Can Blockbuster be Sued Over Facebook/Beacon? 102
An anonymous reader writes "A professor at the New York Law School is arguing that Blockbuster violated the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 when movie choices that Facebook members made on its Web site were made available to other members of the social network via Beacon. The law basically prohibits video rental outfits from disclosing rental choice of their customers to anyone else without specific written consent. Facebook's legal liability in all of this is unclear; with Blockbuster it's a straightforward case of not complying with the VPPA, the law professor says."
is this (Score:1)
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Re:is this (Score:5, Insightful)
This being in some hidden Facebook EULA, or on some 'policy page' for Blockbuster does not mean "the user notifies us in writing". That has specific legal meaning: if they don't have a SIGNED PIECE OF PAPER with the words "I allow you do release my video rental records", they don't have notification in writing of permission.
All this is irrelevant, anyway: the worst that's likely to happen here is some states' attorney general will file a lawsuit, get it certified as "class action", and Blockbuster will settle out-of-court and pay some piddly fine + attorney's fees and send everybody who asks a $5 for free rentals. Big deal.
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local brick and mortar store will have what you want. If it is
popular then it is likely already out of stock. If it is unpopular
then it is likely not even carried by your local store.
Netflix -> Amazon.
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There is a temporal element here that is non-trivial.
A fat PVR that handles PPV well makes more sense than either of them (netflix or blockbuster).
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Even if you only watch a couple, the lowest netflix one is still cheaper.
Plus, the movies aren't necessarily letterboxed on PPV and you don't get all of the extras. Nor does PPV have the TV shows on DVD that have become very prevalent. (Syndicated reruns are hacked up for more commercials + bugs/time compression, etc.)
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Also, not all PPV movies are "expensive". Some cable providers have a variety of pricepoints for different movies.
Also, Netflix isn't that cheap either.
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I actually have a couple of PVRs, and have actually thought of getting rid of netflix sometimes, but it's really convenient, esp now that I'm slowly running out of the tons of stuff I've PVRed with the ongoing strike.
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For once, a law I applaud, I only wish (at least in the US) that they would take this law and expand on it. Make it illegal for ANY commercial (and possibly most govt.) entities from sharing your personal information without express consent. It sure would cut down on a lot of unpleasant things we have due to all the customer information sharing. Junk mail....credit card applica
Pissed off the wrong guy (Score:2, Insightful)
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Re:Pissed off the wrong guy (Score:5, Informative)
From Wikipedia...
During debate over his nomination, Bork's video rental history was leaked to the press, which led to the enactment of the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act. His video rental history was unremarkable, and included such harmless titles as A Day at the Races, Ruthless People and The Man Who Knew Too Much. The list of rentals was originally printed by Washington D.C.'s City Paper.[5]
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Re:is this (Score:4, Insightful)
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As an investor, I might also find that the lower overhead of the Netflix model is an advantage.
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But there is still an intangible value of going out and getting it. Video browsing for examble...most non-nerds have 1 family computer, To gather around and so, no go back! Wait I wanna read about that one! As a family, or even a group of friends going out to pick out a
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if anything i dont see how this much different than netflix and bbuster having rss feeds for each persona nd their queue that dont require any authorization afaik
call me crazy but i dont see how this will do anything at all to them. one way or the other. espe
Yes, but... (Score:2, Interesting)
So this public information was then used by someone else.
What be wrong with this?
Re:Yes, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Yes, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Yes, but... (Score:5, Informative)
Thanks for contacting Blockbuster Online Customer Care.
I'm very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. When you log in to your BLOCKBUSTER Online account, the site uses "cookies" to determine if you have ever visited Facebook.com [facebook.com]. (Cookies: a collection of information, usually including a username and the current date and time, stored on the local computer of a person using the Internet. It is used by websites to identify users who have previously registered or visited the site.)
If cookies detect that you have a Facebook account, regardless of whether or not you have installed the Movie Clique(TM) application, then activities on blockbuster.com [blockbuster.com] such as rating movies or adding movies to your Queue will be sent as notifications to your mini-feed and friends' profiles. You will see a "toast" for each action resulting in a notification. If you want to permanently disable the Facebook integration on blockbuster.com [blockbuster.com], you can easily change these settings on Facebook by clicking on Privacy Settings for External Websites. Under "Allow these websites to send stories to my profile" for Blockbuster, click "Never" and Save.
You may see a pop-up on blockbuster.com [blockbuster.com] which introduces Movie Clique(TM) encourages you to link your BLOCKBUSTER Online® account to your Facebook profile. If you don't want to see the screen pop anymore, click the "Do Not Show This Again" box and click Save. I hope this information helps, feel free to contact me anytime.
So basically, they snag your facebook cookie, then they add your rental info on your account without asking permission, forcing itself on your account, and announcing away. It's up to you to then uninstall that shit.
BBOnline: See you in court!
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If you want to permanently disable the Facebook integration on blockbuster.com, you can easily change these settings on Facebook by clicking on Privacy Settings for External Websites. Under "Allow these websites to send stories to my profile" for Blockbuster, click "Never" and Save.
This is new functionality that Facebook just added. If you want to be sure, google for "Block Facebook Beacon". Plenty of articles on how to use add-ons in Firefox to completely disallow Beacon from getting data on you.
The worst part (Score:2)
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The worst part for Blockbuster, you mean. Since this is where they are breaking the law in question.
Wrong (Score:1)
Re:Wrong (Score:4, Interesting)
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The 5 second window you speak of is a pop-up, and many people have their browsers configured to not display pop-up windows. These people will never get the warning, and will just have their porn habits displayed for the world.
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Re:Yes, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
This was the buzz all this week at a conference on how to make money from internet tracking. Adobe controls the settings on how much information can be written to your local hard drive, and they sell the ability to anyone willing to pay. There is a global setting that users can turn to "off", but Adobe ignores it if they are given enough money. Since Flash tends to be installed system-wide and on all browsers on a machine, it doesn't matter if you clear out browser cookies or try blocking tracking sites. If a partner site sticks a 1x1 pixel flash bug on their site, it has the ability to read tracking info from any other site, and to write back additional information.
Beacon is clever because it creates a large enough "cookie" that many sites can write into the cookie without changing the size taken on disk. Beacon also defines exactly how to parse the information, and how to write new info without changing the total cookie size.
Of course, I was just watching a canned demo of this, so the company claiming to be behind Beacon could be making it all up, but the sales pitch was pretty convincing. I haven't the time or inclination to verify this, as I don't ever look at face book, and generally don't allow flash on my machines (which leaves the web looking very poorly these days)
the AC
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Does anyone know if making your queue public by default is also a violation of
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Sorry, but not noticing the opt-out checkbox that disappears after a few seconds is not equal to "written consent" and should barely be considered "electronic consent".
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No! The whole controversy with Beacon is that everyone was opted-in without their consent, and their purchases suddenly started showing up to other people on their Facebook profiles
Re:Yes, but... (Score:5, Informative)
Beacon was particularly controversial because it was not only opt-out, you couldn't opt-out of it altogether, you could only opt-out on a per-participating company basis *after* that company had already published a story. Facebook has since made changes due to the backlash the original version caused.
This isn't a case of users making information available and someone else using it, this is the Blockbuster website making available information about its users who also use Facebook, apparently in direct contravention of this legislation.
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And sometimes, the poorly thought out red herrings people use make me laugh.
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Unless the Facebook members gave Blockbuster permission in writing to share their movie choices, then Blockbuster violated the law. As discussed in an earlier thread on the Beacon program, it was originally set up as an opt-out program, so many (most?) users had not even given Face
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Your rental history will give people a much more accurate representation of your taste in movies than a voluntary list, especially if renting online is your primary way of watching movies. Some people might not want such an honest list being exposed to strangers (or even "friends"). The fact that they can't prevent Blockbuster from transmitting this data to Facebook (other than blocking Beacon) makes this an issue.
1988? (Score:1, Troll)
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Re:1988? (Score:5, Insightful)
If the law says that this information must be kept private, the internet and computers don't make it any less private.
Rather, the newfound popularity of the internet and computers should make privacy even more important, because once information is released, it spreads far more quickly and easily.
Less ironic than you think. (Score:5, Informative)
The only reason the VPPA [wikipedia.org] exists is because the video records of Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork [wikipedia.org] were leaked. To this day, the act of invading the privacy of a politician for political advantage is called "borking".
Bork's video rentals were unremarkable, so there were no skeletons in Bork's closet. But from that day on, every Senator and Congressman knew that their video rental histories were also subject to exposure to news agencies, and Washington acted to protect itself. If you've got something to hide, you've got plenty to fear, and Washington was evidently so terrified that they made the VPPA apply to regular citizens, not just politicians.
The only way we're going to get a pro-privacy law out of the government is for some enterprising hacker to leak the clickstream of everyone in the government about 20 years from now. Today, that won't work -- because 99% of government officials don't even use the "series of tubes", let alone depend on it for their gay hookers and pr0n. 20 years from now, that will have changed, and a similar Bork-style scandal will erupt. Just imagine the kinds of privacy laws we'd have if someone like Sen. Larry "I'm Not Gay" Craig (R-estroom) had been bound for higher office, NSA leaked their logs of his Intertube traffic.
We know when you've been sleeping,
We know when you're awake,
We know if you've been bad or good,
So be good for goodness' sake!
Oh, you better not surf!
And zip up your fly!
Stop tappin' your toes and trollin' for guys,
Election season's comin' to town!
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R-estroom...DAMN I wish I'd thought of that.
Like Bill Mahr's version of that old board game, Clue: "A Republican, in the Men's Room, with his Cock".
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Not Everything (Score:1)
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Yeah, I wish.
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The crimes are assault, murder, theft, and fraud. Perhaps a few more. These haven't changed since the genesis of civilization.
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The problem with that arrangement, at least for Blockbuster, is that such information sharing put it in violation of VPPA before Facebook changed its privacy policies following an outcry over Beacon, Grimmelmann said. The mere fact that Blockbuster passed on movie choice information to Facebook friends without user consent is a violation of VPPA, he said. That information exchange between Blockbuster and Facebook took place in the background without the Facebook user's knowledge, even though the user's consent might have been needed for it to have been shared with other Facebook members, he said.
RTFA helps sometimes.
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I didn't see a ruling there, I saw an opinion.
Privacy is why I dropped Facebook. (Score:5, Interesting)
No, I quit facebook. Deleted as much as I could before I left, but I know they still have it.
Facebook is dangerous. Period. Go ahead and be a pirate/ninja warrior... but take a look at who wrote that ap. They get your infomation.
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It's a free service, not a charity. They need to turn a profit, like any other company, and the only commodity is the information that you *chose* to give them in the first place. Don't like it? Don't use it, it's ever so simple...
What's next, people deliberately setting themselves on fire and then suing the company they bought the matches f
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Anyone who didn't think this would happen is fooling themselves. ANy compaany will try first, and back off only if they have to. Companies that play nice will get dropped by investors. Besides, how long before it happens
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Given that the entire point of the site is to share information about yourself, I have a bit of a problem with people complaining that it shares information about them.
I think most people might be ok with sharing information with those friends they have so long as THEY control what information gets released and to whom.
I have a big problem with just anyone who is on Facebook gets to view my information. If I could limit who knows what about me and didn't have to worry about micro-managing the changing details about me that get spewed out of every orifice of Facebook every week then I could see signing up. This includes advertisers and the government. I don't want t
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That's the fault of a poorly developed application. Facebook applications technically do not require you to allow access to your information just to view a video or look at a picture.
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I've not seen this at all - the worst I've seen is the apps that invite you to invite your Facebook friends to add the application. I've not had a single application ask me to supply my email address book details (and of course I wasn't stupid enough to supply them to Facebook when I joined).
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Think about how facebook looks to the CIA or NSA and now you entire social network was mapped. Not by them, but by you.
I've posted this before on this topic, but since you mentioned it...
The Okhrana, the Czarist predecessor of the GPU, is reported to have invented a filing system in which every suspect was noted on a large card in the center of which his name was surrounded by a red circle; his political friends were designated by smaller red circles and his nonpolitical acquaintances by green ones; brown circles indicated persons in contact with friends of the suspect but not known to him personally; cross-relationships between the suspect's friends, political and nonpolitical, and the friends of his friends were indicated by lines between the respective circles. Obviously the limitations of this method are set only by the size of the filing cards, and, theoretically, a gigantic single sheet could show the relations and cross-relationships of the entire population. And this is the utopian goal of the totalitarian secret police: a look at the gigantic map on the office wall should suffice at any given moment to establish, not who is who or who thinks what, but who is related to whom and in what degree or kind of intimacy.
Hannah Arendt, Origins of Totalitarianism
only blockbuster is at fault (Score:2)
Better sue now (Score:2)
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"This is the reasoning:
1. Blockbuster is a "video tape service provider" under the statute.
2. Blockbuster is prohibited from "knowingly disclosing, to any person,
personally identifiable information concerning any consumer of such
provider
Question for any expert... (Score:2, Insightful)
For that matter, where does the code for these third-party apps run? Is it uploaded to the Facebook servers (and run from there), or are these third-party developers running code on their own webserver that uses hooks into the Facebook API?
If I install a Facebook app, does this mean that the developer has acces
Re:Question for any expert... (Score:4, Informative)
The question is, do you trust these 3rd party apps to not store your personal info from your profile?
For reference, halfway down this page [facebook.com] is a decent list of profile information available to developers.
Short answer (Score:2)
Facebook is screwed? (Score:2)
haven't looked at in a while (Score:2)
Answer (Score:2)
Yes
Will Facebook lose?
I don't think so Tim
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And they'll lose.
isn't it obvious? (Score:1)
What about Netflix? (Score:4, Interesting)
Switch to Netflix (Score:1)
And to Think (Score:1)
This was 8 years ago. I guess these people were simply ahead of their time.
Facebook Neutral (Score:1)