DVDs + Microsoft = them spying on you (1 Viewer)

[Mike_G]

Allegations. No FACTS.

NO FACTS!

People use port sniffers to snif out spyware, so there should be a PLETHORA of port sniffs. Show me.

Mike

 

[Joseph S]

http://tivo.com/support/service_privacy_pvr.asp
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...o+watching+you
Reading, it's not a difficult thing to do.
At least TIVO puts it in there unlike another company which just prefers to commit perjury in court and lie to the public. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...tius021799.htm

 

[Mike_G]

Nope. Still no conncetion between the data and the user(s) it comes from. Keep trying.

Mike

 

[Dave F]

They used that cookie as a means for themselves to simultaneously attempt to access data. This wasn't a CDDB query. They made you think that was going on, but it was really only half the story. To this day they have not indicated at all that the information will be destroyed and that they will stop surreptitiously downloading my info while they pretended act like the CDDB

< PLEASE INSERT PROOF HERE >

More allegations, no proof.

My point regarding Real Networks & Doubleclick is that real, verified attacks on privacy go unnoticed whilst the media and the paranoid focus upon Microsoft, solely because it is a large, recognizable target.

The first time I inserted a DVD, my firewall kicked in and alerted me that Media Player was contacting a server. Knowing that it was downloading info, it was obvious that it was going to contact a server and send information regarding the disc, my IP, and likely a product ID. I still don't see where any of this is suprising to anyone with a bit of net-savvy. I could've had my firewall deny Media Player access to the net at that point, and problem solved.

The ability to stop DVD's from querying a server for info should have had an option to shut it off. But it's not there. This is not the first time a program lacked what seems like a natural option, nor will it be the last. But the lack of an easy option does not prove a conspiracy.

I just realized - when I add DVD's in DVD Profiler, it actually contacts a server, sends my ID info, and is sent info regarding what DVD I am adding! They have my email address, billing info, IP, and a list of my DVDs! I think I better write an Associated Press article about this.

-Dave

 

[Thom B]

 

[Joseph S]

Dave,
They publicly admitted to collecting the data. So feel free to call Microsoft for your proof. Otherwise read any of the articles and interviews with MS employees.
To say the Realnetworks and Doubleclick privacy questions haven't been covered is total BS. Heck, the FTC was going after both of them.
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To excuse Microsoft because they normally get more press is about the lamest excuse yet. That's what comes with being a monopoly, they take the good press and the bad press as it comes. They are just as guilty as the others and deserve to be criticized for violating users' rights without any notice of what was going on. Tivo has long stated that they do this, MS intentionally omitted this info in the user agreement.
You choose when to connect to DVDProfiler and explicitly tells you what it is going to do. They also report that all info you choose(not done without consent or in secrecy) is stored on a separate encrypted server. Either way, you made a conscious decision to trust them. If they violate that trust feel free to write that column. Microsoft doesn't offer you the option to opt out of uploading your data and continues to produce the cookie file no matter how many times it is deleted. Prior to the reporting they wouldn't even tell you which of the thousands of invisible files it actually was, let alone that it was there on your computer.

 

[Dave F]

I'm not excusing them. They made a mistake by leaving an option out, but there is nothing that needs to be excused.

I've read many articles on the this subject. Are you referring to the official response where it is stated:

the subscription signup cookie is a different cookie/identifier than the DVD cookie/identifier. This means that it’s not even theoretically possible to associate DVD viewing information with the email address.

The closest thing that I can see to Microsoft "collecting" would be normal internet activity logs. Otherwise, there is the file that remains on your computer, which is not accessed by Microsoft. But that would be the user collecting the data, not Microsoft. If it was accessed by Microsoft, as Mike pointed out, someone would have caught it with a port sniffer by now.

I love how in the AP article, they raise the hype by stating that your spouse could find out what you have been watching, then later admit they have no idea what exactly is in the file, nor do they know how to retrieve it. Apparently the mythical spouse is a computer genius who can hack the file and extract the data, yet cannot figure out how to disable cookies or run a firewall. Some sort of idiot savant, I guess.

Still waiting for that proof...

-Dave

 

[Mike_G]

Same here.

Still no proof connecting the DVD data to an actual person.

Still no proof showing that the data collected was actually used to send advertizing to particular people.

Still no proof showing that TiVo data is connected to named customers.

Joe, you're dealing with paranoid allegations and trying to rally people into thinking that corporations are spyng on them.

So where's the proof except for anonymous data collection?

Mike

 

[Benson R]

There was a King of the Hill repeat fox used a filler last week that reminded me of this thread. It was the one where Hank has bad credit because Arlen Video mistakingly shows that he never returned a pornographic videotape. He then winds up on mailing lists and Dale warns him that he is ensnarled in a by a group of super computers called "the beast." Then there is the whole bit about Dale's alter ego Rusty Shackleford and "I was very ill as a child." Anyway one of my favorite episodes as I always love the bits about Dale's paranoia.