Nielsen's New Consumer App Is Really a Market Research Tool [Updated]

Company should be more upfront about its purpose, says privacy advocate

Nielsen's new "topten" app seems harmless enough: offer consumers a quick and easy way to find out the most popular TV shows, books, songs, video games, movies and more. You know, the kind of rankings found in publications like Entertainment Weekly or the local newspaper.

But in Washington, privacy hawks are cringing, saying Nielsen isn't coming clean about what they say is the underlying purpose of the app: to collect more consumer information for the research it sell advertisers, agencies and the media.

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