As delineated in this article [Los Angeles Times, registration required], the TiVo folks have come up with yet another way to swap the privacy of their users for a few dollars. I am of two minds about these little plans for the gathering of user data and the implementation of targeted advertising. On the one side, they don't seem all that invasive to me, and I do want to see the TiVo company stay in business. On the other, they're slowly chipping away at my right to watch what I want the way I want and at my right to not be spied upon when I do. The "privacy" part bothers me more as a matter of principle than actual damage. I can't see any harm in TiVo compiling data that includes a list of what I watch and it could conceivably do some good in boosting the ratings for shows I like…but at some point, I suppose there will be a downside. It's like when I fill out a form somewhere and I'm asked for seemingly irrelevant but unimportant data. I think, "I can't imagine any harm in them knowing this about me but — somewhere, sometime — someone will figure out a way to use it against me."
Here's the big problem with this new incursion on our viewing sovereignty, and it's a small possible drawback. The new policy involves TiVo bombarding us with pop-up ads as we fast-forward through commercials. One of the worst-kept secrets on the Internet is that TiVo has an undocumented capability. By punching a few buttons, you can program your remote to have a 30-second skip feature…so when they start a 2-minute commercial break, you just grab the remote, hit a certain button four times…and you're completely past the ads without having to see more than a fraction of a second of each. Does this new policy mean that some future TiVo software upgrade will take this away? I'm hoping it doesn't but it probably does.