Plans by Comcast, Verizon and other operators to deploy DVRs capable of sensing activities of consumers nearby have led two US congressmen to file a bill that would give users the right to opt out. Most systems to date, in particular that designed and patented by Intel, have emphasized that this option would always be there anyway, but it makes sense to enshrine it as a right, given the potential for abuse. In fact the book Videobug (Amazon) is based entirely on a fictional drama around this eventuality.
One of the congressmen, Walter Jones, described the idea of having snooping technology deployed without consumers’ consent as an egregious invasion of privacy. The other congressman, Mike Capuano, noted the coincidence of this coming at a time when the US government has been embarrassed by the revelations of idealist fugitive Edward Snowden, recently thought to be in transit at Moscow airport and possibly bound for either Ecuador or Venezuela, which may provide political asylum.
At least Verizon and Comcast, unlike the US government, are being up front about their snooping plans, involving deployments of cameras and microphones in DVRs to monitor user activity for targeting recommendations and especially advertising. If a viewer is seen to be carrying a beer from the refrigerator an advert of a similar brew from a rival brand could be flashed up at a special price.
It could be that if properly presented consumers will actually welcome such monitoring and find it amusing to have adverts that were clearly triggered by their movements or discussion around the TV. On the other hand the novelty could quickly wear off, leading to large scale opting out, quite apart from the many who would immediately consider this an unwelcome intrusion of privacy. Of course operators could offer discounts or other incentives in return for enabling the intrusion, which no doubt would have some takers. At any rate an opt-out option surely seems the very minimum that would satisfy consumers in general, never mind the privacy lobby.