As IF Times

Source: Vizio Smart TVs Track Watching Habits To Work With Advertisers « CBS Sacramento

I get that this is a great idea for advertisers, but I’m unclear on why it’s a good idea for anyone else.

It all started with caller ID.  When this little feature was offered on phones, it was a godsend because you could ignore telemarketers, your in-laws, your boss and of course pesky boy or girlfriends.  Stalking people became more problematic if the name of the guy breathing heavily on the other end of the line had his name clearly displayed on your phone screen.

Of course the reverse of this is an advertiser’s dream.  Using modern computer technology, they can now tell who has been looking at their ads, or browsing on their sites.  To make it even easier for them, people actually volunteer not just their names and addresses, but their likes, dislikes, travel activities, lists of friends and their likes and activities by having them posted online via Facebook, Instagram and Linked-in to mention a few of the most popular social media sites.

The proliferation of apps that people download to their smartphones are widely accepted as convenience tools to help make peoples’ lives easier and more convenient.  It’s hard to imagine how we lived before we knew the identity of the plane flying overhead just by pointing our phone at it.  Or the position of the dog star in the sky.  Or the most recent astrological update.

There are apps now that will send notifications of sale items to your phone as you walk through retail stores.  A coupon will flash and point you to the product.  From here, it’s only a step away from the app ringing up the purchase if you swiped left or right.  This notion is supported by Apple’s Tim Cook declaring that cash will be unknown within a generation since all transactions will be done virtually.  As readers may know, I am not of that opinion, How Do You Tip The Girls .

So now it’s reported that ‘smart tv’s’ will be monitoring peoples’ viewing habits.   If you happen to binge watch The Golden Girls on a rainy weekend, ads will pop up showing walk-in tubs and medic alert amulets.  If you happen to watch a lot of Cesar Millan dog shows, you may get deluged with dog food ads.  Same thing if you happened to watch The View.

In essence, information on where and how you spend your money, who your friends are, how you pass  your entertainment time and where you go as mapped by your car’s GPS is on a database somewhere for someone to use for whatever reason they may wish. What could possibly go wrong?