Tivo Tracks Superbowl Viewing Habits

ThePretender writes "Sprinkled in the Janet Jackson boob stories is an alarming bit of information: Tivo tracks subscribers' viewing habits. They know how many times the boob was viewed, among other good-to-have (meaning data worth $$) information. Yes, if you agreed to Tivo's privacy policy you knew they could do this, with the promise that you aren't identifiable. Put on the tin foil hats? Or just another way for them to keep your monthly fee down (snicker)." A story from 2002 has more information and makes clear that Tivo does have the capability to record every click you make on the remote control, at all times. Previously Tivo said they tracked 10,000 people for the Super Bowl, this year 20,000.

What I want to know...

[pbrinich]

How many times did Tom Ridge watch it??

Alternate Headline

[Mateito]

Tivo Tracks Titillating Timberlake Tit Touching!

OH NO!!!

[Turd Rippleton]

I hope they don't sell that information to my wife!

~Turd

my 13 yr old cousin....

[skedastik]

... accounts for the majority of replays tracked.

Me

[savagedome]

I am not sure if that statistic includes me 'coz I haven't un-paused my Tivo yet :)

Well that's it now!

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

alarming bit of information: Tivo tracks subscribers' viewing habits.

This is unacceptable. From now on, I'll keep my Tivo box disconnected from the phone socket.

Just try to track my boob viewing habbits *now* mssrs Tivo! Ah! That's turned you white hasn't it, hey, hey?

There haven't been more people staring at a boob..

[mikeophile]

Since Bush's State of the Union address.

Fortunately...

[Black Parrot]

> A story from 2002 has more information and makes clear that Tivo does have the capability to record every click you make on the remote control, at all times.

Fortunately, they still don't have the ability to track what your other hand is doing, at any time.

Alarm?

[volkris]

Alarm?

What alarm?

This is a non-story.

The real problem.

[Murmer]

I'm not so concerned about Jackson's partly-revealed tit (she was wearing a pastie, people, there was nothing to see there that doesn't make the cover of SI once a year) but I swear to God, seeing Mike Ditka talk about how much better his wang works with his new pills is going to haunt me until the end of my days.

I am going to be scarred for life.

Re:Me

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

I am not sure if that statistic includes me 'coz I haven't un-paused my Tivo yet :)

In the case of the SuperBowl booby, they won't even need to track people online. They just have to measure the incoming rash of remotes coming back under warranty for repair of the replay button.

I'd like to formally announce that it's my ...

[burgburgburg]

pet monkey Artemis who continually switches the TV to Cinemax After Dark. I am asleep when this is happening and cannot be held responsible for what my monkey is doing. He also watches HSN during the day and has ordered over $614,000 dollars worth of Hummels and commerative plates.

Re:MoveOn.org's Boycott

[Anonymous Coward]

personally, i'm very glad they didn't play the moveon ad. god knows, i wouldn't want my kids exposed to a controversial issue such as the so-called 'budget deficit' among the hours of violence, boobs and commercials for beer and hard-on pills.

bravo, CBS, for keeping our children safe.

To put it into some perspective

[johnlcallaway]

When it is all said and done, all this did was prove once again why we should limit nudity, most people look much better with their clothes on, include Janet. Seeing her boob was quite a letdown, I'm not surprised that the SuperBowl ratings sagged a bit.

Ms. Jackson needs some support, and I don't mean from her family. One would think that they could implant some convictions to prevent this sort of droopy moral character in the future. We need more pert personalities to provide better role models for our country.

Re:There haven't been more people staring at a boo

[Mindwarp]

Since Bush's State of the Union address.

Yeah, but people were using fast-forward with that one, not rewind!

Re:Link to video please

[LostCluster]

Sorry, the broadcast specifically said we would need the express written permission of the NFL to redistribute any part of it...

man

[SweetAndSourJesus]

What if we just rebroadcast it with implied oral consent?

Re:Is there a privacy issue?

[FictionPimp]

I got it!!! you could use your tivo as proof you were home and not out murdering someone.
just rig a little robotic arm to move the buttons and surf.
I'm so glad I took out that insurance policy now...

Re:Is there a privacy issue?

[gbjbaanb]

In theory... this should make for a better future broadcasts as they can analyze the feedback from the users

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo..

Imagine what the majority of users watch. It ain't the good stuff you know. It's whether Daisy is sleeping with Brad behind Eric's back whilst Jake is having difficulty running his business and Karen is deciding whether to give up her job and become an alternative therapist.

in other words .. complete shite!! Hack those TiVos.. make sure Firefly is the most watched programme (even if its not broadcast. they'll never twig)

Re:Is there a privacy issue?

[madcow_ucsb]

The key phrase being "get a warrant". Yeah, I know to gov't is trying to get around that, but that's another discussion.

But if the cops get themselves a real warrant from a real judge, they're welcome to look thru my tivo logs.

Re:ANI makes anonymization worthless

[LMacG]

My TiVo doesn't make a phone call to communicate to the mothership. It uses my broadband connection.

Now in my case, that's a DSL line, but there's no call setup going on, so ANI is not an issue.

Can they still track me? Of course they can. Do I care? Not particularly. I wasn't even watching the game at home. If they are checking on me, they are probably bored spitless. "Oh geez, he's watching Angel again."

Marketing info sometimes helps *you*.

[jemenake]

They know how many times the boob was viewed...

Good. Now that they have the viewing popularity, in all likelihood, we'll get to see *both* boobs next year.

Of course, next year, her nipples will have little stickers that say "Drink Pepsi!" on them... but hey, life's full of compromises.

Re:Alternate Headline

[KUHurdler]

This just in:

Justin Timberlink is going to do a follow-up free concert with Outcast on CBS.
"Sorry Ms Jackson... OOOhhh!!!"

Re:Alternate Headline

[KUHurdler]

I am truly NOT ashamed to admit that I didn't know how to spell "Outkast" correctly.

Okay, so what did all this tracking discover ...?

[ReidMaynard]

American men who watch football like women's breasts.

Especially when we've^M^M^M^M they've been drinking.

ReplayTV Skipped All Football, Showed Only Adverts

[meehawl]

I activated my ReplayTV's "Content Skip [replayfaqs.com]" feature, so the machine automatically skipped all the dull football content and played only the adverts.

I hope somebody tracked that.

We Are TiVo

[NinjaPablo]

We know you replayed the Jackson Boob Scene 273 times, and we're telling your mom.

Re:Marketing info sometimes helps *you*.

[rufo]

her nipples will have little stickers that say "Drink Pepsi!" on them

Yes, but if I twist the nipples will I get a free iTunes Music Store song?

Re:Fortunately...

[Bullet-Dodger]

Ah, so you haven't found the cameras yet.

outraged

[Karma Sucks]

Personally I'm outraged Janet had a piece of metal covering her nipple. That's complete bullshit.

Re:Prudish hysteria

[Afrosheen]

What's the big deal with a boob? Every kid sees tits from the second they are born (they depend on them basically). Seeing a boob on tv may just have made the kids hungrier, since it was dinnertime for alot of people.

When I saw it today I went and made a glass of chocolate milk for some strange reason.