Tivo Spam

February 12, 2003

My Tivo is being duped. In the last week I have had the show "Cyber 2-3" recorded twice. It makes sense because the category is listed as computers and I record a couple TechTV shows. The problem is that the show has nothing to do with computers and everything to do with infomercials.

There are two possibilities here. First, some genius has decided to list an informercial as a computer program hoping to draw in unsuspecting Tivo users. The second is that some idiot forgot to change the program data when the actual programming had switched. It's more fun to think it's the former, so I will.

This is Tivo Spam. It is the same concept as writing an email and titling it "Long time no see" when the person emailing you is neither a person nor have they ever seen you before. This could become very nasty very quickly. Do we need a regulatory board making sure that cable networks don't misname shows in an effort to get us to watch? It would certainly be unnecessary now, but it wouldn't hurt it Tivo would doublecheck the listings.

Another form of Tivo Spam is outlined here:

The original article from The Register can be found here. Unfortunately, this all shouldn't be too unexpected. I just hope that Tivo remains a trustworthy brand over the long haul.

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