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The Free File Chronicles: A Brief History of Collaboration, Innovation and the Maintenance of a Voluntary Tax System in the United States


By the Center for Digital Government

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Leading Democrats on the House Commerce Committee have asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to launch an investigation into allegations that TiVo Inc. violates its own privacy policy by collecting information on its customers television programming selections.

In a letter to FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky, Commerce Committee Ranking Democrat John Dingell, D-Mich., said he and other lawmakers are concerned about the charges, which emerged as the subject of a recent study issued by the Privacy Foundation.

TiVo manufactures and markets "personal video recorders" that can pause live TV and save selected television shows to hard disk. The study accused the company of violating its own privacy policy by tracking its users viewing habits and storing that information in a central database.

"The simple fact is that most consumers are not comfortable with having someone or something watch them while they watch television," reads the letter, also signed by Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee ranking member Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., ranking member on the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection.

The lawmakers said the charges were severe enough to warrant investigation under the FTCs "unfair and deceptive practices" statute, and asked the commission to investigate the allegations and report back to Congress on their findings.

TiVo maintains it has never collected personal information about its viewers without their express consent. Even so, the company offers its 150,000 users a toll-free number to call to opt out of all data collection.

Brian Krebs, Newsbytes



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