SiliconValley.com: Privacy Foundation criticizes TiVo practices

"A leading privacy advocate is criticizing TiVo, a maker of personal video recorders, for not clearly disclosing how much information it collects about users and their television viewing habits."

"In an advisory scheduled to be released today, the Denver-based Privacy Foundation details how TiVo recorders in users' homes are set up to automatically transmit streams of data to the company's Alviso headquarters each night, including extensive viewing information. This is in contrast to statements in the owner's manual for the TV recorder, which asserts that ``unlike the Internet, all of your personal viewing information remains on your PTV receiver in your home."

"Matthew Zinn, Tivo's chief privacy officer, said that phrase has since been removed from the manual and that data collection policies have also been modified. Zinn said the changes were not made in response to the Privacy Foundation. ``From day one, privacy has been a huge initiative for TiVo,'' he said."

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