Why is ABC iView Insisting Viewers Set Up an Account?

If you enjoy watching ABC News Breakfast or catching up on TV shows on ABC iView, you will have noticed a change last week.

The ABC is now asking viewers to create a free account with them and login before accessing iView.

The idea is that the ABC will receive data about your viewing preferences, which will be used to give you:

• a “Continue Watching” feature to enable you to start a program from where you last left off. This feature is available on all your devices, for example, the TV in your lounge room and your smartphone.
• access to your viewing history
• the ability to create a “Watchlist” of your favourite programs. As new series become available, they will be automatically added to your watchlist.
• personalised recommendations based on your viewing history.

The ABC is calling this “personalised services”.

It should be noted that the ABC is bound by the Privacy Act and follows the Australian Privacy Principles on managing personal information. It has a publicly available privacy policy and privacy collection statement setting out the reasons for collecting the information and how it will be protected.  

The ABC has stated that it will never sell the data, and that people can access any personal information held by the ABC about them by contacting the privacy officer. 

If you need help setting up your new account, you can find help on the ABC website HERE.

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