nah I just make sure when the receiver and TV cool down to throw a blanket over it.Put on my special tin foil cap and I sleep like a baby.

 

[codee]

I don't see why anybody would care one way or another? Maybe I'm really laid back, but I just don't see how it hurts anything no matter what its for...which we don't know what that is yet even. Do you think the cable COs don't know what you're watching on the Viddo On Demand and linear systems? Everything with cable boxes is 2-way in most, if not all areas.

Can somebody please explain to me how it could be bad/harmful for dish to collect info on what we watch? I doubt they are though, I mean my recievers stay on 24x7, so they can't really say I watched every show while it was turned to a particular station....

 

[skysurfer]

I don't care that DISH would collect info about what is in my timer history and if the program has been watched yet or not (as long as DISH sells it to make revenue that keeps them from having to charge me more for my already reasonably-priced package).

How they can make any demographic sense out of that I don't know (since a couple generations record and watch the shows on the DVR). you could make assumptions but you could never guarantee which generation recorded which show.

 

[Sammy033]

After reading all this... maybe they really are keeping tabs on who watches porn. That actually might be a good thing. They will know which kinds are the most popular and maybe focus on getting more of it while dropping others. Personally, I dont think its possible to have too much Jenna Jameson

 

[yardline]

I'd actually be happy for them to know what I'm watching. The more providers know what people like, the more they will come up with similar programming.

 

[Derwin0]

I say, let them see what everyone is watching. Then maybe they can get rid of the channels no one watches, and/or stop giving money to channels that no one watches.
Or give the info to the networks, so they can see what people really watch, as opposed to only the neilson chosen few.

 

[kennya]

I say, let them see what everyone is watching. Then maybe they can get rid of the channels no one watches, and/or stop giving money to channels that no one watches.
Or give the info to the networks, so they can see what people really watch, as opposed to only the neilson chosen few.

I agree 100%. A lot of good COULD come from this if that is really what they are doing.

 

[Mr.Pinkeye]

I say, let them see what everyone is watching. Then maybe they can get rid of the channels no one watches, and/or stop giving money to channels that no one watches.

Or They could use the information to make a new tier of programming. It only has 19 channels and it costs more than AEP, but its the only way to get the 19 channels everybody watches most. Maybe I'm being cynical.

 

[JohnEL]

YES!
They can call it AMW-America's Most Watched.
They can charge $49.97 + $6.00 lease fee + $5.00 enabling fee + $10.00 monitoring fee + $2.00 processing fee + STATE & LOCAL TAXES

 

[BobMurdoch]

Much ado about nothing.....

Look at the bright side.... they can use the aggregate numbers to help them decide which channels to overcompress and which ones to show at higher bit rates. They can see definitively which channels are ignored by people and replace them with more desirable ones (probably not, as the the media companies shoved most of them down our throats in the first place - but it will help at negotiation time). They could provide the data to Nielsen to help get YOUR most watched shows to be renewed when real data is provided instead of estimated data (taking a focus group and then multiplying it to come up with a bogus number) like it is now...

On the hardware side, they might be able to get better data about bugs, instead of just the ones that trigger the most complaint calls....

 

[Skip06]

What happens when politics gets involved? Can’t you just see this ad ‘Candidate so and so watched *******. We can’t elect someone that watched ***** ’
Or how about a job interview ‘I see you’ve spent a lot watching *******’

Once somebody starts selling your info, who knows where it will end up.

 

[BobMurdoch]

Don't fret. Some politician had his video rentals vetted a few years back and a law was quickly passed banning the release of personal TV viewing habits (which was carried over to the Tivo folks when they started collecting the data). The same law will protect you from E* here too.....

 

[Hall]

Which is why E*'s terms of service says they can collect data from people's viewing habits but effectively by law they don't tie them to your name or account.

I'll bet some of these same people don't use the cards the groceries give out for add'l discounts on products 'cause when they swipe their card they figure the grocery store has dark, evil plans to let marketing companies know what brand toilet paper is used and how much they buy.....

 

[digitalartifact]

don't fret or why fret???

Ever seince they broke the caller id on the 625... (you know that anoying lockup of the modem everynow and then...) what makes you think this will work? Or the bright side... maybe this is the cure to this issue???

 

[tawhite]

Really don't think it is a big deal. Some people are a little too paranoid about this. I mean, who really cares if they know what you are watching, it's all legal, legitimate programming.

 

[Skip06]

It’s also against the law to listen in on cell phone conversations and land line phone conversations. Seems I remember some calls showing up in political campaigns.