I agree that it is a bit discerning to know that TiVO is “watching me”.  According to the company, though, they are looking at summaries of rolled up information sans the personally identifiable information.  I’m okay with that – some people aren’t.  Regardless of the fact, make sure you read the fine print as Michael says. 

The problem with the people that are complaining about this, though?  They are the same people that don’t think twice about other ways that “Big Brother” is watching us.  Use a credit card?  Have one of those transponders in your car that automatically deducts the toll from your account when you go through a booth?  Make phone calls from your house?  Make phone calls from your mobile phone?  Use a checking account?  Have an internet service provider?  Belong to one of those savings clubs at the supermarket?  How about a frequent flyer club or hotel points club?  I could probably go on an on…big companies use this information to make sure they are providing the services that their consumers want – and pocket the profits as a result.

The fact of the matter is that just about everything we do today is tracked in some way.  That’s why I could care less that TiVO tracks (anonymously according to them, anyway!) that I am addicted to CMT and Stargate SG-1.  The problem comes (and it will, either by corporate malevolence or corporate idiocy) when the fact that I am addicted to CMT and Stargate SG-1 shows up somewhere it shouldn’t.  We can have all the luxuries that these services provide or we can keep our dirty little secrets.  I don’t know that we can ever have both.

IMHO the answer is TiVO monitoring whether you watched them or not. Lots of TiVO users it seems were a little disturbed at this. Seems that some of them never read the fine print in their service agreement. I can’t say I disagree, the notion that the TiVO folks have the ability to monitor every click, press and re-wind is disconcerting to me. While we have seen that many folks are willing to turn over details of their private lives in exchange for services, many simply didn’t read the fine print. What really concerns me is how quickly privacy policies from other vendors have changed over the years and what was considered private at the time of sign up later turned out to be less so.

Privacy concerns resurface after Janet Jackson's Super Bowl flash dance prompts TiVO to show off that it can tell what viewers are watching.

[CNET News.com - Front Door]

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[Michael Gartenberg]