This bill -- known as the We Are Watching You Act -- would prohibit video service operators from collecting visual or audio data using cameras or microphones built in to DVRs or set-top TV boxes without express permission from the consumer. Should viewers opt in to the monitoring, the bill would mandate that the surveilling company display a "we are watching you" message on the screen and provide information about the types of data being collected.
While no such "Big Brother" monitoring is in devices yet, Verizon filed a patent for such monitoring technology in 2012, with the monitors being able to detect if viewers were eating, exercising, reading or sleeping in the vicinity of the monitoring device. (The patent was rejected.)