Slashdot Mirror
Should Plex Stop Allowing Users To Opt Out of Data Collection? (www.plex.tv)
UPDATE: Plex has now made more changes to their privacy policy to address concerns about data collection, including "the ability to opt out of playback statistics for personal content on your Plex Media Server" and a promise "to 'generalize' playback stats in order to make it impossible to create any sort of 'fingerprint' that would allow anyone to identify a file in a library."
Here's what the original kerfuffle was about. Slashdot reader bigdogpete wrote: Many users of Plex got an email that said they were changing their privacy policy which goes into effect on 20 September 2017. While most of the things are pretty standard, users found it odd that they were now not going to allow users to opt-out of data collection. Here is the part from their website explaining the upcoming changes.
"In order to understand the usage across the Plex ecosystem and how we need to improve, Plex will continue to collect usage statistics, such as device type, duration, bit rate, media format, resolution, and media type (music, photos, videos, etc.). We will no longer allow the option to opt out of this statistics collection, but we do not sell or share your personally identifiable statistics. Again, we will not collect any information that identifies libraries, files, file names, and/or the specific content stored on your privately hosted Plex Media Servers. The only exception to this is when, and only to the extent, you use Plex with third-party services such as Sonos, Alexa, webhooks, and Last.fm."
What do you all think?
Here's what the original kerfuffle was about. Slashdot reader bigdogpete wrote: Many users of Plex got an email that said they were changing their privacy policy which goes into effect on 20 September 2017. While most of the things are pretty standard, users found it odd that they were now not going to allow users to opt-out of data collection. Here is the part from their website explaining the upcoming changes.
"In order to understand the usage across the Plex ecosystem and how we need to improve, Plex will continue to collect usage statistics, such as device type, duration, bit rate, media format, resolution, and media type (music, photos, videos, etc.). We will no longer allow the option to opt out of this statistics collection, but we do not sell or share your personally identifiable statistics. Again, we will not collect any information that identifies libraries, files, file names, and/or the specific content stored on your privately hosted Plex Media Servers. The only exception to this is when, and only to the extent, you use Plex with third-party services such as Sonos, Alexa, webhooks, and Last.fm."
What do you all think?
Also wholly unneccesary. That line about "helping to improve our product" is always given to justify data collection, but it's often not the main reason and pretty much never the only one. Even if they collect this data to see how their product is being used, do they really know what to do with all that data, gain insights from it, and act accordingly? Or is it just the 90s PHB from Dilbert again, demanding "a database", except these days its "big data"?
Just listen to your customers instead of spying on them.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
No, plex has made it ludicrously clear they are going to start collecting data about your personal media and they are going to report about your personal media ... after scrubbing out only the bits legally defined in the US as PII.
People are reacting strongly because there have been many instances in the past where data scrubbed of only the bits legally defined in the US as PII has been shown to still be linkable to real people. That is the reason that many other countries have stronger, and broader, data privacy laws than the US does.