I've been sent those packets offering to become a Nielsen family, and looked through the included description of how it works.
1) Nielsen does explicitly target children, insofar as Nielsen families are supposed to give them data on the usage habits of every member of the family, including the kids. That said, the decision of whether or not to become a Nielsen family remains firmly in the hands of the heads of the family. Perhaps regardless of the consent of its younger members.
2) They do also now track participating families' Internet usage at large, like Facebook's app was doing. I don't know whether it relied on a VPN or some other technology.
3) I think that most people could understand the TV consumption tracking that used to be Nielsen's bread and butter. But, at least based on the recruitment materials that were sent to me, I didn't have a clear understanding of the extent or nature of Internet usage data collection. I assume the story would be similar for most other users, especially minors.
Based on that, I think that a lot of these comparisons are comparing what Facebook is doing now to what Nielsen was doing 20 or 30 years ago. Which is fair comparison to explore, but let's be careful not to absolve the Nielsen of today from any scrutiny in the process.
They're really pushy about it too. They selected my house and sent a gift basket and some guy came to the house three times emphasizing the "prestige" of being a Nielsen house because you're supposedly helping to define what shows get made. I can't imagine what kind of person would be swayed by that argument.
My uncle used to tell a story about taking a studio tour in the 1960s where part of the tour was being a test audience for Lost in Space (he was a kid at the time). The whole family had a pad with a dial and you could turn it one way to display approval and the other to give a thumbs down.
He hated the show and tried to indicate as much throughout the showing. But when the lights came back on he realized that he'd had the pad backwards the whole time.
He never forgave himself for that one time he "got Lost in Space green-lit".
I could see it being compelling decades ago. Nowadays, though, I'm guessing fans of niche programming are increasingly cord cutters who don't need Nielsen to ensure their TV consumption is being tracked.
Totally non-scientific evidence: The only acquaintances I can think of who still have cable TV subscriptions do so because their TV consumption is dominated by sports.
Good information, and based on that, I agree, Nielsen is doing similarly bad things, one distinction being that a child is unlikely to sign up for these services without their parents' knowledge.
I'm not here to defend Neilsen at all, but I do think Facebook has a bit more responsibility to make the right decisions here given their ubiquity, reach, AND the invasiveness of how a root certificate allows them access to encrypted traffic and even text messages (really?).
1) Nielsen does explicitly target children, insofar as Nielsen families are supposed to give them data on the usage habits of every member of the family, including the kids. That said, the decision of whether or not to become a Nielsen family remains firmly in the hands of the heads of the family. Perhaps regardless of the consent of its younger members.
2) They do also now track participating families' Internet usage at large, like Facebook's app was doing. I don't know whether it relied on a VPN or some other technology.
3) I think that most people could understand the TV consumption tracking that used to be Nielsen's bread and butter. But, at least based on the recruitment materials that were sent to me, I didn't have a clear understanding of the extent or nature of Internet usage data collection. I assume the story would be similar for most other users, especially minors.
Based on that, I think that a lot of these comparisons are comparing what Facebook is doing now to what Nielsen was doing 20 or 30 years ago. Which is fair comparison to explore, but let's be careful not to absolve the Nielsen of today from any scrutiny in the process.