Live data from Hacker News

MoviePass settles FTC allegations that they limited usage, exposed user data

ftc.gov

61–70 of 175 posts

Re: MoviePass settles FTC allegations that they limited usage, exposed user data

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if I were to own 1 share of $AMZN, I’d be criminally liable for anything the corporation does? Would I do 10 minutes in jail or something?

I don't think you're liable for any of Amazon's decisions. Maybe if you voted yes on "Engage in crime" but the decisions of executives are their own.

That makes more sense. Maybe I was reading into the parent’s use of the term “beneficial owners”. Every shareholder of a public corporation is a “beneficial owner”.

Re: MoviePass settles FTC allegations that they limited usage, exposed user data

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a joke. fraud is fraud. Civil penalties are not a good deterrent

I agree, but they weren't even penalized, so there's zero deterrent. It appears the court took into consideration that the company is bankrupt but failed to see the apparent criminal action taken by the company and CEOs.

This was not a court ruling. The FTC is a regulatory body, not a judicial one. It is up for prosecutors to make a an actual criminal case.

Re: MoviePass settles FTC allegations that they limited usage, exposed user data

#63

That's amazing. Matt Levine covered it in his column today as well--haven't had time to read it yet, but it's probably good as usual https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-06-08/moviep...

I suspect you're downvoted for recommending something you didn't read, but yes, it is very good: > If you sell $20 worth of movie tickets for $10, people will sign up, you will have rapid user growth and you can probably get someone to think that that’s valuable, even though in fact every user that you add costs you $10. > But — unlike most of the “MoviePass economy” — MoviePass was not actually a venture-funded star…

Add in a startup fee and it would be a gym membership.

Re: MoviePass settles FTC allegations that they limited usage, exposed user data

#64

Unpopular opinion, but MoviePass could have survived a lot longer if they had more funding. I think there could have been a real opportunity with establishing themselves the main funnel to getting consumers to physical theaters. They couldn't hold on long enough to see what could be possible with such a moat.

Sure, but any business can survive indefinitely if they're given unlimited funding with no expectation of returns.

In your opinion, what's the point of being the main funnel to theaters if you're losing money hand over fist to do so? What was the plan for profitability? Was the goal to somehow strong arm movie theaters into discounted pricing? Why would theaters agree to that when there's no benefit for them to do so, they're the ones with the actual product and it's irrelevant to them if MoviePass survives?

The only way their business model can work is if the majority of customers sign up and never use it, which is a very weird thing for a business to depend on, IMO.

Re: MoviePass settles FTC allegations that they limited usage, exposed user data

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If corps are people, maybe they should receive jail sentences as such - and then their executives & beneficial owners can carry them out based on liability. A CEO that takes full control and makes a one-man-shop would therefore be fully liable for any sentence received, and can only avoid this be sharing control.

So if I were to own 1 share of $AMZN, I’d be criminally liable for anything the corporation does? Would I do 10 minutes in jail or something?

Perhaps people should. There's no intrinsic reason why a system must exist where certain kinds of enterprises can be FUNDED by me, I can receive PROFIT from them, but I cannot receive any CONSEQUENCES from them if they commit crimes. One might even say the system encourages the commission of crimes and therefore is clearly in need of reform.

Re: MoviePass settles FTC allegations that they limited usage, exposed user data

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If corps are people, maybe they should receive jail sentences as such - and then their executives & beneficial owners can carry them out based on liability. A CEO that takes full control and makes a one-man-shop would therefore be fully liable for any sentence received, and can only avoid this be sharing control.

So if I were to own 1 share of $AMZN, I’d be criminally liable for anything the corporation does? Would I do 10 minutes in jail or something?

I used to argue for exactly this. The thing is that people would only invest in companies with executives they personally trust. Which may be a good thing overall, but would be a big problem in the short term.

I definitely think board members and Top executives should be held criminally liable for the actions of the company. Unless they can prove it was a specific bad actor, and that their policies didn't encourage illegal behavior, and that they weren't negligent in discovering and stopping said behavior.

That is, if a delivery driver crashes his car because he was drinking on the job then that is on him. If the same delivery driver is speeding because he was given a list of deliveries that were not possible to make on time, that is on the executives. Conspiracy to break the speed limit, maybe even RICO charges. Even for something that simple.

Re: MoviePass settles FTC allegations that they limited usage, exposed user data

#68

The government knows the executives at MoviePass committed theft, but we will not see any criminal charges filed.

I don't think this necessarily precludes formal criminal charges. Even the dissenting opinion was like "this is clearly a crime, but outside of the FTC's authority".

Re: MoviePass settles FTC allegations that they limited usage, exposed user data

#69

Unpopular opinion, but MoviePass could have survived a lot longer if they had more funding. I think there could have been a real opportunity with establishing themselves the main funnel to getting consumers to physical theaters. They couldn't hold on long enough to see what could be possible with such a moat.

MoviePass could have survived longer if they had more money, and a different business model. The problem is they were letting you go to movies at AMC and Cinemark for less than they bought the tickets, and both AMC and Cinemark said they wouldn't negotiate lower prices for them. They could have had a small but cult business contracting with smaller theater chains, but they didn't. They could have also bought tickets…

Thanks for the free tickets! Just curious, what was your motivation for investing so heavily if you knew the business model was dumb?

Re: MoviePass settles FTC allegations that they limited usage, exposed user data

#70

The government knows the executives at MoviePass committed theft, but we will not see any criminal charges filed.

I don't think this necessarily precludes formal criminal charges. Even the dissenting opinion was like "this is clearly a crime, but outside of the FTC's authority".

It is a prediction based on how many times I see SEC/FTC/FCC/FAA/other government agency report on misdeeds, but it never results in any criminal charges against any person. The responsible parties are never even named, effectively making it so all these investigations and reports do not result in the slightest bit of deterrent.

Another even better example was linked in another comment in this thread:

https://www.sec.gov/news/statement/stein-waivers-granted-dis...

Post reply on HN