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MoviePass Wants To Gather a Whole Lot of Data About Its Users (fortune.com)
An anonymous reader writes: MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe thinks his service's rapid growth will continue, projecting earlier this month that MoviePass will have 5 million subscribers by the end of 2018, and account for around 20% of all movie ticket purchases. But some of those future subscribers might be concerned about his company's tactics, which Lowe recently said includes tracking users' location before and after a trip to the movies. Lowe's comments, originally reported by Media Play News, were made at the Entertainment Finance Forum on March 2 in Hollywood. They came during a panel titled "Data is the New Oil: How Will MoviePass Monetize It?" Lowe's answer to that question, in part, was that "our bigger vision is to build a night at the movies," including by guiding users to a meal before or after seeing a film.
Lowe said that was possible because "we get an enormous amount of information. Since we mail you the card, we know your home address . . . we know the makeup of that household, the kids, the age groups, the income. It's all based on where you live. It's not that we ask that. You can extrapolate that. "Then," Lowe continued, "Because you are being tracked in your GPS by the phone . . . we watch how you drive from home to the movies. We watch where you go afterwards, and so we know the movies you watch. We know all about you. We don't sell that data. What we do is we use that data to market film."
Lowe said that was possible because "we get an enormous amount of information. Since we mail you the card, we know your home address . . . we know the makeup of that household, the kids, the age groups, the income. It's all based on where you live. It's not that we ask that. You can extrapolate that. "Then," Lowe continued, "Because you are being tracked in your GPS by the phone . . . we watch how you drive from home to the movies. We watch where you go afterwards, and so we know the movies you watch. We know all about you. We don't sell that data. What we do is we use that data to market film."
Get a card sent to a P.O. Box, pay using a prepaid card. Put the app on a cheap secondary phone which doesn't even need service. Use the theater's WiFi to confirm you're there.
That way, you can share an account (i.e. card + burner phone) among an entire family or group of neighbors and friends. Turn off the phone when not "in use" to turn off the tracking function.
Suck on that, Mitchie-boy.
I'm an investor - Mitch, would you please SHUT UP? Your growth is going to stop cold if this news spreads any further
You're not supposed to run your mouth about how you're mining data from your customers, stupid.
There always needs to be a disclaimer, of course, but this implied "scary intent" is laughable.
If the movie theaters want to know all about moviephiles and are willing to pay these people via the discounted/free activities they are super-invested in anyway, I think it's a great trade. Isn't that the basic idea behind grocery store discount cards as well?
Often wrong but never in doubt.
I am Jack9.
Everyone knows me.
And about 2000 others, including the Big Five, is that the CEO brags about invading his users' privacy, and explains what they're doing in some detail.
And it wouldn't surprise me one bit if the dumb-as-a-doorknob morons who wear surveillance equipment on them at all times find this "cool" somehow. Their minds are completely gone at this point. There's no point in getting upset or joke about it anymore. They're lost. The "general public" has become so dumbed down that we will never see anything nice again.
Don't like it don't use it. Its a free market, you dumb liberal FUCKS.
An even better dirty secret is this: That kind of data isn't all that valuable.
Movie theaters already know that you go to dinner before a movie. That's why movie theaters are often parts of malls; they provide an audience of people who want to see a film and are willing to get something to eat as well. They don't need to pay MoviePass to get your GPS coordinates.
MoviePass isn't making money; they are losing money trying to make themselves well known and sell out before they run out of cash and investors.
Are you suggesting he should trade his place for yours? Highly doubtful.
which means an expected 16 hours a day Mon-Thu and 12 hours a day Fri-Sun. How can real workers, and I mean people not on the dole, afford the time to see a movie in a theater? I personally went just over twenty years without doing that. They need to solve the time problem first, of which assigned seats help so you don't have to get there so early. Otherwise tech people won't use an app to buy movies tickets they know they can't use.
even with good data on what I've watched and rated in the past, so this isn't a problem. Netflix has almost $12 billion in revenue and can't even solve the simple AI task of showing TV shows that other people rated highly that I did. Data won't help MoviePass.
run every app in its own container where I can specify what the external world looks like from within the container. So: GPS some location/track that I have chosen (regardless of the hardware GPS even being switched on), sound & camera virtual and maybe hearing/seeing some pre-recorded rubbish, contacts database - maybe unique to the container, ditto call log, ... Ie I want to control what the app perceives through the 'phones sensors.
we'd be interested in. How can they make money with that data when they can't even do the basics? They kept suggested the SJW warrior move Wrinkle in Time to me even though I find that Storm main character vomit inducing ugly. Sad that Disney forced that ugly garbage down our throats. Plus all of the main characters besides Reese Witherspoon are just disgusting. Nothing I've watching using them would suggest I want to see ugly people.
Tracking isn't inherently bad. It's a question of value and disclosure.
For example, a 5% discount and tracking all my purchases? No thanks.
But $10/month all you can watch? For someone who likes to see a lot of movies, this might well be a good trade.
As for myself, having to make the purchase at the theater is a deal-breaker. Having experienced the convenience of reserving seats ahead of time, I don't think I'll ever go back to the old way.
Until there is a catastrophic collapse of a society, and dire physical needs take precedent over everything else. Tell me, how do you cook food with a bunch of bits stored on a hard drive? How do you put fuel into the few working cars remaining, or keep that car's engine from seizing up and welding itself together with data bits? How do you keep that hospital that is still standing's generator going?
These clowns are so full of themselves that it's not even funny. :\
No matter how you slice it... Fn Creepy. Any lady who would date this guy has gotta be out of her mind. If I were a serial killer I would be applying for a job at this company.
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"our bigger vision is to build a night at the movies," including by guiding users to a meal before or after seeing a film.
Um.. isn't that how movie night works already? I mean, when I was 7 and saw Star Wars in Plaza I in Plaza las Americas, PR, there was a nice dress-up restaurant called "Sancho Panza" right next to the theater. And a Baskin-Robbins to the other side. Dinner and a movie, done.
WHen I went to see Empire Strikes Back at the same theater 3 years later, Sancho Panza gave way to Burger King and Arby's. The Baskin Robbins was still there. Dinner and a move, done.
When I went to see Return of the Jedi 3 years after that, they had built 3 more theaters in the 3rd floor, right in "La Terraza" -- a food court. Dinner and a movie, done.
So.., what, exactly, is this goon on about?! I know I've forsaken the moviehouses for my own home theater, but the last few times I've been to a movie I've had dinner either before, or after, in close proximity to the moviehouse. Things have changed but they've not changed that drastically: In general, there's always food somewhere near the theater, usually walking distance.
The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
I do not own a smart phone. I do not even own a dumb phone. I can still order movie tickets from Fandango via my PC.
No, I am not a Luddite. My entire 40+ year career was in computer software. I just do not have the need to be in constant contact 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
https://yro.slashdot.org/story... -- 5 whole days ago
Palaces, barricades, threats, meet promises
"Using your touch-tone keypad, please enter your latitude in degrees, minutes, and seconds now."
And not only is the product (the movie) shit, the theatre is shit as well.
If I recall right, when MoviePass was first mentioned here, a lot of comments were wondering how they would break even. They were offering to let you see as many movies in theater as you wanted, in exchange for the cost of something like 1 movie per month. At the time someone suggested that theaters would sell more concessions, and that's how they'd make money. It doesn't seem unreasonable for them to be making money off users' data, because otherwise it's hard to imagine them breaking even.
"MoviePass wants access to your location"
[Deny]
I watch a movie, and then I fly to Japan, sometimes North Korea, or just hang out in the middle ot the pacific ocean.
My home residence is in the marianas trench, on a submarine.
I like to eat at the pyongyang hotel after watching movies.
I make a billion dollars a year, have 30 kids, and live at 1600 Pennsylvania.
Enjoy your 'high quality' data.
Don't even use the app, and if you're forced to (wtf?) then use mock location and Ethernet over USB OTG to avoid WiFi access point name tracking
Microsoft, Roomba, Samsung and other consumer products screw the consumer. While the user agrees to Movie pass, they don't agree to the others. We need consumer protection laws.
MoviePass Wants To Gather a Whole Lot of Data About Its Users
We also want companies like these to spend a Whole Lot of Jail Time.
Is that idea even possible? Nobody's there to protect us. It's as if the government promotes this type of garbage
Since so many of the sheeple seem intent on trading every scrap of personal information about themselves to marketers, it's obvious attempts to make aggressive data gathering illegal are going to fail for lack of support.
However, there is a kind of legislation might actually be popular enough to succeed. Enact data protection laws that include heavy penalties for failing to protect consumer data. When a corporation is as careless with consumer information as Wells Fargo was, for example, the company/bank/whatever should pay a hefty fine and be responsible for damages. In addition, the board of directors should actually face the strong probability that one or more of them will go to prison.
We have already seen massive data leaks that potentially have national security implications. If it's true, as we are repeatedly told, that severe penalties are a deterrent, then people responsible for such leaks should pay a heavy personal and financial price. They assemble detailed information about large segments of the population for their own ends. Then, because there are no real consequences for failing to protect these vast stores of information, they leave it vulnerable to any foreign spy agency with enough interest to go after it. Or they simply release it themselves due to carelessness, greed and stupidity.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
At least he is honest. He tells it is about the value of the data and not "better customer experience" like others try to do.
The thing is the few people who are unwilling to share their data is extremely small. As long as you do not get laws at least as strict as they are in Europe (and they should be stricter) with serious punishment for breaking them you are fucked. Seriously and truly fucked.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
i wonder how many millions will uninstall after reading this ..... hum ,
We don't sell that data. What we do is we use that data to market film.
YOU'RE THE ONE IT WOULD BE SOLD TO.
Does that line really pacify people? Do you actually feel better every time they say that? "We don't outright sell the data [to competitors]"? All this does is skip a middleman.
It's like a bedframe factory saying "We don't sell these oak trees to other factories." whoopdeedoo, besides helping your rival it'd be an inefficient supply line.
How's life in the hypocrite lane?
FREE.... damb
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