Re:ever-present Teloscreen, an actual entire wall of your living room, as it were...ever watching, ever manipulating.
this of course exists.. and what's more people are lining up to pay for the privledge!
its called TIVO.. and it tracks what you watch and when you watch it, and it serves up more of the same...
(it also continuously records, and is marketed as a device that will let you pause live TV.) but it is also a data collection device, and it send back infomation about TV viewing habits, and if you start watching say nature shows, it will search all the channels, and then let you know what nature shows are available, and will tape them for your convenience..
TIVO is not the only one... several US Cable companies have "tracking" devices.. and send back info.. and some have the same software on there cable lines for internet connections.. allowing them to tack the web sights you have visited, and sell the information to other venders.. so if i visit "pier 1" and "Ikea" and "targets" web pages, i might find i am getting targeted ads for "ll bean" or other large catalog/online/real retailers..
and if i visit science sites, i might find i am getting invites to subscribe to Scientific American, or Nature, or other zines..
targeted marketing is getting big.. and cable companies see that they have the resourse to collect the data, and sell it.
that as scary as having the government collect data about me..
i am very reluctant to 'conduct business', banking, purchaces, etc over the internet.. i worry a bit about credit card data being stolen, but a lot about what else is being collected and stored!
