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Netflix Has Saved Every Choice You've Ever Made In 'Black Mirror: Bandersnatch' (vice.com)
According to a technology policy researcher, Netflix records all the choices you make in Black Mirror's Bandersnatch episode. "Michael Veale, a technology policy researcher at University College London, wanted to know what data Netflix was collecting from Bandersnatch," reports Motherboard. "People had been speculating a lot on Twitter about Netflix's motivations," Veale told Motherboard in an email. "I thought it would be a fun test to show people how you can use data protection law to ask real questions you have." From the report: The law Veale used is Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR granted EU citizens a right to access -- anyone can request a wealth of information from a company collecting data. Users can formally request a company such as Netflix tell them the reason its collecting data, the categories they're sorting data into, third parties it's sharing the data with, and other information. Veale used this right of access to ask Netflix questions about Bandersnatch and revealed the answers in a Twitter thread. He found that Netflix is tracking the decisions its users make (which makes sense considering how the film works), and that it is keeping those decisions long after a user has finished the film. It is also stores aggregated forms of the users choice to "help [Netflix] determine how to improve this model of storytelling in the context of a show or movie," the company said in its email response to him. The .csv and PDF files displayed Veale's journey through Bandersnatch, every choice displayed in a long line for him to see.
After sending along a copy of his passport to prove his identity, Veale got the answers he wanted from Netflix via email and -- in a separate email -- a link to a website where he downloaded an encrypted version of his data. He had to use a Netflix-provided key to unlock the data, which came in the form of a .csv file and a PDF. Veale is concerned by what he learned. Netflix didn't tell Veale how long it keeps the data and what the long term deletion plans are. "They claim they're doing the processing as it's 'necessary' for performing the contract between me and Netflix," Veale told Motherboard. "Is storing that data against my account really 'necessary'? They clearly haven't delinked it or anonymized it, as I've got access to it long after I watched the show. If you asked me, they should really be using consent (which you should be able to refuse) or legitimate interests (meaning you can object to it) instead."
After sending along a copy of his passport to prove his identity, Veale got the answers he wanted from Netflix via email and -- in a separate email -- a link to a website where he downloaded an encrypted version of his data. He had to use a Netflix-provided key to unlock the data, which came in the form of a .csv file and a PDF. Veale is concerned by what he learned. Netflix didn't tell Veale how long it keeps the data and what the long term deletion plans are. "They claim they're doing the processing as it's 'necessary' for performing the contract between me and Netflix," Veale told Motherboard. "Is storing that data against my account really 'necessary'? They clearly haven't delinked it or anonymized it, as I've got access to it long after I watched the show. If you asked me, they should really be using consent (which you should be able to refuse) or legitimate interests (meaning you can object to it) instead."
If this catches on, and other entertainment and social media companies start collecting data on every keystroke of input, personal privacy is doomed.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Clearly, Netflix hasn't been saving all my choices, because if they were, they wouldn't keep recommending that I watch shitty Norwegian police procedurals or bad stand-up comedy specials.
You are welcome on my lawn.
That is the winning move of not to play!
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Duh.
This is officially the dumbest supposed news story that I have ever read. Netflix does not do something bold like this without knowing if this is a success or a failure. If adding the choose your own adventure add in makes the majority of viewers return and replay the movie using other choices then adding this element is a huge hit. If it does not them it is not worth the additional expense associated with the gimmick. If you do not get that do us all a favor and do not reproduce.
My God, am I the only actual nerd left here??? The only one who has gone through pretty much every iteration and node of Bandersnatch????
Netflix DOES need to record and store your choices, because they affect nodes in the story sometimes EVERY AFTER YOU RESTART.
That to me was the most fun and brilliant aspect, the effect choices could have even going back to earlier choices (and a meta reference if you know the story).
Seriously, Bandersnatch is awesome, and this guy is an ass. Screw him and everyone else that hates fun.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I care about real violations of privacy. Like apps that record my cell phone's audio, government servers photographing and storing pictures of my license plate with location and time, the inability to fly without invasive tracking, credit card companies selling purchase histories, the NSA literally hacking the internet, Intel's Management Engine.. I can go on and on and on. The choices I make in a CYOA provide nothing compared to the Stasi-like surveillance being perpetrated every day on you and me.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
I'm not sure how the production of a passport gives any assurance of the identity of the requestor, especially if they didn't ask for it when the account was set up in the first place. It does sound very much like a charade to deter people from going through the (otherwise free) process of asking for their data.
This bandershatch shit was some of the worst shit ever invented. THere has been "choose your path" since way back on DVDs, and never were any sold because it is a morronic idea
It kind of almost nearly worked with those kids book back in the day.
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They kept recommending me a bunch of boring spineless standup comedy, some about that American "white privilege" bullshit concept. The auto-play trailers weren't selling something I cared about watching. Clearly, their algorithms aren't that good. :D
L'Idiot
How are the paths you take through a tv show even personal information? What harm could possibly come to someone if this information was leaked?
You're both watching it and living it. ;)