I write you today to express profound disappointment with the recently announced changes to the privacy policy. If the comments in the Plex forums and on Reddit are any indication; this policy change has been received very poorly by Plex users. Many of them have inquired as to how they may obtain refunds for their Plex Pass memberships. Others post comments asking for suggested alternative platforms so they can leave Plex.
If the recent changes are not reversed, I too will be asking these questions. Until now, I regularly praised the merits of Plex to anyone willing to listen. A good friend of mine has a saying “If you like something, vote with your wallet.” I voted with my wallet when I bought the Plex Pass. I voted for Plex over five years ago because I saw a company that deserved it.
Like many voters, I now regret casting my ballot in favour of Plex. I thought I was getting a wholesome platform based on common sense values which do not infringe on the rights of the people. We were sold on the idea of a company making media viewing great again. What we have today is a company willing to sell out the privacy of users.
Do not take my word for it, go and read your own forums, people are incensed by this new policy. I encourage the Plex team to consider how they will be able to collect analytics and telemetry data if everyone abandons the platform. Also consider how new Plex Pass subscriptions will suffer because anyone who does a search for Plex will find this letter and many like it exposing your failure to protect user privacy.
Plex staff, what you have here is a defining moment. Regardless of the outcome your true character will be exposed for all the world to see. So you have a choice; will you do the right thing and fully retract the new policy? Or will you be a stampeding elephant trampling the trust, respect, loyalty and privacy of Plex users?
“What is right is not always the same as what is legal.” – Edward Snowden
+1
Been a plex pass member for years, and honestly never once thought I’d have my faith shaken like this. Please reconsider this decision, or I too will be requesting a refund.
Fantastic post. I’m seriously regretting buying a lifetime membership. If I were a monthly member at least I’d have the option of being able to stop giving them more money in protest of this policy.
It’s all about choice really. I have s Plex pass and I have stats turned on. I believe that it’s a good way for the Plex team to gather info to help design a better product. What I don’t like is the option to not be able to turn that off for any reason is my choosing in the future. It’s the choice. I won’t complain about collecting stats as to be honest it doesn’t bother me as it’s not readily identifiable but given that I pay money for parts of a service I’d expect at least a little choice in what it sends back.
Guys, what exactly are you afraid of?
That potentially Plex might look at some random information about your library to help them plan for the future development of plex or that they may uncover you’re a pirate??
If it’s the former then you should be happy…
If it’s the latter then you should look elsewhere to consume all that gold you have plundered.
I believe it’s for the betterment of Plex and not some underhanded attempt at flagging it’s own customers to the powers that be.
As big as Plex is, they most certainly outsource activities to help them move their product along … to improve it and to ultimately make the company more profitable.
You all make sure you cancel your cell phone, too. Cell phone carriers all collect data on you, you can’t opt out and they won’t even tell you what they collect.
They store your text message (some for years), they track your data usage, they track your incoming and outgoing calls - all tied to you.
The only thing you can opt out of is marketing stuff, but who has really done that?
Cancel all credit cards. They collect so much data on you it is scary.
Cancel all utilities as they are starting to collect data on your usage patterns and habits. Water usage, electric usage, etc. All tied directly to you.
Ever used Open Table to make restaurant reservations? They collect data on you and won’t even give to the restaurant you gave your money to for dinner. Open Table is using it for marketing and you have no choice.
Use Apple Pay or Google Pay? Yup, you’re getting tracked.
Use Waze for navigation? Did you know that they changed the app so that it tracks you even days later when you;re have not used the app for days? It tracks you all the time to get “data”.
Ever gone shopping and paid with a credit card or debit card? The store is tracking you also and not giving you a chance to opt out.
Your whole life is one big data point and as an article in “The Economist” back in May (I believe, can’t find the issue now) - Data is giving rise to a new economy. It will be the ‘fuel of the future’.
@Keywal said:
Guys, what exactly are you afraid of?
That potentially Plex might look at some random information about your library to help them plan for the future development of plex or that they may uncover you’re a pirate??
If it’s the former then you should be happy…
If it’s the latter then you should look elsewhere to consume all that gold you have plundered.
I believe it’s for the betterment of Plex and not some underhanded attempt at flagging it’s own customers to the powers that be.
As big as Plex is, they most certainly outsource activities to help them move their product along … to improve it and to ultimately make the company more profitable.
Frankly, I’m joining the boat of - I don’t care.
@rsava said:
You all make sure you cancel your cell phone, too. Cell phone carriers all collect data on you, you can’t opt out and they won’t even tell you what they collect.
They store your text message (some for years), they track your data usage, they track your incoming and outgoing calls - all tied to you.
The only thing you can opt out of is marketing stuff, but who has really done that?
Cancel all credit cards. They collect so much data on you it is scary.
Cancel all utilities as they are starting to collect data on your usage patterns and habits. Water usage, electric usage, etc. All tied directly to you.
Ever used Open Table to make restaurant reservations? They collect data on you and won’t even give to the restaurant you gave your money to for dinner. Open Table is using it for marketing and you have no choice.
Use Apple Pay or Google Pay? Yup, you’re getting tracked.
Use Waze for navigation? Did you know that they changed the app so that it tracks you even days later when you;re have not used the app for days? It tracks you all the time to get “data”.
Ever gone shopping and paid with a credit card or debit card? The store is tracking you also and not giving you a chance to opt out.
Your whole life is one big data point and as an article in “The Economist” back in May (I believe, can’t find the issue now) - Data is giving rise to a new economy. It will be the ‘fuel of the future’.
I’m not sure how either one of you ended up here. If you saw he title of the post and thought it would be in support of the new policy then you’ve underestimated the value people place on privacy. It’s great you feel comfortable with the new policy. Plex needs all the support it can get; many people are jumping ship. Plex and the third party partners will need someone to spy on; it sounds like you won’t leave them disappointed.
EDIT: If you guys want to talk about how great the new privacy policy, the place to do it is in this thread: Privacy Policy This open letter thread however, is not the place to do that.
@Keywal said:
Guys, what exactly are you afraid of?
That potentially Plex might look at some random information about your library to help them plan for the future development of plex or that they may uncover you’re a pirate??
If it’s the former then you should be happy…
If it’s the latter then you should look elsewhere to consume all that gold you have plundered.
I believe it’s for the betterment of Plex and not some underhanded attempt at flagging it’s own customers to the powers that be.
As big as Plex is, they most certainly outsource activities to help them move their product along … to improve it and to ultimately make the company more profitable.
Frankly, I’m joining the boat of - I don’t care.
@rsava said:
You all make sure you cancel your cell phone, too. Cell phone carriers all collect data on you, you can’t opt out and they won’t even tell you what they collect.
They store your text message (some for years), they track your data usage, they track your incoming and outgoing calls - all tied to you.
The only thing you can opt out of is marketing stuff, but who has really done that?
Cancel all credit cards. They collect so much data on you it is scary.
Cancel all utilities as they are starting to collect data on your usage patterns and habits. Water usage, electric usage, etc. All tied directly to you.
Ever used Open Table to make restaurant reservations? They collect data on you and won’t even give to the restaurant you gave your money to for dinner. Open Table is using it for marketing and you have no choice.
Use Apple Pay or Google Pay? Yup, you’re getting tracked.
Use Waze for navigation? Did you know that they changed the app so that it tracks you even days later when you;re have not used the app for days? It tracks you all the time to get “data”.
Ever gone shopping and paid with a credit card or debit card? The store is tracking you also and not giving you a chance to opt out.
Your whole life is one big data point and as an article in “The Economist” back in May (I believe, can’t find the issue now) - Data is giving rise to a new economy. It will be the ‘fuel of the future’.
I’m not sure how either one of you ended up here. If you saw he title of the post and thought it would be in support of the new policy then you’ve underestimated the value people place on privacy. It’s great you feel comfortable with the new policy. Plex needs all the support it can get; many people are jumping ship. Plex and the third party partners will need someone to spy on; it sounds like you won’t leave them disappointed.
EDIT: If you guys want to talk about how great the new privacy policy, the place to do it is in this thread: Privacy Policy This open letter thread however, is not the place to do that.
Oh, I am sorry, I did not realize you were the forum police and were banning people from freely posting in a forum.
Not sure where you got that I was either in favor or against the new policy. I was presenting facts about other consumer products that collect data and do not allow you to opt out. Did you miss the year in school where they taught reading comprehension?
BTW, I did post over there, some idiot (not you, don’t worry) who does not like the policy came and posted there. See, that’s how these things work.
@Keywal said:
Guys, what exactly are you afraid of?
That potentially Plex might look at some random information about your library to help them plan for the future development of plex or that they may uncover you’re a pirate??
If it’s the former then you should be happy…
If it’s the latter then you should look elsewhere to consume all that gold you have plundered.
I believe it’s for the betterment of Plex and not some underhanded attempt at flagging it’s own customers to the powers that be.
As big as Plex is, they most certainly outsource activities to help them move their product along … to improve it and to ultimately make the company more profitable.
Frankly, I’m joining the boat of - I don’t care.
@rsava said:
You all make sure you cancel your cell phone, too. Cell phone carriers all collect data on you, you can’t opt out and they won’t even tell you what they collect.
They store your text message (some for years), they track your data usage, they track your incoming and outgoing calls - all tied to you.
The only thing you can opt out of is marketing stuff, but who has really done that?
Cancel all credit cards. They collect so much data on you it is scary.
Cancel all utilities as they are starting to collect data on your usage patterns and habits. Water usage, electric usage, etc. All tied directly to you.
Ever used Open Table to make restaurant reservations? They collect data on you and won’t even give to the restaurant you gave your money to for dinner. Open Table is using it for marketing and you have no choice.
Use Apple Pay or Google Pay? Yup, you’re getting tracked.
Use Waze for navigation? Did you know that they changed the app so that it tracks you even days later when you;re have not used the app for days? It tracks you all the time to get “data”.
Ever gone shopping and paid with a credit card or debit card? The store is tracking you also and not giving you a chance to opt out.
Your whole life is one big data point and as an article in “The Economist” back in May (I believe, can’t find the issue now) - Data is giving rise to a new economy. It will be the ‘fuel of the future’.
I’m not sure how either one of you ended up here. If you saw he title of the post and thought it would be in support of the new policy then you’ve underestimated the value people place on privacy. It’s great you feel comfortable with the new policy. Plex needs all the support it can get; many people are jumping ship. Plex and the third party partners will need someone to spy on; it sounds like you won’t leave them disappointed.
EDIT: If you guys want to talk about how great the new privacy policy, the place to do it is in this thread: Privacy Policy This open letter thread however, is not the place to do that.
Oh, I am sorry, I did not realize you were the forum police and were banning people from freely posting in a forum.
Not sure where you got that I was either in favor or against the new policy. I was presenting facts about other consumer products that collect data and do not allow you to opt out. Did you miss the year in school where they taught reading comprehension?
BTW, I did post over there, some idiot (not you, don’t worry) who does not like the policy came and posted there. See, that’s how these things work.
I think it’s safe to say we have an understanding of how consumer tracking works; it’s why we don’t want it in the Plex platform. I never said I’m the forum police or anything about banning anyone. It’s just I hate to see people waste their time and energy, like what you’ve done here. This thread would have been fine without your contribution. You see, people are in this thread because they are aiming to express their thoughts and concerns with those who share a similar viewpoint. My original post was not intended to start yet another debate that already exists elsewhere.
And I was posting my thoughts.
See that is the way conversation works.
Unless you want to shut down any dissenting views.
But I am sure that is not what you want, I mean why would you want that? (That is rhetorical, I know you people that are freaking out about this whole privacy thing don’t want to hear anything you don’t like or does not conform to your protest.)
@rsava said:
And I was posting my thoughts.
See that is the way conversation works.
Unless you want to shut down any dissenting views.
But I am sure that is not what you want, I mean why would you want that? (That is rhetorical, I know you people that are freaking out about this whole privacy thing don’t want to hear anything you don’t like or does not conform to your protest.)
I think transparency can be the key here for a solution. If the user can see the data that is being uploaded to the Plex Server they can regain the trust. Just like the log files let the user see the upload data as a text file.
I believe if the user does not have an opt-out choice then they need to see exactly what information in plain text is being uploaded. Some times seeing is believing.
We have made additional changes and provided clarifications to some user questions.
If I slung that much hash; I’d just open a diner. . . so what it boils down to, is that, as expected; the opt-out no longer works ( if it ever did) so you’re just letting us know not to bother. Every excuse for this listed applies only to Plex pass users; except for the “check for updates” thing and I don’t allow auto-updates anyway.
the generalization thing means nothing; as you’ll be receiving our full data and we have no control of what you do with it.
“Will we sell your Information? God no” Two things; one; leave God out of this; if you’re a believer it’s insulting and if you’re not; it means nothing. If you’re using our info for “targeted advertising”; and I don’t want any advertising in MY server, you are making money off our info.
“We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13”
So, 14 year-olds are okay? That’d get you arrested, most places. . . (yes, this was a joke; just not as funny as it sounded in my head).
Frankly, I assume that any online privacy policy is worth the paper it’s not written on; i.e. nothing. What Plex has done is lost a lot of trust and goodwill and I’m not sure they can get it back.
Whats the big deal its random data?
We only have their word for that and as with the much larger Microsoft we know very well that this can be less then truthful.
Given their past history i would be taking it with a grain of salt.
Also that data not nearly as random as they want you to believe.
Assuming they do just what they say whats to stop them from going further later?
If this isn’t stopped now you can be certain this is going to happen since money the driving factor.
This could destroy them if they don’t handle this very carefully.
They are no Microsoft or Google where you basically don’t have too much of choice in the options department.
There are other streaming options out there that work fine so dumping plex is a option for people.
If they say one thing and do something else like Microsoft did with windows 10 telemetry there toast.
Considering the very talented hacker community out there monitoring whats actually being collected despite what plex may think.
Hell even google gives you a option to opt out of things.
Regardless of the polite wording this is basically nothing more then Plex saying we are going to do what we want tough for bleeping you.
I remember another company that said that and where is boxee now?
At this point i think they only have two options.
Give people back the option to opt out of certain things
Or
Get ready for the money to start going somewhere else in a big way as people speak with their wallet and word of mouth drastically changes.
For any company the consumer is god and the minute you betray them you risk being destroyed.
