In Soviet US, Comcast Watches YOU 404
cayenne8 sends us to Newteevee.com for a blog posting reporting from the Digital Living Room conference earlier this week. Gerard Kunkel, Comcast's senior VP of user experience, stated that the cable company is experimenting with different camera technologies built into its devices so it can know who's in your living room. Cameras in the set-top boxes, while apparently not using facial recognition software, can still somehow figure out who is in the room, and customize user preferences for cable (favorite channels, etc.). While this sounds 'handy,' it also sounds a bit like the TV sets in 1984. I am sure, of course, that Comcast wouldn't tap into this for any reason, nor let the authorities tap into this to watch inside your home in real time without a warrant or anything."
Ah well ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ah well ... (Score:5, Funny)
They knew who I was. (Score:3, Insightful)
I put a picture of Mickey Mouse in front of mine. They got me for copyright and trademark violations too. How did they know?
TV is not worth this. Thanks to MythTV, I considered paying for cable TV again. There is no way in hell I'd sit a camera in my living room for it. What complete morons.
Re:They knew who I was. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Was it really such a "fiasco"?
From what I can see, most people didn't give a damn about the warrantless wiretapping. At least not enough to actually act on their feelings. There was no mob of pitchforks and torches looking for government agents, no collapse of AT&T from mass customer defection (in fact, AT&T has been gaining customers thanks to the iPhone, so this whole th
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Re:They knew who I was. (Score:5, Informative)
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In any country you are going to find
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Re:They knew who I was. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:They knew who I was. (Score:5, Funny)
I was almost there with you till you said
Re:They knew who I was. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:They knew who I was. (Score:4, Insightful)
But really, what kind of sane person would put a camera they didn't have control of in their living room? I don't even like having my webcam pointed at me when i'm not using it.
What really annoys me about this, is I can see people getting it and BEING EXCITED that it can see them in front of the tv and pick out what they want. It goes back to that "i have nothing to hide, so why should I care" philosophy. I have nothing to hide either, but I sure as hell care.
Next reality show? (Score:3, Interesting)
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Don't let that stop you. Maybe all the public relations nightmares and lawsuits might not stop this but nothing but video of a 100,000 nerds jerking off on the couch.... I bet that get the plug pulled on this bullshit in a heart beat.
Re:Ah well ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Ah well ... (Score:5, Insightful)
In a way, whining about this in a widely read forum like Slashdot, is defending our privacy. Public awareness is the first step towards stopping things like this. Now the American public has an almost zero attention span, so awareness has to be loud and alarmist to even register on the social consciousness. To add to that problem, the evening news is alarmist about everything because it gains ratings, but further buries any real problems from getting the attention they need in order to be resolved.
Re:Ah well ... (Score:5, Insightful)
OK, how would you suggest raising public awareness about this? I only heard about it because it was posted here in Slashdot.
Slashdot isn't really that big, and the audience is very self-selecting for certain points of view.
Says user number 1,243,248. If Slashdot were a city that population would make it the ninth largest city in the US, between San Diego and Dallas. Yes audience is self selecting, this is a site mostly made of nerds with a libertarian bent. There is, at least, an effort to stay informed and back up statements with facts.
Re:Ah well ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Not to commit
Besides it isn't about
I also wouldn't say that we're that limited in the ideologies of the user-base. I'd say we skew towards mid-high income brackets, and towards the more libertarian techies, but thats not to say that they are a large majority. Look how many left-right, socialism-libertarianism debates plague YRO daily. We even have a share of Christian fundies resident. And while American's are the majority, we definitely have a LARGE share of folk from other countries/cultures to balance things out.
We represent a large array of international basement dwellers, in other words.
Re:Ah well ... (Score:4, Insightful)
There are a whole group of people who "defend their privacy" in cases like this simply by avoiding such products and services. These people have no social impact *at all*, because they don't say anything - which means everyone else thinks that "no one cares".
What that means is simple: Yes, you should actively defend your privacy by avoiding intrusive services. But you also need to whine about it on the internet to let others know that someone cares.
Re:Ah well ... (Score:5, Interesting)
I know this is going to come as a shock to you non-geezers, but you can watch TV without cable! There's satellite TV (several providers IINM) and good old trusty rabbit ears (my rabbit ears are amplified and deliver a very good picture) or roof antenna.
When I was a kid we only had three channels, and that was in the St Louis Metro area! I'm in dinky little Springfield IL now, and I can pick up nine channels.
Yeah, I could get dozens of channels with cable but so what? When I had cable I didn't watch very many anyway. If there's a program on cable I want to watch I'll go to a bar (I'm usually in one anyway). I used to like The Discovery Channel before they started sucking. Instead of "The Andromeda Galaxy: little known secrets" now there's "Painting race cars: little known secrets". They have ESPN on and there's... championship POKER??? Pool? WTF is next, twiddly winks?
At least when I was a kid there was Ernie Kovacs and Red Skelton. You young whippersnappers don't know what you're missing.
If they impliment this I'm going to have to make another article alomg the lines of Good Riddance to Bad Tech [kuro5hin.org] about bad tech we SHOULD get rid of... maybe add it to Dog-Slow Technologies [slashdot.org] and rename the sucker.
-mcgrew
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As much as I despise Hillary, the passport thing wasn't her fault. CNN is now reporting [cnn.com] that all three remaining candidates have had their passport files breached. So, in other words, it's Bush's fault.
Re:Ah well ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Shamelessle and blatantly stolen from A Child's Garden of Grass: A Pre-Legalization Comedy (1971)
"Your paperss, pleass!"
"Uh, but I only got a pipe, man."
"Zen you'll haff to come vith ME!"
But seriously (boo! he's serious!), is there ANY evil the corporations won't stoop to? Time to take all those lame stale lawyer jokes and rework them to Capitalist jokes. Even you athiests have to agree with what the bible says about the love of money.
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Re:Ah well ... (Score:5, Insightful)
"Make the most of Indian hemp seed and sow it everywhere!" - George Washington
Re:Ah well ... (Score:5, Interesting)
Many seem to be unaware that it was once illegal not to grow hemp in these here united states.
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Until the set top box calls the police if it cant see you. I guess then you stick a picture of an empty room in front of it.
Re:Ah well ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Ah well ... (Score:5, Funny)
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You guys call yourselves nerds? Pshaw! Duct tape? Pictures of goatse? We can do better than that! Find the nastiest, most offensive (yet legal of course, no kittie porn [uncyclopedia.org] you sicko) video you can and have it repeat itself. Take the damned converter box apart, cut the damned camera wires and splice your video output there.
OR take out the camera, extend the wires, and stick it pointing out the window.
OR if you're a REALLY smart ube
Re:Ah well ... (Score:5, Funny)
rj
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Or maybe just set up a IR light box about 1.5 inches from the lens and let them watch the bright bright IR light. Power it from the box's switched outlet and whenever it is turned on the camera will be washed out with IR.
Pe
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C'mon, at least step it up to 2girls1cup
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Re:Ah well ... (Score:5, Insightful)
In the 1980s capitalism triumphed over communism. In the 1990s it triumphed over democracy.
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[badum-ching]
Re:Ah well ... (Score:5, Insightful)
MORE electrical tape (Score:5, Funny)
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Unfortunately (Score:3, Insightful)
Them's the breaks!
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Naw, just point it back at the TV set, and put it on E! all the time.
Kunkel Replies (Score:5, Informative)
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Chris,
Your article on "Comcast Cameras to Start Watching You" portrayed some assumptions that require correction and clarification. I want to be clear that in no way are we exploring any camera devices that would monitor customer behavior.
To gather information for your article on Comcast's exploration of cameras you picked up on my conversation with another conference attendee. The other attendee and I were deep in a conversation discussing a variety of input devices offered by a variety of vendors that Comcast is reviewing.
The camera-based gesture recognition device is in no way designed to - or capable of - monitoring your living room. These technologies are designed to allow simple navigation on a television set just as the Wii remote uses a camera to manage its much heralded gesture-based interactivity.
We are constantly exploring new technologies that better serve our customers. The goal is simple - a better user experience that allows the consumer to get ever increasing value out of their Comcast products.
As with any new technology, we carefully consider the consumer benefits. In fact, we do an enormous amount of consumer testing in advance of making a product decision such as this. I'm confident that a new technology like gesture-based navigation will be fully explored with consumers to understand the product's feature benefits - and of course, the value to the consumer.
Sincerely,
Gerard Kunkel
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I despise Comcast, but thought the fellow should at least be allowed to defend himself.
How ticked off he must be - those meddling journalist types!
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I did respond to the post, too. I hope somebody reads it -- this company seriously needs a wakeup call,...
My response:
Thanks for clarifying that. Although, from reading the slashdot article on this s
Nope. (Score:2)
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It will get forced on us (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It will get forced on us (Score:5, Insightful)
-What does legally happen when some adult's Comacast 1984-style bidirectional TV box "inadvertently" observes illegal underage nudity and sex. I am sure if this data was in any way streamed over their network there would be numerous state and federal laws violated (or if it were retained in any way), not to mention grounds for a very hefty lawsuit.
It would make for some interesting legal reading in any case.
Re:It will get forced on us (Score:5, Funny)
Re:It will get forced on us (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Nope. (Score:4, Insightful)
If they simply must market such a technology, at least put a biometric device on the remote. That would have to work better than some mysterious body shape recognition, give them the same marketing information and I can still watch Sanford and Son reruns in my underwear.
Already there? (Score:5, Insightful)
What makes you think the camera is not already there? Have you disassembled your cable box?
Food for thought. Your cable box could have a camera already. If you have cable internet you know it has enough bandwidth for monitoring you.
Re:Already there? (Score:5, Informative)
it's a VP that really knows very little about what he is talking about opening his mouth to the public. it's more of a detector than a camera. We were talking about it at Comcast over 5 years ago when I was a part of that focus group. I cant believe they are still chasing that idea. It does not make the demographic data any more valuable than it already is.
Re:Already there? (Score:5, Funny)
Ceiling Comcast watches you masturbate (Score:5, Funny)
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Opportunity to screw with their minds (Score:5, Funny)
Roll 1d8:
1) Stuffed animals
2) Feminine hygiene products
3) Jars of Bovril
4) Jars of Marmite
5) Old computer hardware
6) Cassette tapes of ABBA albums
7) Duct tape
8) Any two of the above
With any luck, the Demographic Analysis software will either give up or -- unless 1960s SF shows have taught me wrong -- spew reams of paper tape, shout "DOES NOT COMPUTE!" in a tinny voice, and catch on fire.
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Unsubscribe to LuminaireX's living room video feed.
1984 (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:1984 (Score:5, Insightful)
fixed it for ya
Re:1984 (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh and this is perfectly okay since it's a corporation and not a government because companies are beholden to a small number of hyper wealthy share holders as opposed to the populous. And companies never do anything wrong! Why would they? I mean look at the housing market. Rolling along! Look at the energy markets where it was finally let loose of the yoke of government regulation! Enron! Worldcom! Bear Stearns! These are pillars of industry. Truly, we should simply have more faith in the wisdom of our betters.
Can't really force this on your customers (Score:2)
There's really not much possibility of this being used without the consumer's knowledge.
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Nonetheless, this is disturbing. The cable subscriber him/herself would be aware if he/she opted to use this, but what about unwitting par
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If the camera's integrated into the set top box, that means the box has to be pointed at the viewers (not, say, rotated 45 degrees), and not in, say, the drawer of your entertainment center. Even then, a little duct tape in the right spot, and you've got an obscured camera.
And an obscured IR receiver as well. You'll need an IR repeater, and have to periodically check the box to see that it has remained powered on as they're notorious for turning off and berating you for trying to operate them without turning them back on (as opposed to turning on for you on receipt of any valid IR signal). And the glorious new failure mode where they look like they're functioning (display channel instead of reverting to clock) but instead have been unresponsive and outputting a static garbag
Unbelievable. (Score:2)
Although, I suppose it gives us something to talk about between SCO updates.
Context-sensitive DVR menus! w00t! (Score:2)
Actually, it's more fun to watch with her anyway.
Interesting (Score:5, Interesting)
They can then go ahead and develop technology to determine who's watching the commercials and who isn't... and then apply a flat per-minute fee for not watching advertisements.
Alternatively, they can charge a per-viewer fee for pay-per-view events. After all, if you crap 20 people around your HDTV to watch a $40 boxing event, isn't it logical that you should pay extra for every extra person who's watching it?
Heck, there's all kinds of useful things a company could do with this information.
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Now, the 'superbowl' idea, that is possible.
Well that's no fun (Score:2)
See it's like someone is looking at you while you are driving down the road...
Ha ha April Fool's... oh wait (Score:4, Funny)
Cool in theory, not so much in practice (Score:2)
At last, per-person DRM (Score:5, Interesting)
The RIAA and the MPAA will love this. At last, content can be licensed to the individual, not the device. "Pay per viewer", at last.
And you can't cover the camera; if it can't see you to identify your biometrics, your licenses won't validate.
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I cna see it now. Every time someone walks into the room they have to swipe their credit card in the STB or the TV will turn off.
This sounds like a DRM dream. The sad thing is that many people will think this is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and will welcome this "customized user e
Picture this (Score:5, Funny)
Open quote? (Score:2)
Otherwise, I enjoyed this summary more than most. Of course I've got 1984 (book on CD) in my car right now. Which reminds me--it's "Telescreen."
Confuse-o-rama! (Score:2, Funny)
I don't like this (Score:3, Interesting)
Does Comcast hate customers? (Score:2)
Biometric DRM (Score:2)
A totally safe technology (Score:2)
So that's what (Score:2)
And here I was hoping the USB ports were for plugging in game controllers for some sort of gaming-on-demand service.
Re:So that's what (Score:5, Interesting)
It would have been even better though if it acted as a tv tuner card that you could use to change channels on the box from the computer.
duct tape (Score:2)
Personally I think this would be a huge invasion of privacy. If some hacker tapped into this and got video of some guy doing his wife. If they were 'in front of the tv' and watching pr0n, and then it got posted on you tube. I'd imagine that there would be a huge law suite in the US.
I really hate comcast at this point. I wish there were other cable companies in my area, and no dish does not work so w
It's the Santa Box (Score:5, Funny)
Does anything sound like a bad idea to these idiots? I can just see the board room discussion...
CEO: I'm thinking anal probes.
CLO: I don't think we're quite there yet, remember you have to work up to this stuff gradually.
CTO: We already know everything about their web surfing, let's expand on that.
CEO: What do you mean?
CTO: Let's build cameras into the converter boxes, this way we can watch them.
This can be done in better ways (Score:2)
tin foil hats? (Score:3, Funny)
But in Soviet Russia... (Score:4, Funny)
Reply from Comcast (Score:5, Informative)
Hopefully that clarifies things a bit.
I'm still glad I have TW cable in my area.
20 Minutes into the Future? (Score:3, Interesting)
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Too late, Rule 34 [comcastxxxvoyeurism.com]
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