If You Are a Current or Former Netflix Subscriber
A Settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit that claims Netflix unlawfully kept and disclosed information, including records on the movies and TV shows its customers viewed. Netflix denies that it has done anything wrong.What does the Settlement provide?
Netflix has agreed to change its data retention practices so that it separates (known as “decoupling”) Entertainment Content Viewing History (that is, movies and TV shows that someone watched) from identification information for those subscribers who have not been a Netflix subscriber for at least 365 days, with some exceptions.
In addition, Netflix will pay $9 million into a Settlement Fund to:
• Make donations to Court-approved not-for-profit organizations, institutions, or programs.
• Pay notice and settlement administration expenses.
• Pay attorneys’ fees of up to 25% or $2.25 million of the Settlement Fund, plus up to $25,000 in expenses.
• Pay a total incentive award of $30,000 to the Named Plaintiffs.Proposals from potential donation recipients will be sought, and, after consideration, recommendations will be made to the Court. A list of the proposed donation recipients will be posted on the website.
I received this today, you may have as well.
Stupid effing Lawyer’s is the problem, not Netflix.
Never got into NetFlicks.
They’re just one step removed from the MPAA.
Class Action Lawsuits are a joke.
I worked for Iomega running part of their customer service dept a while back while they were going through THREE class actions.
Even though they were “reprimanded” and had to pay some fines, it was all a farce. Iomega made millions from the bad behavior and had to pay back ~25%.
Leaving 75% profit they would not have had otherwise. It was profitable to act bad and pay the fines.
Condi be intimately fingerable
& intraslitularly cunnilingulable
Are you Don King!?!?
Never understood these privacy issues? Its like people signing up for Facebook then complaining when everyone knows their business?? These frivolous lawsuits make lawyers lots of money but the end result for the plaintiffs is a few bucks.
By a similar token, what do all these ISPs do with the logs of former subscribers? I wonder if the ISPs like Verizon and Comcast are keeping illegitimate usage data about their former subscribers too.
Also consider what all these big websites do with former subscribers and their cookie tracks.
It’s clean up time, as I tell the kiddies….
The lawyers are happy.
I’m also usually fulfilled concerning the stunning opinions served by you all on this here forum. Most recently fulfilling my greatest surprise expectations, I have learned how to tell Arabic, Greek and WingDings from Hebrew….. and that certain retards will take the joke from one thread to the next as if it was a joke worth more than telling once.
You know—like all of “my” catch phrases.”
אה כן, משיב הטירון יש לעשות מה יצרן משיב הטירון יש לעשות. להשאיר אותם לבד, או שהם יתחילו לשחק עם משלהם חרא, משליכים אותו לעבר אתכם מארזי מגופם שלהם. ((Ah Well, an idiot has to do what an idiot has to do. Leave them alone, or they will start playing with their own d0-do and even throw it at you from their cages.))
Now…. I’m not a tough guy===but who cares? Contra–lawsuits aren’t frivolous if you can win money by bringing them. THAT means somehow the privacy interest overcame the industry resistance and got laws passed. Hmmm–I guess that would actually be the trial lawyers? Ha, ha. Back to square one on the evil lawyers bit.
How exactly does owning a gun protect me from this?
Yea, verily! (וידברו בקול תפלתי׃
אף אחד מי מסורס או שיש לו איבר גברי שלו מנותקים יכול לדבר איתי
אני ה ‘אלהיכם
Well Yawway==I’m sure what you posted is funny or insightful, but its not worth the cut and paste to my translater.
Your word has always been like that. Having the ability to speak to each of us in our native tongues, when you speak in a foreign language, I assume you are not speaking to me.
See how that works out?
Chosen People …. progroms …. and all that? Turning me anti-you?
But YOU have the power. Don’t need to be Omnipotent to simply avoid being an ass.
Yea Verily.
Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one–for God himself has given us right standing with himself.
Romans 8:33
Ha, ha. You don’t even make sense when speaking the English.
So, which of the many tribes claiming you for themselves has it correctly==and why have you chosen some rather than all of your children?
How many billions of years ago did you know of this outcome?
What level of Hell did you put Epicurus in?
…. etc… ….. ….. but that is just about the way the conversation will go when I meet you on a spiritual level.
Ain’t logic and individual freedom a bitch?
Oh—and to continue my own Hebrew script: How would owning a gun protect me from you?
((Ha, ha—I do crack myself up. God like in my insularity!))
A billions years ago???? How hooman of me.
NO!!!—Before time started you knew these very words were going to be typed/asked of you…… so, you’ve had time to think about your answer, and what language you would use.
Whats new?
Accck!!!! Damn my hooman limitations ((and I know you will))–you don’t think about anything==you already knew the answer before time began.
Silly Hoomans. Talking to god.
Any money in it for me? I once received an $8.00 check from the GTA folks .
אל תשפוט, ולא יישפטו, מגנים לא, אתה לא תהיה גינה, לסלוח, ואתה תהיה נסלח
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Romans 1:29-32
New International Version (NIV)
Netflix should die. Thus sayeth Yahweh.
..class action lawsuit
Big winners here are the ones that cared – the lawyers. Follow the money.
Consumer information is the currency of the internet. Get uses to it and STFU because the internet is free.
Lawyers are the guardians of truth and justice and the high priests of jurisprudence. Do not speak evil of them.
Imagine the appeals, dissents and remandments, if lawyers had written ‘The Ten Commandments’.
— Harry Bender
If lawyers had written the Bible, it would consist of 143 books of contradictory text and 341 volumes of commentary and interpretation.
I’ve come to hate what is an essential part of our ‘amazing way of living’.
Those poor, lawyer-less jungle bastards dancing and partying when they kill a wild pig.
The internet is free? Maybe in mom’s basement, not in the real world. I also pay for Netflix.
No, I don’t have to get used to it or Shut the Fuck Up. Especially if I’m PAYING for it.
It is free. How much you choose to pay for the on ramp is totally up to you.
Yes, STFU and get used to the fact that personal information is the currency exchange used will continue to be used forever to keep it free.
Don’t get your panties in a bunch.
Sorry, I haven’t worn panties since I was 16
The Public Library is free…do you think they share the list of books you’ve checked out?
here is a link to a breakdown by state what the law is on privacy of lending records in public libraries.
http://ala.org/offices/oif/ifgroups/stateifcchairs/stateifcinaction/stateprivacy
I looked up my state of NC. Cannot give out except to law enforcement with subpoena/court order or unless I consent to the disclosure.
But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.
Matthew 5:39-41
New International Version (NIV)
The settlement must be doubled. Thus sayeth Yahweh.
It’s a great service with an unsustainable market strategy. The only way this can remain user friendly for the foreseeable future is for an a la carte system where you pay X amount per month for each channel of shows you want. It’s going to take a downfall of television profitability to do it, but it must happen for us to move forward.
We need a Google TV/Apple TV type setup, except tie it to the app store where you can subscribe to channels. Subscribe to Discovery – $3 a month. Subscribe to ESPN – $8 a month. Subscribe to PBS – $0 a month. Then the stations can handle their own markets, and the only thing Google/Apple would handle is the home page and channel listings (for ads).
But that’s going to be WAY in the future
So $30 k for the plaintiffs, and 2250k for the lawyers, and 9000 for some unknown group or groups for an unknown purpose? That’s called extortion.
Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, “Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?”
Habakkuk 2:6
I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.
Isaiah 45:7
I guarantee you Blockbuster does the same thing.
Netflix denies that it has done anything wrong.
This is a typical settlement with a corporation.
The corporation is completely innocent of any wrongdoing and those crafty lawyers came along and made up a fanciful story to tell a jury and now the poor pitiful corporation must pay for damages because that would be less expensive than paying a jury verdict because those crafty lawyers are picking on a completely innocent corporation that was minding its own business.
I feel sorry for the plaintiffs. They got ripped off by the corporation first and then the lawyers next.
And all of this happened because Netflix did nothing wrong.
*sniff*
“Subscribers accused Netflix of violating the federal Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 by keeping records of DVD and Internet videos they watched for at least two years after they canceled service, and also keeping credit card information.” ///
From http://reuters.com/article/2012/07/06/us-netflix-privacy-settlement-idUSBRE8650L520120706
You can agree or disagree consumers should have privacy rights, or you can agree or disagree Net Flix kept information past one year after the subscription lapsed === but you gotta be a friggin idiot if you think NetFlix didn’t violate the law.
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Matthew 7:2
Thats a good one yawway. Every swinging dick is allowed to have their own judgment. Key is in the penalty phase.
I only hope my own measurement would be used: people are free to disagree, no punishments or withholds would be moral.
The rumor is that you are quite the opposite. That you demand everyone kiss your ass and you punish them forever if you don’t. Now–I for one don’t believe that. No kind of loving creature would do THAT especially with those of his own making. I assume that even Hitler has a place in Heaven.
Am I wrong?
Hitler is my left-hand man. He is one of the few angels that speaks German.
Sunday is a very busy day for me, even though it is supposed to be my day of rest.
I’ve got 37 million people praying to win the lottery and I am expected to choose one of them even though none of them deserve to win.
Now I have Nicolas Cage praying for a good movie script. Do you know how many movie scripts I have read today? I lost count.
I had to rush over to another galaxy and deal with a crisis situation over there.
You silly hoomans expect me to rearrange the entire universe so you can get your way.
I am tapped out and stressed out.
I am taking a break. The prayer line is busy. Leave a message.
I’m ambivalent about them keeping records of what I watched, but the credit card info ticks me off. It is a security issue to keep it around any longer than absolutely necessary.
This is the second class action lawsuit against Netflix in the last 2 years. The last one was vs. Walmart and I believe everyone got a $1.50 Walmart gift card. That was for a $27 million settlement. This is a $9 million settlement so you can only imagine what the payout will be…
The pay out is listed in the OP.
The federal law is The Video Privacy Protection Act, 18 USC § 2710, – http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2710
It allows for civil, not criminal penalties.
Netflix, while handy, has average picture quality and last year’s shows.
I like it. Thank god for instantwatcher because Netflix interface sux.
Try having a few glasses of wine and trying to find a decent movie in the their library. You are likely to throw the remote through the screen.
Instantwatcher lets you review the stuff on your PC, phone or tablet without all the pain of the Netflix “Goofy” I mean gui.
Really if netflix fixed their interface it would be much better. Clearly designed for the pre-literate. Think 4 year olds looking for teletubbies.
It’s amazing that can’t figure out an interface for grown-ups after all these years, yet they email you when they know you had lousy resolution.
DATA THEFT is the reason the Internet exists !!! EVERY “SERVICE” Provider is writhing down what you do and SELLING IT TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER !!!
What I watch on Netflix is my business. If those scumbags told the goddam world about it they can pay me not some stinking tax deductible charity, like they are real nice or something.
Oh yeah I’m part of that settlement.
Me = Zero, zip, zilch, not even a free month of service
Named Plantifs = a few bucks each (don’t know how many there are)
Attorneys = 2.25 million
Oh thank goodness for class actions like these, they’re totally watching out for my interests
Thank you for any other informative blog. The place else could I get that kind of info written in such an ideal manner? I’ve a challenge that I am simply now operating on, and I have been at the glance out for such information.
Netflix needs to refine it’s interface so it’s easier to find the bare boobies in the R rated movies. Wouldn’t have to waste time with the rest of the movie…