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

techcrunch.com

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

#121

Post by sharkweek »

sixothree wrote: post #106
thevardanian wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People going to theaters is on the decline. If MoviePass reverses that trend they will have shown their value. I'm going to wager they're at a tipping point.

I received a MoviePass as a Christmas give. I've learned a few things. 1. I hadn't been to my local theaters in a long time. 2. I was surprised just how convenient it had become now that nobody else is visiting. 3. I am thoroughly enjoying this movie subscription service model combined with the lack of crowds at theaters.

I think I saw maybe 2-3 movies in theaters in 2016, maybe 2-3 up through October of 2017.

I got MoviePass when they had that special deal at Costco, and have gone to ~15 movies (try to go once a week) since.

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

#122

Post by dothis9 »

cityzen wrote: post #94
theklr wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately apps don’t care. Waze lingers up to 40 minute after traveling in the background and that’s with supposed in app only mode.

From Apple: "When Location Services is active, a black or white arrow icon appears in the status bar." If Waze is using it for up to 40 minutes after traveling, you need to decide if you want to know where the cops are or if you want Google to know where you are.

The colored location bar on top stays active too.

I always force quit Waze at the end of the trip so that it (1) stops tracking me and (2) I don't waste my phone's battery life on tracking me

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

#124

Post by losvedir »

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.

As someone who uses and loves moviepass, I would hate for it to be legislated away.

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

#125

Post by halfjoking »

Moviepass is going to get more and more desperate as their money runs out. I don't have Moviepass but it's fun to think of how they could sell out their users in the future.

Like maybe they could force users to write 500-word reviews? Or better yet record their faces so sentiment analysis algorithms can track users every feeling during a movie? Maybe ask users to spot product placement in movies - you don't get the movie free unless you enter every product spotted and write your thoughts about it. Maybe they could force women users to sit next to creepy men users who pay for that "extra service?" There's no limit to how you can innovate when you have no respect for your users.

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

#126

Post by r00fus »

milesokeefe wrote: post #115
r00fus wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's all on the down-low so only works with minimal snackage but no theatre around where I live pats you down.

So it's against policy, but most folks do it.

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

#127

Post by DrScump »

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…

I will never understand why people leave Location Services on all the time.

I don't even install apps that request location when it isn't necessary for my needs (active geolocation, like mapping if I'm lost, hikes, and such).

For Moviepass, and for the rare cases where I am lost or really need active directions, I turn Location services on. Then, it gets immediately shut off. (Similarly, I keep Bluetooth and NFC off except when in active, intended use.)

In fact, for Moviepass and other apps that require locations, I install them on a secondary phone that I use only for nosy apps. It just stays in the car. (This is a good use for an old phone without a SIM; most apps will run fine over WiFi.)

And when apps want to update and in the process try to add permissions they didn't originally seek and have no business using (e.g. Stubhub, Magnifier, Flashlight+), I just don't let them update.

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

#128

Post by datahack »

We've stopped going to the movies since this service came out, and bought a bigger TV. We don't want to pay the movie food tax, movies are now packed with people and unpleasant to watch in our area, and it's just not an enjoyable experience.

Location-based tracking is totally common, and a serious business these days. This dataset will provide MoviePass with a huge and unique database, and they will prosper.

What nobody is talking about in this thread is that once they combine it with all of the other databases (profile, interest, etc), they will be able to track every single movie consumer from cradle to grave, from home to work, and on to the theater. They will know how your friends are, who you go to the movies with, where they live, who they know... this is all stuff that companies have been doing now since the early 2000s.

My point is that not only is this not illegal, it's relatively common. It might feel creepy, but this is the new normal. It's just not talked about very much. Google has a ton of this data, so does every cell provider, and of course someone mentioned foursquare, who realize that the location business was a better business than anything else they can build.

Also, the more we allow social media into our lives the richer these profiles become, because the qualitative data from social networks is the foundation of location networks. Where meets who meet when = datapoint.

In case you were wondering where all the mobile advertising revenue transitioned, start reading the T&Cs on the apps you download friends. :)

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

#129

Post by dahdum »

passivepinetree wrote: post #4

The way TechCrunch presents this, it seems even shadier than Uber's "we'll track you for the 5 minutes after you get dropped off" tactic from last year. With no language addressing such tracking in the EULA, how is that legal?

Sure they expressly said they don't in their Privacy Policy but then the CEO admitted they do in fact, but the T&C allow forced arbitration and no class actions.

Unless the government wants to make a statement by pursuing them, there is no recourse except public shaming.

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