Unlike most ordinary Americans, I hate Netflix as much as I hate the NSA. I absolutely abhor the idea of paying for a limited selection of TV shows and movies that are available for free from various torrenting websites that do not track my data thanks to AdBlock. And I will never buy Netflix as long as it continues mining user data.
Netflix takes advantage of its customers — it has participated in a series of ethically and artistically questionable actions that damage the integrity of the technology and media industries as a whole.
Back in 2006, Netflix created a competition that offered a $1 million prize to the individual who developed the most accurate algorithm that predicted how users would rate a movie based on their previous film ratings.
Since then, it has consistently mined user data to help expand its subscription base, and, most recently, develop new, “popular” shows.
In other words, Netflix now uses data collected from users to determine what types of shows to produce. This damages ingenuity inherent in the creation of great TV shows and violates user privacy — and that’s a problem.
It was the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs who once said, “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”
In a similar sense, when companies such as Netflix create shows tailored to consumer expectations, they stifle their chances of producing groundbreaking work.
Admittedly, Netflix has released shows such as “Sense8” and “House of Cards,” both of which are undoubtedly innovative. But these shows weren’t produced by Netflix — “Sense8,” for instance, was first conceived by the Wachowskis, who wrote and edited the show while living in Los Angeles.
Netflix believed the show held creative potential and offered to buy the rights to the first season. Similarly, the rights to “House of Cards” were purchased by Netflix from an independent studio, Media Rights Capital. The point is that Netflix didn’t actually create either show. While the company’s eye for creative brilliance is clear in both cases, there’s no evidence linking its data mining to the conception of an unprecedented TV series.
In addition, mass data collection should send warning signals to any user. After all, the company pays people millions to build algorithms to predict customers’ personal behavior.
Worse, researchers at the University of Texas recently discovered a method of correlating private Netflix data with publicly available online databases. In one case, these researchers linked public users of the Internet
Movie Database (IMDb) to otherwise inaccessible Netflix accounts, revealing highly sensitive user information such as political and even sexual preferences.
The implications of these findings are staggering. The study concluded that even if Netflix removed unique information such as names, addresses and Social Security Numbers, hackers could still use cross-referencing methods to uncover individual data records. No matter how well Netflix protects the data it mines, these findings suggest that none of this information is safe.
Of course, I wouldn’t be concerned about the company if it didn’t if Netflix did not track user habits to the extent it does today.
Unfortunately, Netflix not only continues this behavior but is also the most consequential media conglomerate of the Internet age. Its ability to influence and predict the behavior of its users will remain unparalleled for a very long time, especially in a country where Fox News still dominates cable “news” ratings.
And in a world where AdBlock is one of the only ways I can prevent the government from stalking me, the prospect of a second NSA in the form of Netflix is truly frightening.
