Before Selling Data, Set-Top Box Providers Have to Protect Privacy
Even as debate continues about whether the term "online privacy" is an oxymoron, another part of the media industry now looks poised to open up a store house of personal data: the cable companies, telcos and satellite dish providers who have jurisdiction over set-top boxes. The biggest question in the industry, it seems, is not whether data from cable set-tops will be culled and analyzed to give greater clarity on who is watching what -- and when -- but whether it turns into a new revenue stream for the cable operators, satellite companies and telcos who have control over the data.
Mediapost is reporting that the advertiser and media company consortium CIMM (Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement) has sent out a questionnaire to the set-top box cabal pointedly asking the question of whether they plan to sell set-top box data, and whether they are setting up a unit that has the aim of eventually making viewership data a revenue stream.
But, to me, asking about whether the data might be turned into a revenue stream is getting a bit ahead of itself. Before these companies start dispersing data, they need to focus on the issue of consumer privacy, which is the 800-lb. gorilla in the room, whether the industry is doing enough to safeguard privacy or not. The CIMM questionnaire also asks this: ""If privacy is currently a concern, how long do you think it will take for privacy issues to dissipate?"
The answer could be "all eternity" especially if privacy breaches continue to be an issue both online and off. In the consumer mind, it's us vs. them. Don't think that an unwitting release of personal data on Facebook has no repercussions for the cable industry. It all contributes to the image that Big Brother is out there -- and he doesn't really care about protecting your data.
As it is with the online industry, the set-top box cabal realizes that the real issue is personally identifiable information. It's one thing for a media company or advertiser to know that there's some nameless person out there whose behavior suggests they are in the market for a car and advertise them; it's an entirely another to know that person's name, address and phone number. But that's a slippery slope, as this list of FAQ's about Verizon FiOS demonstrates. (I'm not singling out Verizon, just using it as an example.) It explains the company collects:
... anonymous and/or aggregated information ... to improve the content that subscribers receive (for example, to determine which programs and channels are most popular, to measure viewership of commercials and to understand how the Interactive Media Guide is being used).But in other instances, the company explains, the data that flows over the box is personally identifiable, such as when it is used for billing purposes. Fair enough, but then the murkiness begins; the company also says it is within its rights -- because of the Cable Act -- to share personally identifiable data with third-parties -- a practice that most upstanding Web sites shy away from. Under what circumstances? " ... to assist us in billing and collections, administration, surveys, marketing, service delivery and customization, maintenance and operations, and fraud prevention."
Did the company just say "marketing"? Does that mean it could give your personally identifiable data over to the local car dealer? It's not entirely clear. What is clear is that before they start getting dreams in their heads about selling data, set-top box providers have a lot of explaining to do -- to the consumers who cough the data up.