WebTV admitted that it watches everything its users do on the WebTV service, including the sites they visit, the ads they follow, and the television programs they watch and record.
This week, Steve Perlman, president of WebTV, admitted that the company
maintains an entire department for the sole purpose of looking at
collected data: where you've been, what you're watching, and even what
ads you're clicking on.
The polling, uploaded nightly, is offered to advertisers in aggregated
form, however, results are grouped by zip code and contain demographic
data from viewer's polls.
Perlman insists that the company follows a strict privacy policy and
allows only certain employees access to the collected data. He also said
that no personal data would be released regarding individual
preferences, until the company can perfect a method of allowing the
tracking to be turned off, to be available some time next year.
Media reports of the announcement have focused on the potential for the
abuse of this capability, but the company regards it as a positive
measure for consumers, leading to better understanding of viewer
preferences. Once the option to turn off polling is available,
advertisers will be able to further customize offering on an individual
basis, Perlman claims.
For over a year, rumors about WebTV's ability to comb through users
on-line habits, and e-mail has circulated through the newsgroups.
Moderators in the official WebTV newsgroup, webtv.users, ridiculed
notions that WebTV spent time going through users' records, stating "Who
has time?"
At this time, it is still unclear whether or not WebTV combs through
user e-mail, looking for information on who user contact or the contents
of such communications. All WebTV users' e-mail is stored on WebTV's
servers. Although WebTV's Terms of Service makes the use of personally
identifiable information prohibited, except under situations of legal
necessity, there is no provision prohibiting it from using information
gleaned from personal e-mails in aggregate form.
Although WebTV's Terms of Service refers to the fact that WebTV
aggregates usage of all parts of the WebTV service, users have not been
notified by e-mail or through the official WebTV Newsletter, ClubWebTV,
that they are being monitored and that their behavior is being used to
sell advertising. A report from Interactive Week stated that WebTV
would be notifying users beginning the day the story ran, however, to
date, the only notification to users has been through the press.
The Interactive Week article also stated that WebTV "protects" users
from cookies, a common method of tracking users through a particular
site and storing information provided to the site from the user in
on-line forms. When asked in the WebTV developer's forum about this
"protection," a WebTV employee indicated that he didn't know what
Interactive Week meant by "protection," but he acknowledged that there
may be some inconsistencies or bugs regarding how cookies function on
WebTV.
WebTV Privacy
Policy
In the Media:
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data gathering raises privacy concernsWebTV
Views ViewersReporting
Practices Put WebTV on Defensive
