Regular readers of my blog will know that I don’t worry about online privacy all that much. My gut reaction to new technologies or products is generally not “what about my privacy!” As a result, I was pretty surprised to think about privacy right after seeing the new television commerical from Shaw! A quick search didn’t turn up any videos, so here’s a quick rundown of the commercial in case you haven’t seen it:
The commercial is shot in the familiar “Apple white” environment, with lots of people running around. The voiceover starts talking about Shaw’s technology, noting that Shaw is there “for every conversation, every web search, and every online purchase.” The video depicts these scenarios. The commercial concludes with something similar to, “the greatest thing about our technology, is the people behind it.”
It’s a good overall message, and I think I understand what they were going for. It’s too bad it comes off as kind of creepy. The thought process might go something like this:
- Ah Shaw, yah I know this company.
- Web search? Oh right my ISP is Shaw.
- Conversations? Ahhh yes the new Shaw VOIP!
- People behind the technology, that makes sense.
- Wait a minute…web searches, purchases, conversations – they know everything about me!
Maybe I’m just reading into it too much, but I think Shaw would have been better off not highlighting all of the various things they could keep track of.
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