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

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

#111

Post by sixothree »

jnnnthnn wrote: post #45
whoisjuan wrote: post #28

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…

One thing that is clever about MoviePass, is that in order to use their membership, one must have location services activated at least for a brief instant every time they are going to the movie. Indeed, you need to “check in” in the app when you’re within a 100 yard radius of the theater in order to be able to charge the ticket price to the MoviePass-provided payment card. Odds are, most people won’t want (or remembe…

I find that I often check the movie times using the application from my house or my office. I'm sure it captures that brief window as well.

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

#112

Post by tw04 »

slg wrote: post #57
dawnerd wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they have started blocking out specific movies This was always part of the terms from day one. Shouldn't surprise anyone. Also while not specifically noted in the terms, it should be assumed they'd track your location since it spells out that you can only miss/walk out of a movie (if I remember correctly) once a month.

There was a notice buried in the TOS that they could restrict movies but the marketing material and press they did when they switched to $10 plans was that any regularly priced 2D movie at participating theaters was allowed. This week they started actively blocking certain new movies like Red Sparrow and Death Wish in order to try to direct users to other movies or specific theaters. It is clear that this weekend was…

If you can't possibly justify the cost model of a product, you ARE the product. That's been true since the dawn of Google, and likely before that.

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

#114

Post by sixothree »

AlexandrB wrote: post #68
asdsa5325 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which isn't profitable. If you want MoviePass to exist, they need another source of revenue...

This can be used to excuse the worst kind of behaviour. Maybe if MoviePass can't operate profitably without violating people's privacy, it's just not a good startup idea.

This is used to excuse the worst kind of behavior. I don't see MoviePass as any sort of exception to the rule here. I see as par for the course.

And to be honest, that is disappointing to me.

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

#115

Post by milesokeefe »

r00fus wrote: post #90
linsomniac wrote: post #87

As far as I'm concerned, it would hardly matter if the theaters charged $0 for movies. My family almost always goes to the movies for a "family date night". Last night our concession stand bill was over $60, and that's just because I din't have a drink and we didn't get popcorn. The theater we pretty much exclusively go to is one of those fancy places with the power recliners and food, so we will usually eat dinner t…

Huh. All the folks I know bring their libation (beer even sometimes) and even food into the theater. My wife and I always eat first, then take a small snack in her bag and that's it. Of course, we don't go to an upscale theater.

What theater lets you bring in outside food/drink? I've never heard of the practice, outside of theaters that let you bring your own growler for them to fill.

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

#116

Post by rco8786 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #62
AlexandrB wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We all knew the $10 a month plan was not going to be profitably by itself. How is this kind of "growth hack" not simply dumping[1]? The only new development here is that dumping is no longer limited to large companies with large war chests thanks to the availability of venture capital. The more interesting question is can healthy, truly profitable technology companies develop in an environment where they have to co…

> How is this kind of "growth hack" not simply dumping[1]? "Dumping" is bad because it harms unsubsidized competitors. (It also pits foreign governments against private companies.) I fail to see who MoviePass hurt except its own investors. > Can healthy, truly profitable technology companies develop in an environment where they have to compete with startups that are ready and willing to undercut them by losing tons o…

> Lyft seems to be doing fine

By what measure? They have hundreds of millions in investor money and afaik aren’t turning any profit?

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

#117

Post by mirimir »

ben_jones wrote: post #25
ibdf wrote: 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!".

Domestic mass surveillance is unconstitutional.

Back when the US Constitution was drafted, there was virtually no commercial data gathering. So we arguably need the Fourth Amendment extended to the commercial sector. Maybe also the First Amendment.

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

#118

Post by csmiller »

kc10 wrote: post #58

I was a MoviePass subscriber for about 4 months. But I noticed that international movies and few theaters are blocked, can't reserve tickets ahead of time as per TOS. With all these restrictions I didn't even watch any movies for a couple of months. So I just cancelled and subscribed to Sinemia (I am in no way related to this service).

Never heard of Sinemia. How is it different?

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

#119

Post by twostorytower »

013a wrote: post #81
AlexandrB wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We all knew the $10 a month plan was not going to be profitably by itself. How is this kind of "growth hack" not simply dumping[1]? The only new development here is that dumping is no longer limited to large companies with large war chests thanks to the availability of venture capital. The more interesting question is can healthy, truly profitable technology companies develop in an environment where they have to co…

I don't think the environment will stay like this for long. Investors in MoviePass will likely not make their money back. Or maybe they'll break even on a sale of assets to some major theater chain, if everyone involved is smart. Afterward, future investors in companies like this will use MoviePass as another example for the fact the times when you could form a business mostly based on collecting user data is over. T…

MoviePass is majority-owned by Helios & Matheson, a public company (NASDAQ:HMNY).

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

#120

Post by twostorytower »

Jasper_ wrote: post #74
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How is this kind of "growth hack" not simply dumping[1]? "Dumping" is bad because it harms unsubsidized competitors. (It also pits foreign governments against private companies.) I fail to see who MoviePass hurt except its own investors. > Can healthy, truly profitable technology companies develop in an environment where they have to compete with startups that are ready and willing to undercut them by losing tons o…

> I fail to see who MoviePass hurt except its own investors. Games on the iOS App Store are generally free (or 99 cents). It is not profitable to recoup your costs by selling the product, because consumers will not pay for an app that costs more money than $1. In order to sustain this environment, the industry has moved to selling data, ads, and other sort of nonsense. Let's suggest that MoviePass successfully "disru…

They already got bought by Helios & Matheson: http://variety.com/2017/film/news/moviepass-1202527956/
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