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cookmo · 05-08-2008, 12:58 PM

So I work as a sales rep for a satellite company, and one of the things that we do for our jobs is to research "other" t.v. service providers. We don't do this to bash them-but to know what they are offering to be knowledgable and try to match or beayt their prices and win over customers.

So I was googling Comcast and came across this story about how Comcast wants to put video cameras in their receivers for market research. That way they can see who's watching t.v. and play adds accordingly. It all seems kind of fubared to me, craziness.

http://newteevee.com/2008/03/18/comc...-watching-you/

Written by Chris Albrecht
Posted Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 11:42 AM PT

Comcast Cameras to Start Watching You?
If you have some tinfoil handy, now might be a good time to fashion a hat. At the Digital Living Room conference today, 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.

Perhaps I’ve seen Enemy of the State too many times, or perhaps I’m just naive about the depths to which Comcast currently tracks my every move. I can’t trust Comcast with BitTorrent, so why should I trust them with my must-be-kept-secret, DVR-clogging addiction to Keeping Up with the Kardashians?

Kunkel also spoke on camera with me about fixing bad Comcast user experiences, the ongoing BitTorrent battle and VOD. But he mostly towed the corporate line on these issues (the monitoring your living room came up after my camera was put away).

05-08-2008, 12:58 PM	#1 (permalink)
cookmo Insane Location: Ohio	Comcast video cameras? So I work as a sales rep for a satellite company, and one of the things that we do for our jobs is to research "other" t.v. service providers. We don't do this to bash them-but to know what they are offering to be knowledgable and try to match or beayt their prices and win over customers. So I was googling Comcast and came across this story about how Comcast wants to put video cameras in their receivers for market research. That way they can see who's watching t.v. and play adds accordingly. It all seems kind of fubared to me, craziness. http://newteevee.com/2008/03/18/comc...-watching-you/ Written by Chris Albrecht Posted Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 11:42 AM PT Comcast Cameras to Start Watching You? If you have some tinfoil handy, now might be a good time to fashion a hat. At the Digital Living Room conference today, 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. Perhaps I’ve seen Enemy of the State too many times, or perhaps I’m just naive about the depths to which Comcast currently tracks my every move. I can’t trust Comcast with BitTorrent, so why should I trust them with my must-be-kept-secret, DVR-clogging addiction to Keeping Up with the Kardashians? Kunkel also spoke on camera with me about fixing bad Comcast user experiences, the ongoing BitTorrent battle and VOD. But he mostly towed the corporate line on these issues (the monitoring your living room came up after my camera was put away).