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?

Comments

Meh.

[firebeaker]

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

Re:Meh.

[Aisha.Washington]

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.

Par for the Course

[Aisha.Washington]

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.

Universal Media Server

[fear025]

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.

Re:Length, rez, bitrate

[JaredOfEuropa]

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.

Trying to get rid of life-time subscribers?

[Phelan]

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?

Good for now, but later?

[LeftCoastThinker]

" 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.