DVR Chatter

NewTeeVee reports that Comcast is experimenting with putting cameras into the front of their cable boxes in order to determine who is watching TV at the time.  The purpose of this intrusion into your privacy is to serve up programs, set parental controls and (of course) display targeted ads based on the profile of the current viewer or viewers.

[Comcast VP of Customer User Experience Gerard] Kunkel said the system wouldn’t be based on facial recognition, so there wouldn’t be a picture of you on file (we hope). Instead, it would distinguish between different members of your household by recognizing body forms. He stressed that the system is still in the experimental phase, that there hasn’t been consumer testing, and that any rollout “must add value” to the viewing experience beyond serving ads.

I wonder how this will work, for example, on cable boxes located in bedrooms.  If, hypothetically, one customer was on top of another customer, would Comcast's spy camera see them as one or two viewers?  Would their cable box automatically change the channel to Cinemax or Showtime Too?

What if customers decide to put cable boxes in their children's bedrooms? Are we really comfortable with that proposition?