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Should Plex Stop Allowing Users To Opt Out of Data Collection? (www.plex.tv)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the taking-up-a-collection dept.

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?

85 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. Meh. by firebeaker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Don't like it, don't use it.

    --
    -beaker
    1. Re: Meh. by Presence+Eternal · · Score: 1

      I'll bet you one hundred thousand dollars there are people who care about invading my privacy.

    2. Re: Meh. by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      Don't be silly, Tom Robinson of Saginaw, Michigan.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    3. Re:Meh. by Aisha.Washington · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Well, there you go.

      Spend hours, maybe dozens, maybe hundreds of hours establishing your data on a particular platform, have them insert a sentence in the "TOS" some random month, and "If you don't like it, don't use it!"

      Most companies make it all but impractical for anyone without massive amounts of free time to "switch if you don't like it". This is completely on-purpose, and it has the effect of locking people into whatever the changes are. Not just Plex, but thing Microsoft & Apple. They make changes to platforms people have many thousands of dollars invested in, only to tell them "If you don't like it, switch."

      Then, predictably, you have the group of users which champion the company's line ... hey everyone, don't like it, switch ... bait & switch is completely legitimate in 2017 for some. I mean, it's not like you could have made an educated decision before using the product, which is far more in line with what the "Free Market" has in mind. Not, making the "free choice" encumbers the decider with countless hours of countless dollars to reject changes they don't agree with.

      Which is just the way the companies like it.

      Then, after spending years barking at people to “Switch if you don’t like it!”, you wake up one morning and realize that there’s no one left to switch to; that every single company in the industry now has the exact same policies.

      It’s at this point that the argument evolves to: “If you don’t like it, don’t use it!”

      After all, nobody really NEEDS a computer. Or a cellphone. Or the internet. Or refrigeration or shoes for that matter. Or, probably one of truest of all claims videos to watch for entertainment.

      If you want something, agree to the terms, no matter how nefarious they may be, regardless of when they are instituted. This ameliorates all notions of competition and free market dynamics, but those concepts are for queers anyway.

      Give in, or stare out the window all day and do nothing.

      The Unites States of America in 2017. Pining for the good old days is an oft-repeated thing, and proven to by a myth in many cases, but whether it’s reality or just my perception, things sure do feel different these days.

    4. Re:Meh. by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Well, there you go.

      Spend hours, maybe dozens, maybe hundreds of hours establishing your data on a particular platform, have them insert a sentence in the "TOS" some random month, and "If you don't like it, don't use it!"

      I never invested a bunch of effort into Plex in the the first place, because this outcome was always plausible. Lo and behold, I made the right decision, and you (?) made the wrong one.

      If you don't want this to happen to you, then don't invest your energy in something with central control like this.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re: Meh. by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 1

      The revenue is a bonus, not an objective. The point is to make sure everyone is guilty of something. The feeling of guilt breeds fear in most people and unease in even the best... actual criminals could care less but that's pretty much always been the case. Democracy was a bold experiment but once you dumb people down enough they will happily sell the future for a simple and obvious lie. As long as you can keep people fractured and afraid, you can lead them just about anywhere. Power is only threatened when people look past the interests of self, clan (tribe, not kkk), political affiliation, and nation to see what would actually benefit the future of humanity.

      Power is pretty safe as things sit at the moment.

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
    6. Re:Meh. by gravewax · · Score: 1

      only just started on the Plex route, thankfully haven't paid any money yet but I will be taking the "Don't use it" route. I feel sorry though for those that have invested the time and money in the ecosystem who now have to take it up the arse. I guess I should be thankfully they announced before I forked out for the plex pass.

    7. Re: Meh. by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      > Most of the people using Plex are using it with pirated media. Naturally, they don't want to share that info.

      You forgot to call them all Nazis while you're spreading total bullshit.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    8. Re: Meh. by Z00L00K · · Score: 1

      Another Tom Robinson had it right: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=...

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    9. Re:Meh. by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Heck, I didn't even invest the time yet to see what it is. I guess because I don't view ads, that's why I didn't know about it?

      [looks it up]

      Shit, we had free solutions for this already in the 90s. Why do people even try new ones, didn't they ever get anything working?

      That said, the data sharing you can't opt out of is only related to third party services. Services suck, use files, not services. And it appears to be open source. But there is no apparent need to fork, just don't use third party services. Duh.

      The story is just clickbait horse shit. But even if it was true, it would be a non-story.

    10. Re:Meh. by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The appeal to Plex is that it's everything in one place. If you have to go to multiple places, it's got less appeal.

      It sure would be nice if the Kodi folks could get their library sharing stuff properly working and documented.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    11. Re:Meh. by CodeHog · · Score: 1

      "Here we are now entertain us!"

      --
      Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
    12. Re: Meh. by JohnFen · · Score: 1

      Be a decent human being and share data that helps the manufacturer develop a better product.

      The idea that there is some sort of moral imperative for users to help manufacturers make better products is utterly bizarre.

      If an outfit is forcing me to share my data with them to use their product, then fuck them. I'll either not use the product at all, or will firewall it to kingdom come.

      However, there are certain products that I will share my data, if I'm asked nicely like a human being and there is a compelling reason to do so. But it must always be optional.

    13. Re: Meh. by JohnFen · · Score: 1

      Can we at least agree that there is a pretty serious difference between someone who format-shifts content that they legally acquired and someone who isn't legally acquiring the content in the first place or is illegally sharing it?

      The former may or may not be operating within the law, but they aren't pirates by any meaningful use of the term. The latter are pirates.

    14. Re: Meh. by dk20 · · Score: 1

      you are aware that a large amount of "free" software is based exclusivly on invading your privacy right? where do they get their funding from?

    15. Re: Meh. by bluelip · · Score: 1

      Revenue generation is often the intent of laws.

      --

      Yep, I never spell check.
      More incorrect spellings can be found he
    16. Re: Meh. by flargleblarg · · Score: 1

      ... and now they are altering the terms drastically.

      Pray they don't alter them any further.

    17. Re: Meh. by JohnFen · · Score: 1

      In the US, format shifting is legal. That's why the companies pushed so hard to get anti-circumvention into the DMCA: they couldn't make format-shifting illegal, but they could make bypassing the access controls (which you need to do to format-shift) illegal all by itself.

  2. Put your foot down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    No data leaves my devices without my explicit and informed consent.

    1. Re:Put your foot down by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      No data leaves my devices without my explicit and informed consent.

      I hope you don't really believe that. Also, it should read "but we do not sell or share your personally identifiable statistics yet." And the whole point of big data for marketing companies is to turn that "non-identifiable statistics" into identifiable statistics.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    2. Re:Put your foot down by JamesKeane7745 · · Score: 1

      But they have done things right, they have changed the rules to report on viewing in the 3rd party app installs in order for the providers of those apps to serve ads. They did a key facts email, made the changes clear, and from a diff of the TOS have stuck to it. They have also kept the TOS, therefore the contract between paying plus customers and them, clear in the privacy for content served from their own devices. While, technically, yes, they could change that bit silently - firstly that wouldn't be binding, secondly they have shown they don't want to act that way by making sure everyone is clear on any changes to the TOS.

    3. Re:Put your foot down by gravewax · · Score: 2

      ahhh yes, the excuse of we told you what we were going to do to you loud and clear before we raped you, therefore this is acceptable. I gather you either work for them or are a shill for them. This sets a horrible standard of them changing the TOS and not allowing paying customer's to opt out. It is a massive breach of faith. If the data is so non critical and non invasive then they can fucking well make it optional.

  3. Length, rez, bitrate by negRo_slim · · Score: 1

    That is more than enough info to identify what files the user is playing. Slightly creepy imho.

    --
    On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
    1. Re:Length, rez, bitrate by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 3, Informative

      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...
    2. Re:Length, rez, bitrate by gravewax · · Score: 1

      then a feed like this is about the only way to know.

      Really? how about just asking the fucking user base? voluntary survey's? even an OPT IN feature use monitoring? labelling the feature as deprecated and providing a feedback option? their are literally dozen of ways to collect this data without being a bunch of intrusive arseholes.

  4. Betteridge's Law by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Apparently based on the headline, the answer is no.

    The followup question, "should anyone keep using Plex?", should also be answered "no."

    --

    How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
    1. Re: Betteridge's Law by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This is an abuse of Betteridge's Law. It's based on the observation that journalists who don't have enough evidence to confirm their suspicions may run with the story anyway and write the headline as a question to avoid accusations of libel. It's basically a form of clickbait and yellow journalism. The question in this headline is asking for your opinion, not indicating uncertainty about the facts. Betteridge's Law was never intended to apply to headlines like these. Taken to the extreme, every Ask Slashdot story should be answered with a no. Of course that would be absurd and pointless. If you're going to post about Betteridge's Law, take the time to understand what Ian Betteridge actually meant instead of the idiotic distortion of Betteridge's Law that is often invoked here. Betteridge's Law does not apply here. Period.

    2. Re: Betteridge's Law by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Betteridge's Law does not apply here.

      I don't believe you. If it were true then you would have titled your post "Does Betteridge's Law apply here?"

    3. Re: Betteridge's Law by infolation · · Score: 1

      Accusations of libel don't concern anonymous cowards.

  5. Par for the Course by Aisha.Washington · · Score: 5, Insightful
    More and more entities make it clear that they could not care less what their users want. If someone feels strongly enough about wanting to disable data collection, they should be allowed to restrict it, of course. It's understandable that people should feel suspicious about these things. After all, isn't it what we all advise them to be?

    "Be concerned about your personal privacy!", we yell at people every day, while expecting them to flawlessly determine which violations are acceptable and not acceptable.

    It's a pretty tall order, and when in doubt, turning off data collection across the board is the sensible thing to do. After all, keeping up with ever-changing TOS and user "Agreements" is, at this point, patently impossible ... and you never know when their data collection policies are going to change. We've all seen 1,000 times promises made, only to be broken later when the company is purchased, partnered, etc.

    1. Re:Par for the Course by JamesKeane7745 · · Score: 1

      Didn't the TOS say it is only for installed 3-rd party apps to serve ads in their 3rd part content? If you don't want that, don't install the 3rd party apps and don't consume their content at the expense of this.

    2. Re:Par for the Course by Calydor · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that's what the ToS says.

      Now.

      In a year, once they have a LOT of data on their users, the ToS can change again to allow sharing all data they have with their partners, subsidiaries, bedfellows etc.

      I mean, we just saw right now that the ToS can change how they handle data, didn't we?

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    3. Re:Par for the Course by JohnFen · · Score: 1

      Or, even better, don't use Plex.

  6. No by iCEBaLM · · Score: 1

    n/t

  7. Fork or patch by CanEHdian · · Score: 1

    Whatever comes first, a fork or just a patch that disables this.

    --
    When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
    1. Re:Fork or patch by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      You don't need the source to crete a patch. Just a disassembler and a hex code editor. And patience. Usually lots of patience. But once you find the right place to insert a few NOPs ...

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    2. Re:Fork or patch by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Just because you can't modify a binary doesn't give you an excuse to hate on those of us who have. Maybe you're the one who should consider drinking bleach.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    3. Re:Fork or patch by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 2

      But once you find the right place to insert a few NOPs ... ...they have introduced an update with a fresh new binary.

    4. Re:Fork or patch by Drakonblayde · · Score: 2

      Or, you know, just pi-hole their telemetry domain (metrics.plex.tv)

  8. What do I think? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

    I think I made the right choice when I stopped using Plex a couple years ago. They've been heading down a path I don't particularly like for some time now.

    But if you're happy with them, more power to you.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:What do I think? by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      > You realise that Slashdot makes use of plenty of analytics that phone home whenever you visit the site, right?

      That's an assinine comparison. This is more like Google or Mozila spying on everything you do. Even that's a stretch because Plex is not a network application at all.

      It doesn't work by connecting to the cloud and serving content like Netflix or Amazon Prime.

      It's really more like Ubuntu or Microsoft spying on everything you do and phoning home to the mother ship.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  9. What the hell is Plex? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Never heard of it before, like 99% of the crap /. takes for granted that everyone knows and uses.

    1. Re:What the hell is Plex? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Plex

    2. Re:What the hell is Plex? by Gaygirlie · · Score: 2

      Plex does a lot of stuff that Kodi doesn't. One of the more-useful things that springs to mind is transcoding: I can stream stuff from my collection to my phone or tablet when on-the-go and I can either have Plex pre-transcode the files I know I'll be watching or it can transcode on-the-fly seamlessly. Kodi doesn't do anything like that at all, it's more of a standalone-player than a proper media-server.

    3. Re:What the hell is Plex? by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      That feature hasn't been relevant for years. Modern mobile devices are quite capable of playing content on their own.

      The whole on-the-go "cloud" thing sound nice but suffers from horrible network issues. This buggers the actual streaming services too.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    4. Re:What the hell is Plex? by KingMotley · · Score: 1

      And... I'll be able to fit maybe one 4k UHD movie on my media server on my phone that way, and it'll choke horribly trying to play it as it doesn't have the CPU power necessary in order to be able to decode it in real time.

    5. Re:What the hell is Plex? by Gaygirlie · · Score: 1

      I didn't say anything about the devices not being able to play the content, I was talking about *streaming* the content; I don't have to manually copy files to my phone before-hand, I can just pick and play whatever I like, whenever I like and stream it, and this is where transcoding a 20GB-file down is useful.

    6. Re:What the hell is Plex? by Drakonblayde · · Score: 1

      Doesn't Kodi have a Plex plugin? That should say something by itself about the quality of Kodi

    7. Re:What the hell is Plex? by JohnFen · · Score: 1

      I would think it says less about the quality of Kodi and is more suggestive that Kodi and Plex are intended for different things.

  10. Universal Media Server by fear025 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've been pretty happy using Universal Media Server instead of Plex.

    I checked them both out last year when looking for the best way to steam stuff from my network to my Samsung Smart TV, and I was much more comfortable with UMS. It's been working fine ever since for my purposes.

  11. Good-bye Plex by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

    Plex is starting down a slippery slope. I liked to use Plex precisely because I could opt out of the data collection. Oh well, it was a good run while it lasted.

    1. Re:Good-bye Plex by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      I could opt out of the data collection.

      You really believed that?

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  12. What do we think? by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 2

    That something else will appear to take up its place. In this environment, that is what happens when people start getting heavy handed.

  13. Time to update firewall rules by chuckugly · · Score: 1

    Should have done it long ago .... Plex server virtual appliance, welcome to the WAN blacklist. Enjoy.

  14. well ok then by fireylord · · Score: 1

    Looks like I'm switching to some kind of Kodi powered solution instead of Plex. Bye Plex

  15. Trying to get rid of life-time subscribers? by Phelan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This feels like Plex is trying to get rid of their old time lifetime subs. I'd imagine long time users of Plex are probably more technologically astute and more likely to care about this sort of privacy change... so why not change it, get delicious data and see if you can drop some of those guys that don't make you any more money. Nah... they wouldn't do that, right?

    --
    "Nimis exaltatus rex sedet in vertice - caveat ruinam!"
  16. "terms of" considered harmful by epine · · Score: 2

    Well, there you go.

    Spend hours, maybe dozens, maybe hundreds of hours establishing your data on a particular platform, have them insert a sentence in the "TOS" some random month, and "If you don't like it, don't use it!"

    You never know who has only been online for just a month or few, otherwise we could cut to the chase and simply name every last one one of them after their departure lounge orifice.

    One has to be a staggeringly malignant blockhead to avoid becoming sensitised to this retroactive ass bite in less time than you can google the newest Snapchat replacement (I'm not actually intending to date myself here, but there's an egg timer risk).

    I have a FreeNAS 11 crash box for trying out various things, but I didn't progress very far with the media server thing.

    My remaining choices appear to be Kodi and Emby, or another four letter word.

    1. Re:"terms of" considered harmful by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

      Emby sucked, last time I looked, and Kodi isn't that great either. I may have to institute some new firewall rules soon. I was going to anyways, this just increases the need.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    2. Re:"terms of" considered harmful by grub · · Score: 1

      We have tried several media players over the years (PopcornHour hardware, Kodi, etc.) and the best we've found is Infuse Pro for iOS. Works on AppleTV 4th gen beautifully. Presents a Netflix-like interface with fetched metadata. Ours mounts a RO NFS share on a NAS4Free server.

      No relation other than a very satisfied customer.

      --
      Trolling is a art,
  17. Stop overreacting. by JamesKeane7745 · · Score: 1

    Plex has made it ludicrously clear that the change of TOS only applies to the 3rd party apps for the purpose of ad-serving, in the scope of the apps only.

    Two things here:

    • 1) They actually did a short key facts summary, rather than leaving people to sort through their TOS for changes, and from what I can see with a diff on the TOS have kept to it.
    • 2) The TOS still do not allow any reporting on media provided 'personally' and from personal sources.

    So, from what I can see, they are monitoring in the right way, making sure that people bring content to their platform have the data to keep doing so, while at the same time drawing a legal shield between that and the content they proxy between personal devices, through their platform, to another personal device.

    Stop overreacting.

    1. Re:Stop overreacting. by JohnFen · · Score: 1

      Plex has made it ludicrously clear that the change of TOS only applies to the 3rd party apps for the purpose of ad-serving, in the scope of the apps only.

      You keep saying this as if it somehow makes the situation any better.

  18. Re:And once again, Piracy reigns supreme. by JamesKeane7745 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Err - haven't they stated in the change of TOS it is only for third party apps? Therefore it is only for the add-on services you get free, so in those apps they can serve adds economically? Nothing you get from plus-pass is affected.

  19. No by Stan92057 · · Score: 2

    Free versions no that's the cost of getting a free product. BUT any paid for version They have no right to any data except crash data and provide a feedback function that's how it should be for all paid for products and services.IMO

    --
    Jack of all trades,master of none
  20. I really like Plex by klaatuveratanecto · · Score: 1

    I've been using Kodi since it was called XBMC and I actually still have an Xbox one with one installed. However, I switched to Plex when I got Synology NAS and I found it a lot friendlier in usage for family members + it is available on all smart TVs these days + Chromecast support. I don't want to divorce it. As someone mentioned already let's see if new firewall rules will block it. Otherwise if they go with the attitude "stay or switch" I'm wondering if I can get my money back for purchasing Plex app for android which I got with T&C that included stats opt-out option.

    1. Re:I really like Plex by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      What does getting a Synology NAS have to do with it? I have a Synology as well, but it's just a NAS like any other NAS as far as Kodi or Plex would care.

    2. Re:I really like Plex by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      HELL. You could just point MythTV at that NAS and use it. It's really all down to how well the app in question handles re-scanning all of your media and dealing with the metadata.

      Also not sure about the whole "ease of use thing" there.

      Rube users tend to be good with what they are used to whatever that is. Doesn't matter what it is. Change even the theme and they go ape shit.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    3. Re:I really like Plex by damnbunni · · Score: 1

      The Plex server is a downloadable app for Synology NASes. It means the NAS itself runs the server software as well as holds the files, so you don't need another computer running all the time.

      Plex is a LOT easier to set up than MythTV. It doesn't require a more-or-less-dedicated box, and there's a lot less fiddling involved.

  21. The Good News is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The good news is that kodi is finally mature enough to to the 90% of same job without a central server. The live transcoding for low capability/power devices is a moot point for the majority of users, even the shittiest tablets are capable of 1080p

    Also, once the items in your media library are originized and named well enough for plex, kodi will nave zero trouble presenting them.

  22. Serviio by Chewbacon · · Score: 1

    I don't have such Plex problems.

    --
    Chewbacon
    The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
    1. Re:Serviio by jon3k · · Score: 1

      There is also a paid for Pro edition which further enhances the possibilities of sharing content in your connected household.

      You have to pay to get something as simple as auto-playing a movie split into multiple files or the web based media player. I'll just go back to Kodi.

  23. There's Always Emby by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Never used it personally, but from what I know, it's probably one of the closest replacements to Plex in terms of features and use. It's also open source, so if they ever wanted to try and do something like this, people could fork it.

    YMMV, but I've been well served with either a SMB or NFS server and either an old PC or an nVidia Shield TV running Kodi. It's a client-side solution instead of server-side like Plex and Emby, but if you just make sure to encode everything to a format that your playback device can handle, there's no real functional difference when you just want to watch something. Plenty of routers these days have USB ports and can act as a SMB server, so you don't need an expensive NAS as long as you have a couple external HDDs around.

  24. this is why... by CimmerianX · · Score: 2

    This is why you shouldn't use services like this. Vote with your usage and drop plex, there are plenty of alternatives.

  25. Pay me by Snotnose · · Score: 1

    You want my data, pay me. Never heard of Plex, never used it, prolly never will. But you want my data, send me money. If it ain't enough then fuck you.

  26. Swedish Nazis by Khyber · · Score: 2

    Guess who else didn't let people opt out of information collection? Hitler.

    Fuck these Nazi-esque fucks.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  27. Good for now, but later? by LeftCoastThinker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    " we do not sell or share your personally identifiable statistics"

    So OK, unless the company signs a binding agreement with it's customers, in 6 months when the numbers are down they can decide to turn around and sell the data they have collected on you and you can't do a damn thing about it. Or in 2 years when a new CEO comes in and wants to boost profits to get a better bonus so they can buy the 52 foot yacht instead of the 35 footer, they can turn around and sell it. The bottom line is if the information gets collected, sooner or later it will get sold. The only way to really prevent this is for the company to destroy the data after a set time long enough to be used for their internal purposes, but short enough to prevent a money grab down the road.

    --
    If you disagree, please post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like
    1. Re:Good for now, but later? by JohnFen · · Score: 1

      Also, let's keep in mind that they haven't said what counts as PII. If they're going by the usual definition of that, then it's a lie -- an awful lot of "non-PII" is, in fact, personally identifying.

      And it's been demonstrated plenty of times that even data that is innocuous in isolation becomes personally identifying when combined with other data. So, really, the only "non-PII" is aggregate statistical information that you can't drill down to single instances of.

  28. Re:If not Plex than what? by gravewax · · Score: 1

    unfortunately your options are limited. You could go to Kodi but after using plex you will likely find that subpar, especially if you use the media streaming to devices on plex. maybe emby, but it will also be lacking in some areas too. basically it all depends on what your setup is and how you intend to use. Their is no one best option for all cases.

  29. Re: should be OPT IN by Brockmire · · Score: 1

    This is a good business model. New developments paid for to keep things good and opening the code after its stable.

  30. Pretty much standard practice now by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

    I'd get a new cell phone and OPT-OUT of flurry.com (Google) now Yahoo, the major one to block. That cell phone ID number being godfathered.

    Ads were stopped, now the TOS reads ads won't stop just target ads will not be presented.
    https://support.google.com/ads... adchoices mentioned will block ads if they are members but these are all cookies, blocking any cleaning out of ones browser.

    Not being rooted as most aren't, a hosts file isn't possible; outside a router.

  31. Re: These comments. by nihaopaul · · Score: 1

    I think the problem is that today they demonstrated they can switch the TOS then tomorrow add in the, yes we have a list of all your media files now.

    One way to shut them down is to bring a lawsuit from a country with some type of data retention law that prohibits the export of user data.

  32. Plex: "I'm altering the deal.... by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 1

    Pray I don't alter it any further...

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    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  33. Re:Don't think by Drakonblayde · · Score: 1

    I'm actually wondering if this is a red herring. If I see them remove the PlexPass Lifetime subscription and then offer to let PlexPass users still opt out of the collection, then I know it is.

  34. GDPR by Corbets · · Score: 1

    One wonders how this works for their European customers.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...

  35. NEXT! by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Thanks for the service, you were great while you were great.

    NEXT!

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    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  36. Re: Introduced bias by chainsaw1 · · Score: 1

    Opting out also inherently skews the data. By providing that opt-out, data will only represent users that don't know or understand opting out. This means the sample of the population your are sampling may not be representative of the population. Psychologists have this issue very thoroughly studied.

    In this case, I would argue that only the legally or technically savvy users will understand, thus meaning the data you get will be biased towards luddites.

    (This comment does not pertain to the morality or other aspects of this ToS change)

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    - Sig