Comcast Is Reportedly Developing a Device That Would Track Your Bathroom Habits (theverge.com) 61
Comcast is reportedly working on a device designed to closely monitor a user's health. "The device will monitor people's basic health metrics using ambient sensors, with a focus on whether someone is making frequent trips to the bathroom or spending more time than usual in bed," reports CNBC. "Comcast is also building tools for detecting falls, which are common and potentially fatal for seniors." The Verge reports: Many products on the market today already have the motion sensors, cameras, and other hardware that allow for what Comcast seems to be envisioning -- but not even Amazon or Google have directly sought to keep such a close eye on their customers' personal health with their respective Echo and Home devices. Comcast itself already offers home security services, and the company's much-touted X1 voice remote for its Xfinity cable platform has helped Comcast make advancements in recognizing and processing voice commands.
According to CNBC, Comcast's device won't offer functionality like controlling smart home devices, nor will it have the ability to search for answers to a person's questions on the internet. But it will reportedly "have a personality like Alexa" and be able to place calls to emergency services. In an email to The Verge, a Comcast spokesperson said the company's upcoming device "is NOT a smart speaker" and "is purpose-built to be a sensor that detects motion." It's said that Comcast aims to offer the device and a companion health tracking service to "at-risk people, including seniors and people with disabilities." The company is also in discussions with hospitals about potentially "using the device to ensure that patients don't end up back in the hospital after they've been discharged."
According to CNBC, Comcast's device won't offer functionality like controlling smart home devices, nor will it have the ability to search for answers to a person's questions on the internet. But it will reportedly "have a personality like Alexa" and be able to place calls to emergency services. In an email to The Verge, a Comcast spokesperson said the company's upcoming device "is NOT a smart speaker" and "is purpose-built to be a sensor that detects motion." It's said that Comcast aims to offer the device and a companion health tracking service to "at-risk people, including seniors and people with disabilities." The company is also in discussions with hospitals about potentially "using the device to ensure that patients don't end up back in the hospital after they've been discharged."
Where is the "emergency stop" button? (Score:2, Insightful)
Where is the "emergency stop" button? I want to press it, but I can't find it anywhere. How to tell this world that I'm not agreeing to all of this madness?
Re: (Score:3)
A-gree. This crap is getting more insane every day. Track my ad habits online, check. Track my viewing habits on tv, check. Monitor when I'm taking a shit? Just no.
Re: (Score:2)
The ultimate goal, of course, is to track what you are thinking and to take immediate automated corrective action (Shock collar? Automatic drug injection?) if you deviate from what is "healthy". This includes thinking badly of those in power, not spending all your money on crap or, bad!, thinking independent. unapproved thoughts. We had that with religion (although people needed to simulate the actions of "God", as the whole thing is obviously a construct), but many people have woken up to the scam and real
I know how this works (Score:1)
They see you take off during the commercial and return to the program early.
Re: (Score:1)
Good idea!
Plop (Score:1)
Dr Toilet (Score:2)
I guess Comcast has been watching Scrubs reruns too...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Smart Pipe (Score:2)
I thought of Smart Pipe-- from adult swim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
As if I'd trust Comcast with my health data. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
There was a product in Japan that let you track your baby's bathroom habits, and then review the data via a cloud service. Not entirely sure what the supposed benefit was, but clearly Comcast is not the only one who thinks there is consumer demand for this.
As it happens they had to recall all the Japanese ones because a security certificate hard coded into the firmware expired.
Re: (Score:2)
I thought people were out of their minds for allowing Google and Amazon to install microphones into their homes. Look where that got us.
Health "Insurance" (Score:5, Interesting)
Those things will be a gold mine, and pretty soon compulsory.
Re: (Score:1)
Comcast will sell access to these devices to the insurance companies so that they can deny cover as soon as it looks likely anyone is getting sick.
Those things will be a gold mine, and pretty soon compulsory.
Yeah, it would be great if we didn't have to have those health insurance companies that put their profits above our health. If only we had another option.
But we live in the USA where we have the most expensive healthcare system in the World but with results that lag behind all those countries that have a variation of some sort of pinko-socialist government systems.
Re: (Score:2)
Like the ones that refuse to treat anyone mostly dead, as it's cheaper to let them die?
Which ones are those?
Re:Health "Insurance" (Score:4, Interesting)
Like the ones that refuse to treat anyone mostly dead, as it's cheaper to let them die?
which is not only bullshit, but bullshit designed to make sure the debate is never about better healthcare for Americans, but always about how much worse things are in other places.
When my wife fell down the stairs and broke her ankle* last year it cost me $4 per hour for parking at the hospital and nothing else.
That included about 3 weeks in hospital, 3 surgeries and a bunch of physiotherapy. None of your stupid "co-pays" or worrying about "out of network" doctors, or any of the nonsense Americans put up with.
And yet, still idiots like A/C below pretend like they know anything about what goes on outside their shithole little flyover state.
The next argument will be about how politicians decide treatment. Yes really I have heard that one too.
* I wasn't home. I didn't push her. I have heard all the jokes. (I think).
Re: (Score:2)
...and there's a reason your rich fly to the US for treatment.
Ha! Good one A/C. Wait, you really believe that?
Idiot.
People as Lab Rats (Score:2)
Put sensors in. Gather enormous data sets. Find correlations. Call this data "The Truth." Sell this data to everybody and anybody regardless of the end goal.
All those who resist will clearly be idiots, and possibly criminals.
--
Someday, everything will make perfect sense. - John Mayer
I'd be curious to see (Score:2)
how their sensors work with my cat curled up on top of the DVR, blocking the front panel.
Sign Me Up (Score:1)
Sign me up as willing to insert one of these into the ass of Comcast's CEO.
I promise I do a great job. I'll ram it WAYYYY up there.
Adult Swim predicted this nearly five years ago (Score:2)
No need to track it. (Score:3)
If Comcast just gave out the addresses of their executives, I'm sure plenty of people would be more than happy to shit on their front yards. ;)
HIPAA can of worms (Score:5, Interesting)
I really hope Comcast understands what they're doing by calling this a "health tracking service for at-risk people, including seniors and people with disabilities." If you start claiming it offers medical benefits, all the HIPAA rules for security and privacy [hhs.gov] kick in. This "summary" of the rules spans 7 pages on my browser and includes over 30 footnotes. That should give you some idea of the bureaucratic minefield they're entering. If they were hoping to make money selling the info collected to companies selling bladder control medication, they're going to be very disappointed.
Re: (Score:2)
by calling this a "health tracking service for at-risk people, including seniors and people with disabilities." If you start claiming it offers medical benefits,
Calling it a health tracking service isn't a claim that it offers medical benefits. You're going to great lengths to make a specious argument.
If you agree to get this device, then you have waived the HIPAA limits to begin with, even were there any claims to "medical benefits", which there aren't.
The First Post question was: "where is the emergency stop button?" The "Emergency Stop" is that you just don't sign up for this. Problem solved.
Coming next: pay per flush! (Score:2)
Fuck off and die, Comcast (Score:3)
Only Internet (Score:2)
I only have internet with Comcast, since they are the only game in town, and I use my OWN modem and router. I don't rent ANY equipment from them.
Ugh (Score:2)
If someone were tracking my bathroom usage, I'd be very pissed. Enough with this crap!
New meaning to the term "crapware". (Score:2)
Too literal (Score:4, Funny)
That needs measuring? (Score:2)
I thought it's common knowledge by now that you can determine what shows have what spectator numbers by mesuring the water consumption, and compare it to the times of ads interrupting those shows.
Dear Comcast, (Score:1)
Literally, get out of my ass.