Slashdot Mirror
MoviePass CEO Proudly Says App Tracks Your Location Before, After Movies (techcrunch.com)
MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe told an audience at a Hollywood event last Friday that the app tracks moviegoers' locations before and after each show they watch. "We get an enormous amount of information," Lowe said. "We watch how you drive from home to the movies. We watch where you go afterwards." His talk at the Entertainment Finance Forum was entitled "Data is the New Oil: How will MoviePass Monetize It?" TechCrunch reports: It's no secret that MoviePass is planning on making hay out of the data collected through its service. But what I imagined, and what I think most people imagined, was that it would be interesting next-generation data about ticket sales, movie browsing, A/B testing on promotions in the app and so on. I didn't imagine that the app would be tracking your location before you even left your home, and then follow you while you drive back or head out for a drink afterwards. Did you? It sure isn't in the company's privacy policy, which in relation to location tracking discloses only a "single request" when selecting a theater, which will "only be used as a means to develop, improve, and personalize the service." Which part of development requires them to track you before and after you see the movie? A MoviePass representative said in a statement to TechCrunch: "We are exploring utilizing location-based marketing as a way to help enhance the overall experience by creating more opportunities for our subscribers to enjoy all the various elements of a good movie night. We will not be selling the data that we gather. Rather, we will use it to better inform how to market potential customer benefits including discounts on transportation, coupons for nearby restaurants, and other similar opportunities."
While, I wish they would have disclosed the practice, I'm not even mad...
At my age, my location before and after a movie is the urinal in the men's room. No tracking needed. Those extra large Dr Pepper's go right through you.
You are welcome on my lawn.
so what? you knew what you were getting into when you clicked "I Agree" to a subscription service. my only concern is battery life.
That's what I'd like to know. Is there an app for that?
At my age, my location before and after a movie is the urinal in the men's room. No tracking needed. Those extra large Dr Peppers go right through you.
You are welcome on my lawn.
With every new technology, there is a company that wants to piss in my face by monitoring my behavior. Fuck that, and fuck you. When the war comes, we will be coming for you buddy-boy. Google engineers beware. You started this shit and it ends with your head on a pike.
Everyone realises that apps are bullshit that you don't need and certainly doesn't offer value compare to the privacy you give up.
I'm in texas and their web site doesn't work in firefox or chrome.
On the page with city and state they say something about will be 'autofilled' and the red "next page" button is greyedout.
And their phone android app doesn't work either on my phone.
First, they want me to start at 2018 and go back a month at a time, to my birthdate in the 1960s (no drop down- no way to simply type in a date).
Second- the red button to advance to the next page is greyed out... again.
Ridiculous.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Do you think they would not drill to get the oil under your house if you let them? We are like the indigenous people who sell their future for glass beads.
I don't believe you, because the video evidence she posted proves it was the other way around.
Let us known when you can walk normally again.
So if I use an old cellphone for the app, using wifi to connect, they'll decide I am a very sedentary person who only goes to the movies, turns the phone off to not disturb others, and then turns it on at home and stays there until the next movie. Unless they require a device with active an active plan here's a good use fo tehat old cell phone rotting in a drawer.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Nope, your app is not touching my phone or my PC
There is this magic thing called "netflix" and another magic thing called "amazon" and "housecleaning".
Why is this even news?
How about they charge any phone which makes a sound or whose screen is above XYZ brightness a fine and then distributes that fine to every other phone in that theater? More people would install the app because they'll want that free money.
They could include movie ratings. Rate the movie before you leave. Or have idiots constantly pressing up/down throughout the movie so each line can have its own rating.
Included CC or language translation. Have the phone listen to the move audio and show you the CC or send a different language through your headphones.
Free delivery. Order more popcorn and have it delivered so you don't need to get out of your seat.
Priority seating. Put electronic locks on all the seats which only allow them to lower when you bring you phone near them. Charge for the best seats like airlines do. 5 minutes before the movie starts, unlock all the other seats for people not using the app.
But no. Instead they do location tracking like every other app. I'm guessing they'll show you ads on the way home for places you drive by on the way there.
There is certain solution to this problem. ....
Get the name(s), and collectively publish , names, locations, family members locations,
There is nothing wrong in this, Riiight?
3:42 AM Tuesday 3/6 person looking like Mitch Lowe spotted in NY Central Park ... ....
cannot confirm identity, his face was obscured by his sexual partners
Make it interesting.
* Appear to be traveling 200 MPH after a Fast & Furious movie - only to come to an abrupt stop and cease communicating
* Teleport around the globe every time the transporter is used in a Star Trek movie.
* Spend 10 minutes at every massage parlor in town before AND after a movie.
* Make it appear that you drove several hundred miles and passed up many other theaters showing the same movie to get to the one where you watched it. Go home the same way.
* Make it appear you broke out of prison to see a movie and then returned back to your cell - bonus points if you follow sewer lines in and out of the prison.
Just whatever - use your imagination.
Would it be too much to ask from a summary, that it would explain what is this application supposed to do besides collecting data?
Even another reason to faraday cage your phone occasionally.
Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How'd you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don't know why.
Zuck: They "trust me"
Zuck: Dumb fucks
we created an unsustainable business model. we are going to sell your data and serve you targeted ads to try to make-up for our failures, in the hopes of showing a glimmer of 'success' to try to con someone to buy us out for a crazy payday before the house of cards comes crashing down.
After May 2018 when GDPR comes into effect! :-D
Unless very clearly disclosed and explicit acceptance by the user this is most likely a clear breach, possibly even WITH disclosure considering how they probably handle this data....
I'm not a smartphone user. But I've always been saying such a thing *must* exist. Bookmarked, thank you very much!
No fucks given
Yes, their privacy policy is misleading as it could be reasonably interpreted to mean they don't use location apart from that "single request". But you gave the app permission to use your location data, so don't be surprised when it does.
If data is the new oil, they need to pay for it.
Work out what you think it worth and send them a bill, every single one of its users, till they get the message!!!
Mining people is not on.
I always have location blocked on my phone except when I'm actively using it myself. But then again I also use a browser plugin that wipes all cookies as soon as I close a tab, etc.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but with Location Services turned off for an app iOS simply doesn't give the location data to the app. The app can't use/sell what it doesn't have. Just turn off location services.
Am I missing something here?
Which movie did you two go see last night? MoviePass would like to have a pass to the ass as well.
-- Sincerely Yours, MoviePass Customer Service
"We are exploring utilizing location-based marketing as a way to help enhance the overall experience..."
"We are exploring exciting new ways to rape the wallets of people stupid enough to give a corporate predator unfettered access to their personal lives.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
But who the heck still actually goes to a movie theater to watch a move?
Shit like this is why the Pirate Bay was, is, and always will be the best provider of films. Had Pixar or Dreamworks or the like a donate button, I would give them a couple of hundred euro without hesitation, but shit like this keeps getting in the way.
They have to turn a profit somehow :)
I didn't imagine that the app would be tracking your location before you even left your home, and then follow you while you drive back or head out for a drink afterwards. Did you?
Does this person think we're all naive idiots? Very first thing I do when I get a new phone is disable *everything* that would let anyone get this type of information. Sure, it means Google Maps isn't as useful but who the fuck cares. I also make sure I kill any app after using it so it's not sitting in memory wasting my battery trying to do bullshit like this.
Movie pirate proudly says despite terabytes of pirated movies, movie industry has yet to track or even discover him.
..."We are exploring utilizing location-based marketing as a way to help enhance the overall experience by creating more opportunities for our subscribers to enjoy all the various elements of a good movie night. We will not be selling the data that we gather. Rather, we will use it to better inform how to market potential customer benefits including discounts on transportation, coupons for nearby restaurants, and other similar opportunities."...
I don't want that benefit,the cost of it is too high. Can I turn it off?
We were going to get MoviePass but now, no thanks! A shifty company like this hiding such information from customers shows us what to expect from them in the future. This is lying through omission. I warned my family members who I had purchased movie pass for and advised that they ditch the service.
How anyone can believe any kind of explanation / excuse or anything they say going forward is beyond me. Are you sure they aren't tracking your movements at other times?
Also, I hate the BS they are pulling with movie theatre companies, blacking out some titles in order to squeeze money out of them. This just gets passed onto customers (non-movieopass customers)
$8-$10/month for 365 films in-theater, and people thought there wouldn't be caveats?
MoviePass can't run on VC subsidies forever, at some point they were going to need something to pay for a system that probably loses money, and as it stands data is the usual moneymaker.
When the moron published that fact and millions of users switched off location tracking for the app.
Just imagine how much of a sad, pathetic cunt you have to be to write all this jizz. Scary stuff.
It boggles my mind as well.
I didn't imagine that the app would be tracking your location before you even left your home, and then follow you while you drive back or head out for a drink afterwards. Did you?
Dude! Really? You first wrote for an outfit called 'TechCrunch' eleven years ago, yet this app's behaviour surprises you? Just how much time do you spend with your eyes closed and your fingers in your ears singing 'la-la-la'?
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
< Location Services MoviePass
-- -- -- --
Allow location access:
Never
While using the App [x]
Always
Fixed that for you...
And they know they don't have the product to draw new customers. Hell, they don;t have the product to draw old customers. Or dedicated, repeat customers.
So they are moving to reserve seating, plush, to simplify and enhance the experience. recliners actually help shield the light from the stupid iPhone X in front of me, so it's a deal, I don't have to waste 45 minutes to get the seat I actually want, and if I go solo I can go get my popcorn just before trailers and not lose my seat.
They are also going to change the mix of movies, slowly, but for a while inevitably. More family/values movies will come out, short runs with relatively low budgets, just as the 'swimming pool' and blog/guts movies will be intended for short run, lower budgets. Tech is helping as more production goes all digital, but cheaper movies can move through faster, and more product is always good for the studios. the exhibitors just want fresh to keep the seats
filled.
But this can still fail. Watch for more talent to go do non-movie 'projects', try their hand ad producing what THEY think is what we want (as in what THEY want), and ultimately see the streamers keep generating good original content to keep us out of the theaters.
Change. It is good.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
$10/month plus your location, or $10/movie. Your choice.
Have you read my blog lately?
On the iPhone each app asks you if you want to enable Location Services (i.e., tracking)....I **ALWAYS** say no.
another innovative idea for a business, that's why he's paid the big bucks. to come up with ideas like this, no-one had ever thought of invasively tracking private lives before. Hooray for creative management.
Nullius in verba
Why do companies like MoviePass, Google, Facebook make a big deal out of "never selling your data". Of course they're not going to sell it. They're going to rent out the ability to use it, it's far more profitable.
Frankly, I'm not sure who I'd be worried about them selling the data to. They're already the worst offenders of my privacy.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
I'd love to spoof my data and seed more bad data. How do I do that?
Those who would relinquish their liberty (or privacy) for money deserve neither.
The app only needs one location fix to work (your phone needs to be near the theater before you go into the movie). Just disable the app for the other 99.9% of your day.
Better yet, put it on an older second phone. Moviepass's security model to prevent sharing of the service is that the phone has to be near the theater for the Moviepass card to work. If you're not going to a movie yourself that night, lend the phone to your friends and neighbors along with the card for a buck or two.
Make sure the world gets its money's worth from your subscription.
Why fake it?
Figuring out how to do some of them could be a damn fun hobby... Model rocket launched horizontally, then have a parachute slow it down?
Honestly, though, Pokemon Go probably has that angle covered far better than MoviePass ever could.
Everybody knows about Pokemon Go. I've never heard of MoviePass.
-- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
"We will not be selling the data that we gather."
unsaid followup: "unless of course we decide it's time to cash out the business entirely, at which point all that data helps top up our golden parachutes and the new company can do whatever the heck they want with the information we took from you. Suckers."
Let's face it: people tend to sneak in snacks from other places, as the don't want to pay the exorbitant prices of concessions.
If they track you from home, they'll easily be able to see you stop at, say, the 7-11, on the way to your movie.
You also can't tell me (with any conviction) that they can't tell if you bought concessions at the theater or not.
They're going to monetize it, all right... and find out where they're loosing money hand over fist.
Of course, they'll sell ads and give out coupons for different restaurants, so they can get that money out of someone, one way or another.
Have not been to the movies in 4 decades and have not missed a thing, Bet I cold buy more than one new mac with the money saved.
... then you are the product.