Subscriber Privacy and Data Aggregation?

[epgStream]

- IceTV Remote. Remotely schedule recordings via the I Watch This or IceTV websites, from a PDA or from your mobile phone. IceTV Remote has single recording, favourites (series tracking of things you don't necessarily want to record every episode for) and series recording similar to MCE, but we'll also be adding some other features soon.

Hi marc_icetv!

Good to see a friendly face from IceTV here at xpmediacenter.com.au! One thing that we've always wondered about is how you manage privacy and security of IceTV Remote subscribers.

From a passive collection viewpoint, do you aggregate remotely scheduled data to profile individual users, regions or even Media Center client groups? Does IceTV resell this information or are you planning to resell this in the future?

From an active collection viewpoint, does the IceTV Remote client (for Windows or Macs) mine additional data from a user's Media Center EPG database (i.e. recorded shows, watched shows, etc) for upload to IceTV? Does it also mine operating system information or even, for instance in Windows, registry information to be sent back to IceTV?

Also, what network service ports does the IceTV Remote client use and are data requests encrypted?


Thanks,

Banger

[marc_icetv]

Are you fishing for something?

I'm not one of the programmers at IceTV, so I don't know the answers to most of those questions (encryption, ports etc). Obviously anyone using IceTV Remote will have some data pass through or stored on our server. However, we definitely take privacy seriously and abide by Australian privacy laws.

For information on our privacy policy, please read: http://www.icetv.com.au/privacy.shtml

If there's a specific concern for privacy, I'd be happy to pass the message to the right people internally.

[epgStream]

Hi marc_icetv,

No, not fishing for anything ... Just a genuine question! Thanks for the privacy policy URL, but that seems to deal with information entered via the website. My original question was more to do with how, and to what level, you aggregate user recording preferences and to what level. The second part of the question was to the nature and type of information that the IceTV Remote client passes back to IceTV servers. The third part was a technological query as to the encryption and ports used (yes, bit of a techo question).

I didn't mean to upset you too much by asking these questions, but they seemed like a relevant discussion points. Subscriber behaviour and client configurations can be quite a valuable commodity for marketing and profiling.

If you're not sure about the answers to these, maybe someone else from IceTV in this forum might know!


Thanks,

Banger

[marc_icetv]

I didn't mean to upset you too much by asking these questions, but they seemed like a relevant discussion points. Subscriber behaviour and client configurations can be quite a valuable commodity for marketing and profiling.

That's ok! Ask away. It takes a lot to offend/upset me. I'll answer what I can though.

[epgStream]

Cool! Ok, ummm... The questions were in my original post of this thread.

[marc_icetv]

As stated, I don't think I'm the right person to be answering these questions.

[epgStream]

Ok thanks. Who would you suggest would be able to answer these questions? Aside from "What network service ports does the IceTV Remote client use and are data requests encrypted?", the questions are more policy based than technical.

BTW, What role do you perform at IceTV?


Thanks,

Banger

[marc_icetv]

For someone who's not trying to upset me and who's not fishing for ammunition against IceTV, you're being very persistent in asking as many questions about the inner workings of our service as possible.

I'm sure you'll understand if I don't just post everything I know here.

[philzgr8]

For someone who's not trying to upset me and who's not fishing for ammunition against IceTV, you're being very persistent in asking as many questions about the inner workings of our service as possible.

I'm sure you'll understand if I don't just post everything I know here.

Excuse me for interrupting here but every subscriber should have the right to know the answers to these questions. They are not invasive as to the methods of Ice's operation but would be of great concern to anybody using the service. I suggest you should have one of your people post detailed answers here unless you have something to hide!

[jollster101]

For someone who's not trying to upset me and who's not fishing for ammunition against IceTV, you're being very persistent in asking as many questions about the inner workings of our service as possible.

I'm sure you'll understand if I don't just post everything I know here.

You wouldnt happen to be a politician on the side by chance?? Perhaps a politician previously, aspirations to be a politician??? I only ask as you can never get a straight answer out of those guys and girls either when asked a straightforward and simple question.

I'm not one of the programmers at IceTV, so I don't know the answers to most of those questions (encryption, ports etc). Obviously anyone using IceTV Remote will have some data pass through or stored on our server.

Doesnt that comment from an earlier post you made seem somewhat contradictory to your answer posted above

I'm sure you'll understand if I don't just post everything I know here

One post kind of goes against the other in what you put.

You probably think that these forums are a witch hunt for IceTV (going by a post you made in another thread about this place being hostile). Its not so much that, its more just trying to get good clean answers to good clean questions in respect of a not so good clean service that IceTV are delivering at present.

[marc_icetv]

Straight answers:

- I'm not a programmer, but I am part of the dev team on a lot of projects.

- I'm not a politician. Never have been, don't want to be.

- I am usually the UI designer for most projects. This means some CSS/HTML. Sometimes I take on other roles (small company etc).

- I could probably make some educated guesses at some of the technical questions. I might even get some of them correct, but I'd prefer any questions follow the correct official support methods (email, phone etc). The support team are much better suited to answering those types of things.

- I had almost nothing to do with the IceTV Interactive client for Windows. I drew the new icons and splash screen and not much else. It's probably the dev project I'm the furthest from. That's not to say I don't like Vista Media Center though. I think it's the current best solution out there, with MCE2005 in second place.

- I won't answer any questions regarding the technicalities of what's being sent to/from IceTV's servers because I don't know enough to give an accurate response. I can completely understand privacy concerns, so I urge anyone worried about those kinds of things to question them via the correct channels.

- "I'm sure you'll understand if I don't just post everything I know here". I said that for several reasons. I have an employment contract and that means I'm savvy to future plans and other sensitive information. Posting anything that falls into that category would put me in a difficult position (that would be totally my own fault), so I'd prefer to avoid anything relating to things that aren't public knowledge. Again, I'm not suggesting questions shouldn't be asked, I'm just saying that they'll have to be asked by the correct support channels.

- I'm not here as an official representative of IceTV for support, but I realise that being an IceTV employee on this forum means that anything I say could reflect well, or poorly on the company.

- I don't wear a suit to work.

- "You probably think that these forums are a witch hunt for IceTV". Not at all. I have been on a lot of forums for years and this is probably the coldest welcome I've ever had though. That doesn't mean I won't hang around and try to help people. I have pretty thick skin

Anything I missed?

[philzgr8]

Yep! An opportunity to get someone from your company to answer these questions in an open environment as a public relations exercise for IceTV.

[jollster101]

"You probably think that these forums are a witch hunt for IceTV". Not at all. I have been on a lot of forums for years and this is probably the coldest welcome I've ever had though. That doesn't mean I won't hang around and try to help people. I have pretty thick skin

Anything I missed?

Only whether Ice would be willing to refund outstanding month(s) of subscription fees if customer(s) were to call and ask to cancel their subscription in light of the HD issue.

Of course that wasn't an initial question asked and a bit off topic for this thread. However, I have asked it and so ...............................

[epgStream]

I could probably make some educated guesses at some of the technical questions. I might even get some of them correct, but I'd prefer any questions follow the correct official support methods (email, phone etc). The support team are much better suited to answering those types of things.

- I won't answer any questions regarding the technicalities of what's being sent to/from IceTV's servers because I don't know enough to give an accurate response. I can completely understand privacy concerns, so I urge anyone worried about those kinds of things to question them via the correct channels.

- "I'm sure you'll understand if I don't just post everything I know here". I said that for several reasons. I have an employment contract and that means I'm savvy to future plans and other sensitive information. Posting anything that falls into that category would put me in a difficult position (that would be totally my own fault), so I'd prefer to avoid anything relating to things that aren't public knowledge. Again, I'm not suggesting questions shouldn't be asked, I'm just saying that they'll have to be asked by the correct support channels.

- I'm not here as an official representative of IceTV for support, but I realise that being an IceTV employee on this forum means that anything I say could reflect well, or poorly on the company.

Hi marc_icetv!

Thanks for your response(s). You mentioned you are not the person to ask about these subscriber data collection and data aggregation questions, and that they should be asked through the "correct channels". Would we be able to post this topic and question on the IceTV Forum? Who should we direct the questions to?

Actually would a member here at xpmediacenter.com.au be able to post our question on the IceTV Forum for us?


Thanks,

Banger

[dgaust]

- "You probably think that these forums are a witch hunt for IceTV". Not at all. I have been on a lot of forums for years and this is probably the coldest welcome I've ever had though. That doesn't mean I won't hang around and try to help people. I have pretty thick skin

Anything I missed?

They're generally not that cold. Unfortunately, you seem to have popped up when a few have had an issue with IceTV.

Admittedly, I'm a little miffed at the whole situation and have at times considered a move to FreeEPG, but don't feel that either solution offers a prefect solution at the moment.

The one thing that has annoyed me, is the lack of feeback from Ice regarding these issues. It was only at prompting from a couple of members of these forums that caused the original email to be sent. Hopefully, this will be a lesson to Ice that the customer does need to be informed.

I suppose questions about the privacy policy could be sent to the email address that was on the IceTV privacy page saying that if you wanted more information you could ask (through an official channel).