Ratings: TiVo to Sell Reports on Users' TV Viewing Habits

I'd be willing to sign up if it meant that TIVO tracked the fact that FSW is on 24-7 in my house

No need to panic- you can opt out and they are not reporting your personal viewing habits but reporting a sample of a audinece for a region:

From the linked article-

TiVo allows its users to decline the monitoring of their viewing habits, but a spokesman said that most do not.

From NY Times "DVR Myth and Fact" written by DAVID POGUE

Belief: “I heard that TiVo tracks what I watch. I don’t want Big Brother looking over my shoulder.”

Fact: TiVos collect viewing data and beam it back to the company -- but only in the aggregate, the company says. Nobody knows what you, personally, watch -- only what people in your part of the country watch.

Even so, you can opt out of even this anonymous data collection by calling TiVo at 877-367-8486. (Replay says IT doesn’t collect aggregate viewing data, but “may collect such information in the future.” It, too, will offer an opt-out method.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/29/technology/circuits/29POGUE-EMAIL.html

*NY Times- Requires Registration.

 

I have TIVO & am glad they want the world to know my HH watches a lot of soccer.

But TIVO claiming they have an opt out policy - with a phone number is ************ing ridiculous. They ought to have a menu option for you to select in or out.