Cable companies to start spying on customers soon.

An anonymous reader writes
"Cable operators at the semi-annual CableLab's Innovation Showcase have informally voted as best new product a gizmo that can determine how many people are watching a TV. Developed by Israeli company PrimeSense,
the product lets digital devices see a 3-D view of the world (the
images look like something from thermal imaging). In other words, that
cable set-top box will know whether three people are sitting on the
sofa watching TV and how many are adults vs. children. Do we really
need cable and/or video service operators knowing this? It all happens
via a chip that resides in a camera that plugs into the set-top box."

AGEsAces wrote:

An anonymous reader writes
"Cable operators at the semi-annual CableLab's Innovation Showcase have informally voted as best new product a gizmo that can determine how many people are watching a TV. Developed by Israeli company PrimeSense,
the product lets digital devices see a 3-D view of the world (the
images look like something from thermal imaging). In other words, that
cable set-top box will know whether three people are sitting on the
sofa watching TV and how many are adults vs. children. Do we really
need cable and/or video service operators knowing this? It all happens
via a chip that resides in a camera that plugs into the set-top box."

Ok...first..."anonymous writer"?

Next...how do they know if they are children or midgets?
Third...could be just the dog sitting on the couch watching the show.

Seems like a kind of stupid invention (and waste of money) if you ask me....though it could be used for law enforcement/spying pretty well.

Think about it this way...hostage situation...SWAT calls the cable company and says "we need your box imaging so we can tell where the hostages are and where the bad guys are" SWAT fires at anyone standing up .

Airt Mattrèssor wrote:Man, maybe I'd better stop watching all that porn...

AGEsAces wrote:

An anonymous reader writes
"Cable operators at the semi-annual CableLab's Innovation Showcase have informally voted as best new product a gizmo that can determine how many people are watching a TV. Developed by Israeli company PrimeSense,
the product lets digital devices see a 3-D view of the world (the
images look like something from thermal imaging). In other words, that
cable set-top box will know whether three people are sitting on the
sofa watching TV and how many are adults vs. children. Do we really
need cable and/or video service operators knowing this? It all happens
via a chip that resides in a camera that plugs into the set-top box."

Ok...first..."anonymous writer"?

Next...how do they know if they are children or midgets?
Third...could be just the dog sitting on the couch watching the show.

Seems like a kind of stupid invention (and waste of money) if you ask me....though it could be used for law enforcement/spying pretty well.

Think about it this way...hostage situation...SWAT calls the cable company and says "we need your box imaging so we can tell where the hostages are and where the bad guys are" SWAT fires at anyone standing up .

FlyingRat wrote:(The paranoid among us can) Simply put light some candles and place them in front of your cable box, just in case.