If I get a new TV with a built-in camera, it will have a little accessory installed, called electrical tape, covering the lens.

That would be an unacceptable invasion of privacy.

"While he was lost in his thoughts, Winston's body had been performing the exercises routinely. Now he is suddenly startled out of his reverie by the instructress from the telescreen addressing him directly. Shouting at him as "6079 Smith W" the woman tells him to pay more attention and recalls him to the regimented present where each man is a coded number and the telescreens spy on every activity." - 1984

Big brother is watching us . Of course you can opt out , but they can still log all the programs you are watching because we have interactive television . They will just spy on you wether you like it or not . It will go on an on. And then at a sudden moment someone will realize that there is no freedom anymore . Monitoring , monitoring every thing an individual is involved in . There will come a day that they will know when an individual is shitting so they can stop with merchandising till he looks at his tv again .

I will just simply not connect it to the Internet. I run my TV to my PC via HDMI and this serves all my purposes of Internet viewing on the TV. Just because a TV has a LAN jack, doesn't mean you have to use it.

Also, I second the motion to use electrical tape.

"...people in the industry say this is the next step in the evolution of TV NOT-viewing."

FTFY

Electrical tape? LAN is needed for video transmission?

There are tin foil hat people out there (some im sure who used to work in the industry) who claim there are things like light sensors too small to see, they fit in between pixels and with thousands stitched together than can get an image, not through LAN but through your 120V AC line, either passively or directly. I mean with everything that has come out in tech we should all realize nothing is impossible, NOTHING. With enough time everything can be done. Simplistic but if the human imagination counts as a thing and every thing can be done....we are in for a crazy future. I would rather live on a farm than in a factory, we all make our choices some just don't realize what choice they made.
Most people are opting in to being machines in the future and they just don't know it. Carry around a cell phone?

"Are consumers ready for television watching back?"

Consumers are too damned stupid to care. Go to Magic Kingdom and watch the throngs of idiots insert their fingers into a fingerprint scanner.

Thank god I'm almost 60 and will most likely be dead in 30 years. Got to live in what was probably the best time on earth! Used to be bummed that I wouldn't get to see the far future, but now I'm mostly glad.

I thought last year's revolutionary 3D tv's were the wave of the future..

What happened to that iFad?

The most important question I have about these new TV's is if Americans will be forced to take off their shoes for inspection before the TV permits them to watch.

ScooTard fears such a corporate controlled neo-fascist state.

"Go to Magic Kingdom and watch the throngs of idiots insert their fingers into a fingerprint scanner." - ScooTard

That is why he so steadfastly opposes the only force able to prevent the formation of the corporate state.

Socialism.

I thought last year's revolutionary 3D tv's were the wave of the future..

Going by the amount of 3D TVs presented at the latest consumer electronics shows that fad is over.

If I get a new TV with a built-in camera, it will have a little accessory installed, called electrical tape, covering the lens.

I've gotten rid of my TV years ago. There's nothing on worth watching (and the few things that would be interesting are available online in one form or another). If I want a movie I'll buy the DVD.
I've also developed a noteable allergy to advertising (in any form) over the years. Thanks to ad-blocking software that can be handled on the internet.
I can't even imagine going back to a setting where what I want to be doing is interrupted by commercials every 20 minutes. That just seems crazy.

Of course the opt-out feature is just a ploy to get the device into as many homes as possible before the opt-out becomes locked-in or permanently switched-on by court order in the interest of public safety.

Same here. I dumped my TV 13 years ago when "reality tv" came in and the IQ of programming went negative.

"I've gotten rid of my TV years ago." - Antialias

I've gotten rid of my TV years ago. There's nothing on worth watching (and the few things that would be interesting are available online in one form or another). If I want a movie I'll buy the DVD.

I haven't watched TV programming in over 8 years. It isn't just not worth watching, it's repulsive. I use my TV as a second display for my computer, and use it to watch documentaries and movies. And when I get a new TV with a camera on it, it will have electrical tape on the lens.

I wouldn't be opposed to program selections geared to my viewing habits if that meant that those program options are selected not just because they are pay-per-view, but somehow I doubt that nobody who actually decided to implement these technologies actually had the ideal world in mind when offering them to us.

So-called smart TVs being unveiled this week at the International Consumer Electronics Show offer technologies that watch the viewer, in an effort to offer more relevant programming.

What troubles me most is that someone/something else would be deciding the programming that I should find "relevant".

In fact, "programming" is starting to take on a whole new meaning. I'm thinking that it's the viewer and not the TV that the term applies to at this point.

I don't have a television, it is a waste of time and money. Smart TV is a paradoxical term, the electronics are smart but the media is made up of dumb shits.

I admit, I have a TV. I use it to watch the weather and movies. And I watched Johnny Football in the Cotton Bowl. But I haven't had cable service in 20 years.

It's always a treat to sit in a motel and watch The History Channel or Food Network.