Slashdot Mirror
A Peek Into Netflix Queues
margaret writes "The New York Times has an interactive Web app where you can map the popularity of various Netflix titles by neighborhood, in a dozen different cities. Invasion of privacy or harmless voyeuristic fun? Either way, it's pretty interesting."
I can think of so many better things to be doing with my time than looking at what people are renting based on their ZIP code.
Does whining on Slashdot really count as something better?
Strangely enough, Milk is in the top 3 movies in San Francisco in every area except the Castro. Try explaining that one if you can.
Compared to other areas, the residents bought the disk, so they don't need to rent it as much?
Everyone in the neighborhood saw it in the theatre and so didn't need to rent it from Netflix.
We saw it at the Castro theatre about halfway through its total run and it was a full upper balcony sellout. It really was an important film to see as together as a community and I was glad to have taken part in what I felt was a community viewing.
Invasion of privacy or harmless voyeuristic fun?
What invasion of privacy? They're not showing what any particular person rented, just what the aggregate in a given area liked. If this is invasion of privacy, then so is any demographic statistic saying, for instance, that New Yorkers like hot dogs from a stand on the street or the baseball stadium over that cooked at home.
Allegedly real newspaper headline from 1998:
Man Struck by Lightning Faces Battery Charge