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

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31–40 of 233 posts

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

#31
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.

Not all phone users are Hacker News users. They need protection from bad actors, and that just might require government action.

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

#32
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.

[deleted]

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

#33
post #18
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 think it's because there is no apparent user facing feature that uses this data. In the future they may get parking related features, or deeper ride share integrations. But because they're not upfront with how they are using the data, and their are currently 0 user facing features it seems unwarranted.

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

#34
post #22

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 fro…

still worth it

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

#35
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!".

Just because we have not made progress in domestic surveillance does not mean we can't make progress in commercial data mining. It may be hypocritical to have one at the rate we do and legislate the other (though I don't think it necessarily is), but it's better to do that than to have both.

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

#37
post #26
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.

[deleted]

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

#38
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.

Because privacy shouldn't be a minefield.

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

#39
post #18
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!

[deleted]

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

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

To what end? This kind of hyperbole just desensitizes me to concerns about data collection.
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