MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies • Hacker News Board

Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#21

Post by FireBeyond » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 10:30 PM UTC

paulcole wrote: post #14

cryptoz wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a use case in the app that makes that somewhat reasonable? If not, it sounds like grounds to be reported and removed from Google Play as malware. I thought that would be 100% against the developer rules. Maybe it is just a guideline to only ask permission for things you need, and to let the user use the app even if permission isn't granted. Maybe it's just that Google won't feature you or something. But it s…

> Is there a use case in the app that makes that somewhat reasonable. Maybe image recognition to see the kinds of things you're eating/considering buying before/after going to the movies? This seems pretty reasonable to me. I consider it a fair trade for the monetary discount they're offering on their services. I don't want to spend $10-$15 whenever I want to go to the movies. But I'm more than happy to provide acces…

If only it were that harmless.

No, the reason for accessing your Photos is to get the location and timestamp off of every one and build a nice little trail of where you are and where you go.

Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#22

Post by slg » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 10:30 PM UTC

MoviePass announced their their new, improved, and unrestricted plans in August. We all knew the $10 a month plan was not going to be profitably by itself. In the last week they have started blocking out specific movies, requiring some users to provide photographic proof of their ticket purchases, and bragged about collecting data outside what is described in their TOS. This is after already locking out customers from using the service at some of AMC's flagship theaters. Who had it had it at roughly 6 months before MoviePass started running out of money and needed to resort to trying to milk every last cent out of the theaters, studios, and moviegoers?

Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#23

Post by wskinner » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 10:32 PM UTC

lghh wrote: post #15

I'm really over trying to fight companies on this on an app-by-app basis. If we want this to stop, it has to be through legislation. Either we allow companies to do it and stop acting shocked when it happens, or we legislate the possibility away.

Why is a one size fits all government solution better? You control your phone and the apps on it. Don’t like the app tracking your location before and after movies? Kill it or limit it to While Using (if on iOS). And you can always uninstall it.

Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#24

Post by alexandercrohde » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 10:33 PM UTC

ibdf wrote: post #18

lghh wrote: post #15

I'm really over trying to fight companies on this on an app-by-app basis. If we want this to stop, it has to be through legislation. Either we allow companies to do it and stop acting shocked when it happens, or we legislate the possibility away.

I don't know why everyone is always so shocked. People want smart devices/services that understand them. Where do you think the data comes from? From you!

Nobody is asking moviepass to understand them...

Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#25

Post by ben_jones » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 10:34 PM UTC

ibdf wrote: post #18

lghh wrote: post #15

I'm really over trying to fight companies on this on an app-by-app basis. If we want this to stop, it has to be through legislation. Either we allow companies to do it and stop acting shocked when it happens, or we legislate the possibility away.

I don't know why everyone is always so shocked. People want smart devices/services that understand them. Where do you think the data comes from? From you!

Moreover how can our government condemn commercial data mining while at the same time expanding domestic surveillance? "Don't share your data its harmful! Unless you share it with us!".

Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#26

Post by comboy » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 10:34 PM UTC

lghh wrote: post #15

I'm really over trying to fight companies on this on an app-by-app basis. If we want this to stop, it has to be through legislation. Either we allow companies to do it and stop acting shocked when it happens, or we legislate the possibility away.

I prefer non-legislative way. Mobile OSes are already doing something towards this. Notification warning like "app X is using your GPS" - even though it's closed or even though your screen is off. Or only allowing GPS usage while the app is on your screen.

I don't think many people care though. And even if you disagree on that, I think it should be their right to sell their privacy for convenience if they want to.

Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#27

Post by alexandercrohde » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 10:34 PM UTC

lghh wrote: post #15

I'm really over trying to fight companies on this on an app-by-app basis. If we want this to stop, it has to be through legislation. Either we allow companies to do it and stop acting shocked when it happens, or we legislate the possibility away.

Probably the likeliest solution is at the software level. There's no reason there couldn't be software to send fake locations to apps that you don't make an explicit exception for.

Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#28

Post by whoisjuan » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 10:35 PM UTC

Any app that asks for your location can and will track you. This is so lucrative that Foursquare pivoted the whole company around the concept of location data as a service (https://enterprise.foursquare.com/).

Fortunately, you just need to revoke the permission (or don't grant it in the first place) if you want to avoid being tracked. If you're concerned about this, I'd definitely suggest doing a quick check of the apps that track your location and disable the permission in the ones that you distrust.

Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#29

Post by lghh » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 10:35 PM UTC

ibdf wrote: post #18

lghh wrote: post #15

I'm really over trying to fight companies on this on an app-by-app basis. If we want this to stop, it has to be through legislation. Either we allow companies to do it and stop acting shocked when it happens, or we legislate the possibility away.

I don't know why everyone is always so shocked. People want smart devices/services that understand them. Where do you think the data comes from? From you!

I don't need MoviePass to understand me. I want MoviePass to take my money and give me movie tickets.

Re: MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies

#30

Post by castlecrasher2 » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 10:35 PM UTC

mcescalante wrote: post #8

From my understanding, the bet that MoviePass is making is that they will be able to sell user/usage data to studios (or others) to make back the money that they're losing paying full price on the tickets; they've even admitted this in other interviews... just without specifying what data. Even if it's not location data, I would imagine that any/all data they can associate with a user they will.

Off the top of my head I'd say they're looking to see what other things people do after movies, like go out to eat, shopping, or go home.