Interactive TV: electronic democracy, risks to privacy, etc.

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Date: Thu, 16 Dec 93 14:02:33 GMT
From: John Gray <grayjw () cs aston ac uk>


On UK television last night, a regular evening programme, "The Late Show" was
concerned with forthcoming developments in television. This centred around the
potential for high bandwidth and bidirectional communications offered by the
use of optical fibre for cable TV services.


This increase in the number of channels, some with an interactive content
(shopping channels, databases, computer games) would promote the concept of
configurable TV ("MeTV" was the name they chose) which allows the user to
decide what kind of things they wish to watch, and thus they will largely use
only one channel: the one they have configured.


Interestingly, one of the contributors raised the privacy issues: if you know
exactly what TV programmes someone likes watching, then you (or your computer
system) can tailor direct mail (and even TV adverts) to have the maximum
impact. The difference between this and standard audience research is that the
*viewer* builds a profile for the advertiser, when they configure the system.


Also in the programme, an executive for CBS raised the point that if everyone
only subscribes to compilation services, where does the original material
come from? If people select what they view in advance, will they miss out on
things that might entertain and enlighten them. The suggestion was made that
people will retreat much more into their own pursuits and that "community" will
suffer. What happens to people who are too poor to have cable, either because
their neighbourhood isn't cabled, or because they can't afford to subscribe.
They also touched on electronic democracy in this context: if you can't afford
to subscribe, will you have a voice on an equal footing with others?


Finally, a contributor from the EFF suggested that the Internet be used as a
model: the idea of providing these services to form communities controlled by
users rather than by large companies or governments. Sadly, it seems as if the
commercial attractions to advertisers and corporations will win out.


John Gray