Ever since the first Tivo’s and other DVR’s (Digital Video Recorders) came out there has been much speculation about the extent to which the broadcasting companies collect data on our television viewing habits. The speculation has ranged from paranoid conspiracy theorists that contend that every channel click, rewind, and recorded program is remembered, tallied and stored in secret databases. On the other extreme are those proclaiming that virtually no information is retained. Sorry to disappoint the ones who want to believe in a nefarious plot, but the truth lies somewhere in between, and the amount of information collected depends heavily on your television service provider. Dish Network, for example, collects virtually nothing on your habits. If you watch a pay-per-view program, obviously that is noted for business purposes, but that is it. Tivo, in contrast to Dishnetwork, keeps close tabs on the shows being watched and sends that information over the attached phone line. Many Tivo users first became aware of this during the Janet Jackson skin-bearing episode during Super Bowl 38 between New England and the Carolina Panthers. Tivo announced the great numbers of people that rewound the event, and their customers suddenly became aware of the capabilities of the company to see what they were doing. It turns out, however, that information about who watched the content is assiduously stripped from the information, and then is shuffled between a number of servers, so that your privacy is protected. In other words, attention is paid to the shows that are watched, and even information about rewinds by customers, but it is so anonymous that no one needs worry about the data gathered.
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