Can Your Netflix Queue Reveal Sexual Orientation?

now thats funny

Wow pathetic to sue over the fact that she is to cowardly to accept who she was born as. If you want to live a lie that's fine but suing others over something like this just shows she has no moral character. Besides these are movies, watching one or many of something doesn't mean you are straight or gay.
This is the problem with religion, it has forced so many people to pretend to be what they are not. It ruins homes lives and makes so many miserable. I feel for her that she has to lie about who she is but suing because her truth came out is pretty pathetic. She should be grateful to them for helping her to come out and maybe finally accept who she really is.

How is what you did different from what net flix is doing? You are an individual. Net flix is a major corporation with a data bank on millions of americans. Beyond that, it seems that data bank is in some way accessable to people outside of their orgainization. Between big business and Republican dismissal of the right to privacy provisions of the constitution, the American people no longer have any privacy. This amounts to one more step towards Orwell's 1984. One more Big Brother watching our every move. We may be free to speak, but everything and anything we say might get us put on some sort of enemies list to be used by who knows who in the future. The Soviet communists under Stalin used such information to murder millions that opposed their political views for decades, those people simply disappeared and their friends learned to stay silent... after his death things didn't improve much. Hitler used informants to isolate and destroy those who might oppose him and was amazingly successful doing so. Chinese communists pretty much wiped out a couple of generations of intellectuals, teachers and educated people that might raise questions or cause them trouble. In our country big business does much to control the acts of government, also very successfully. Nazi's, communists and fascists all fared very well for a very long time. Who do you trust with your personal information? When might someone you disagree with come to power and usurp your information. That's the difference.

jstrongcmt, I'm pretty sure that 480,000 is less than millions. :S Or am I doing my math wrong?

My thoughts exactly, what an idiot she is.

Right off the bat, I can think of two reasons, neither having to do with self-importance--real or imagined: 1) vindictiveness; 2) blackmail. That you, Carmen, and your supporter scienceguy945 can't think far enough ahead to see the implications that don't just stop with the possibility of having one's sexual orientation made public against one's will. (I have a feeling that the two of you become irritated when people talk about their sexual orientation; I find it odd that you (two) would be okay with a corporation doing it for them.

Ummm... No, you're not reading it right.

So, I re-read and and I was reading it correctly that a contest was involved:

The backstory: Netflix started a contest back in September 2006 that gave 50,000 contestants vying for $1 million two sets of data.

So, yes she was vying for a $1 million

Hi AJ,

Yes it was a contest but it doesn't say that the lady signed up to compete. NetFlix customer data was given to the participants of the competition (movie ratings, the date of the rating, subscriber IDs, and movie info) for them to create an algorithm. Two individuals were able to figure the ACTUAL identities of individuals using this data (ie: political leanings, sexual orientation, etc) and so THAT is what she's concerned with. That someone would be privvy to personal information that she herself didn't entrust them with simply because she is a NetFlix customer and NetFlix gave her data out to those competing for the money.

I'm with you; not only can you usually opt out [or in] but there is more often than not a section stating the Terms of Agreement regarding a contest. It pays to read them. Also, I read in the article that the connection was made between the Netflix queues and reviews left on IMDB. Why post a public review if your privacy is in danger of being violated? I'm sure there are numerous occasions in which a person can be outed, including via a publicized lawsuit. If there is money involved, then the intentions of the plaintiff are more than clear.

No AJ, you are wrong the netflix customers had no choice as to whether they were part of the contest. Their DAT was part of the contest without their choice. The 'contest' was for the participants to find a method (statistical) of predicting tastes, more accurately than what flix currently uses. The contest I believe was made up of researchers and specializing in statistical analysis. And yes they can predict a great deal, not from one movie title though, but many things.

HaHa listen to OLDSCHOOLEL, who thinks he has it all figured out, and parroting words from some ones rhetoric said else where, and he now thinks he is making a knowledgeable statement about the legal system and law suits. "Kudos to researchers that think they have society all figured out".** "This is TORT and I cannot believe anyone has taken it this far".**

Ya right that says it all, why didn't everyone else see that. .

Indeed. Never put any information about yourself anywhere! Ever! Do not keep a phone book! Do not keep an address book! Please, take out your ethernet cable and go hide in the woods!