Netflix Has Saved Every Choice You've Ever Made In 'Black Mirror: Bandersnatch' (vice.com) 102
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."
Revolutionary (Score:5, Funny)
If this catches on, and other entertainment and social media companies start collecting data on every keystroke of input, personal privacy is doomed.
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Ok, I'm curious about this one...how would a movie theater know who I am or what movie I watch, etc?
I certainly don't fill out any forms or give them any way to know who I am when I go see a movie.....
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Well obviously if you use a club card type thing that can be tracked. Also if you use the same credit card to pay for things, they know how often you come, how many snacks you buy, etc.
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Hmm...ok, I was going with the assumption that most people just use cash at a movie theater?
Hmm, now that I think about it, I guess they do take credit cards, but for minor expenses like this, just use cash.....?
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Been happening for years.
Google "record user session javascript" and see what comes up. Many platforms have to built in these days. The site can record every keystroke, every mouse movement or click, window resize events, scrolling, pretty much every interaction. Similar stuff exists for apps on mobile platforms too.
Developers love it, they can see how people interact with their work and reproduce bugs. Unfortunately it's also a privacy nightmare and somewhat difficult to block consistently.
Don't buy it (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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Well, to be fair, I mentioned the awful Norwegian police procedurals as opposed to the fine Finnish police procedurals, which I love to watch.
Stay away from the Belgian police procedurals, which are awful.
But the best of all police procedurals are the Scottish or Northwest British police procedurals, because you get the great accents.
"Ah, he's deed, Angus. It looks like whichever coont kilt him was in the hoose."
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But the best of all police procedurals are the Scottish or Northwest British police procedurals, because you get the great accents
Don't go near Midsomer
"Ah, he's deed, Angus. It looks like whichever coont kilt him was in the hoose."
eeyee, Muhrduur moost foowl!
Bandersnatch did catch the lameness of that one part of the CYOAs you would find yourself returning to each time you tried a different path. Finding the easter egg was a hilarious way to end all the sequences.
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The one I really liked was Rebus (now on Hulu). Also Shetland.
I don't know why Scottish accents make me so unbelievably happy. Even after so many viewings, I can watch Trainspotting and be entranced without even noticing the plot.
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The one I really liked was Rebus (now on Hulu). Also Shetland.
I mean don't go there because you'll get murdered. So many murders in Midsomer.
I don't know why Scottish accents make me so unbelievably happy. Even after so many viewings, I can watch Trainspotting and be entranced without even noticing the plot.
Billy Connolly [youtube.com] has a reasonable explanation and Robin Williams [youtube.com] sums it up well.
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I don't know why Scottish accents make me so unbelievably happy.
Two words: Amy Pond.
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I loved Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books because of the Nac Mac Feegle, but when Stephen Briggs did the audiobooks, it was even better because he has all the accents down pat. Nigel Planer always did lots of great accents, too, including Scottish, when he did the earlier audiobooks.
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My recommendation list is full of crappy French movies. My wife is Chinese, so we frequently watch Chinese movies. So Netflix sees that, and figures we like foreign films, although we have never watched any film in a language other than English or Mandarin.
Their recommendation algorithm could use some improvement.
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Same. Love the Chinese movies (or movies in Chinese) because I'm a big martial arts fan. But these multi-national productions are getting out of hand. You know, Spanish films shot in Croatia entirely in Romanian language. Even seeing the production co
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I have adapted, I always check audio and subtitles before hitting play. As for storing my choice on that particular bit of content, they must have recorded stopping making choice and cancel watching it.
Most canned content is too boring to watch on it's own and I have to have the internet going at the same time, so canned content that requires interaction is just annoying and interrupts browsing the net or gaming. They can try making better content but some how I don't see that happening any time soon. Thou
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If you like horror, brother you have to see this movie MANDY with NIc Cage. It's hard to find because it's on the Shudder network, but if you have Amazon prime, I'm betting you can figure out how to see it for free. It's good.
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Netflix’s new crime series Borderliner landed last week. The eight-episode Norwegian series is a crime-thriller that tells the story of Nikolai Andreassen, a police detective who covers up a murder case in order to protect his family.
Inexplicably, it shows up on your preference list after a Shameless binge.
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Exactly. "Because you watched Shameless, here's a movie about a depressed Norwegian policeman you'll love".
And don't confuse Borderliner with Bordertown, which is the story of a Finnish policeman who can only solve crimes when he takes his shoes and socks off. That one's actually pretty good. Borderliner, is mostly just grim in a place where there's barely any daylight and not a single person ever cracks a smile. And the "big cit
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Yes, I'm known for having a big heart.
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Wait? You mean the BBC don't have a monopoly on shitty Norwegian police procedurals? It's all they've been showing for months.
Just how many of them are out there?
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Same here. Unless their recommendation algorithm is actually a 'scrape the crap out of the catalogue to see if some idiot will watch it' sort of thing.
Did they record my winning move? (Score:2)
That is the winning move of not to play!
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Don't worry, someone impersonating you filled in all the data for them. They'll just use that for the ad targeting instead.
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Don't worry, someone impersonating you filled in all the data for them. They'll just use that for the ad targeting instead.
They can advertise whatever the fuck they want. I ain't buying it.
Netflix Has Saved Every Choice You've Ever Made (Score:5, Interesting)
Duh.
Congratulations (Score:1)
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.
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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.
It is necessary! (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
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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????
Nope. I didn't go so far as to record the modem sound from the final sequence and get a q code. I thought it was cool though.
Netflix DOES need to record and store your choices, because they affect nodes in the story sometimes EVERY AFTER YOU RESTART.
They probably also missed that the choices aren't recoverable after you delete them. Also I noticed that when you go back and don't make choices it plays out like a movie.
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).
I liked the touch where he got on the train, aware.
Seriously, Bandersnatch is awesome, and this guy is an ass. Screw him and everyone else that hates fun.
I think he's an ass because he gave NF the idea. Now I'm certain there is some unimaginative dick that is going to find a way to commoditize the data and...wel
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I didn't do the tape playback myself, but only because someone else had already done it seemingly hours after the thing was released - it wasn't a modem noise, but the sound from saving ZX Spectrum program data to tape (though in fairness, pretty similar to a modem since it's transforming digital into analog audible signals, but I think they had more range for tape storage than unreliable phone lines).
I did enjoy the ZX Spectrum game in an emulator though, I thought it was pretty awesome they actually hired [reddit.com]
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The issues are:
1) They don't ask for specific consent to do that, which is required under GDPR.
2) They keep the data indefinitely, without any kind of anonymization, for the claimed purpose of improving their storytelling. If they kept it for you benefit that might be different, but they are keeping it to help themselves... Forever, and without asking first.
Would it really be so hard for them to ask up front "can we store this forever and use it, or would you prefer us to delete/anonymize the data after a w
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The issues are:
1) They don't ask for specific consent to do that, which is required under GDPR.
Consent is not necessary, if they can use one of the other 5 grounds for keeping the information. Some of them are related to government applying the law, or the public welfare, which obviously don't apply here. Netflix basically has 4 possible grounds:
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It's really not necessary to store your choices after you've seen Bandersnatch:
Nto true. There are like additional endings after "the ending" if you play it more than once.
In which case you haven't reached the (real) end, and my comment does not yet apply...
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Netflix DOES need to record and store your choices, because they affect nodes in the story sometimes EVERY AFTER YOU RESTART.
No, it is not necessary.
Also, it doesn't track inter-viewing of the show.
I literally picked all the last options the first time.
I literally picked all the first options the SECOND TIME.
I LITERALLY got the SAME ENDING.
This is a garbage attempt to just track people and their actions because Netflix has NO OTHER WAY TO DO SO.
GG
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I just LITERALLY came here because EVERYONE WAS SHOUTING and I thought IT LOOKED LIKE FUN.
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No, it is not necessary.
Yes it is to function fully.
I literally picked all the last options the first time.
I literally picked all the first options the SECOND TIME.
Brakes aren't necessary for the function of a car, because I can both accelerate AND steer!! Hurrumpf!!
I LITERALLY got the SAME ENDING.
In that case, yes you did. In others you do not.
In order to do what Netflix did they must keep state, period. For example go follow the other game dev, let him kill himself, then go back to choose not to follow
unimportant (Score:1)
They had some trivial personal data... (Score:3)
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.
Their algorithms are overrated (Score:2)
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
personal information? (Score:2)
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?
It's a Black Mirror Episode Within an Episode! (Score:1)
You're both watching it and living it. ;)