agree , the option to opt in or out, specially for plex pass members has to be there, i guess i have to wait and see the actions, if they are going with what they are saying, then sure i have to ask for a refund
Like many others, I feel that removing the option to opt out is a very bad move. It makes me wary of the direction of plex as a whole.
Even if the decision is reversed, as things stand and with the information available, this is a bad omen to me. It makes me sad and I am disappointed.
Perhaps I am unable to understand your position or maybe there are reasons that justify this but you have not shared the motivations that lead to this decision. Perhaps you could share some raw data as is shared so that we may ascertain for ourselves what kind of information is sent.
Plex has to see the obvious calamity in taking an open source project into a diy techie, cord-cutter, anti-big brother direction, and then attempting to catapult the platform all the way right back into a commercial, privacy-invading, poor-man’s netflix.
We were specifically trying to get away from that jive. If that’s what Plex users wanted, there are many other, better, stable media sources out there.
It’s like trying to fly a bulldozer. Best of luck.
the funny thing is i warned you about this years ago ( sorry i do have to say it) and everybody always called me an idiot, this is what happens when you don’t read a privacy policy (usually go the dont like it leave then comment or a hate comment) AND understand the business plan of a company.
Anyways i like plex and i will keep using it. Welcome to the modern age, anyways why be afraid its just anonymous stats about everything you do with plex. your smart tv does exactly the same and god knows what other devices (without telling you even) plex at least is upfront honest about it.
Now one last time : a company that gets millions and millions of VC investor money do you really think that its for the measly little fee we are asked to pay they invested all that money ? (its not the business plan making money of little fees but userdata and behavior which is the goldmine jsut liek whatsapp and so many other free or nominal fee tools). This is not an opensource project (hence the quality , i know many complain but sorry no other product can match plex in my opinion so dont even flame me for it).
anyway : thank you plex for the product and thank you for being upfront honest about the privacy policy (while i don’t like that part i do love the product)
Actually, many, many, many of us, and many of those who are no longer on this forum warned about this. it’s because it was denied many times by Plex team from the top down that makes this so outrageous.
true @brunomc but even on smart tv you can chose if you want to share info or not, at least i can on my samsung TV
I’ll be asking for a refund for my lifetime subscription as I find this unacceptable and wouldn’t have purchased it knowing that this kind of data collection would be forced in the future. Failing a refund I would be downgrading to a version that has the option to turn off data collection while I search for an alternative to Plex.
Another nail in the coffin …
Why are pretty much all news from Plex bad news lately?!?!?!
So, what are the other options? Kodi?
Installed Emby, scanning media - Plex - this is sad
Hi, Love Plex since 2014, but now: If they don’t let me opt out as paying member, I will opt out of them entirely this year forever. I have my yearly Subscription for plexpass canceled, please reconsider your decision about opt-out, let paying users decide what they want. Respect our privacy rights.
Posted this on Reddit but figured I’d throw it on here too.
Here’s what could have been done with this that I wouldn’t be outraged by:
- Still opt out if PlexPass member. Why this wasn’t thought of zero idea.
If that option wasn’t palatable to the company then:
-
Don’t save dates, times, IPs, or Plex user names with this data collection. Make that a clear transparent part of doing this that there is zero information tied to user names and accounts. Zero. Show this by releasing the data collected in a public manner. It’d be neat to see what codecs are most popular and what platforms are. People would even enjoy seeing that data.
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Don’t collect elapsed time of whatever is playing. Needing to know codecs, bit rate, and platform something is being played on makes sense. However, throwing in stuff that lets the file be easily fingerprinted easily makes me go hell no I’m out.
-
Ask your community before you decide to do this and if they’re open to the idea and then when you realize the backlash will be very high maybe don’t do it?
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Don’t let your CTO come across looking like a complete idiot on Reddit by cursing at people and not answering the basic ‘with this we’ll know exactly what you’re watching with little effort’ question. If said CTO is ignorant of this being a possibility why is he a technical officer of a tech company that specializes in multimedia?
@elan said:
So in some hypothetical future, if we added some third party content, and it had ads, why does that make you angry? If you don’t want to watch it, you don’t have to. Some percentage of people will appreciate having the content available inside Plex, ads or not; others won’t care for it.
Whow! … that’s revealing! That’s what you guys really are after.
I’m VERY frustrated that you seem to have forgotten why we - your paying customers - are using Plex: it’s to access OUR OWN content. If I’d like to watch other content I’d go to Netflix. I don’t need Plex for that. But instead of fixing bugs and increasing “the user experience” you are busily converting Plex into something none of us needs or wants.
@“Frank R.” said:
Posted this on Reddit but figured I’d throw it on here too.Here’s what could have been done with this that I wouldn’t be outraged by:
- Still opt out if PlexPass member. Why this wasn’t thought of zero idea.
If that option wasn’t palatable to the company then:
Don’t save dates, times, IPs, or Plex user names with this data collection. Make that a clear transparent part of doing this that there is zero information tied to user names and accounts. Zero. Show this by releasing the data collected in a public manner. It’d be neat to see what codecs are most popular and what platforms are. People would even enjoy seeing that data.
Don’t collect elapsed time of whatever is playing. Needing to know codecs, bit rate, and platform something is being played on makes sense. However, throwing in stuff that lets the file be easily fingerprinted easily makes me go hell no I’m out.
Ask your community before you decide to do this and if they’re open to the idea and then when you realize the backlash will be very high maybe don’t do it?
Don’t let your CTO come across looking like a complete idiot on Reddit by cursing at people and not answering the basic ‘with this we’ll know exactly what you’re watching with little effort’ question. If said CTO is ignorant of this being a possibility why is he a technical officer of a tech company that specializes in multimedia?
This part annoyed me quite a bit too. They could do just a handful of things and literally none of this would be an issue. Almost makes me think they are wanting to know exactly said tv show, movie, etc we are watching and just not wanting to say it.
Plex Pass Lifetime purchaser here… bought it in January this year.
Here’s what information I don’t care you collect: What systems I have Plex Media Server installed on; what systems I have Plex Media Player installed on; how often I use .srt or .idx/.sub subtitles; resolution of media.
Here’s what information I don’t want you to collect: What date and time I use Plex; What date and time my family uses Plex; The exact length of the files we play; the codecs of the files we play; the containers of the files we play; the bitrates of the files we play; what program or movie we are watching; any other metadata contained within the files I play; my IP address.
If the options were available to opt in and out of specific data gathering, I would opt in to the former, and opt out of the latter.
Android sync is broken for many people, ac3 is broken on the FIRETV2 and MiBox, PlayStation is terribly unstable, UWP and Xbox are a mess, Plex for Kodi doesn’t have an active dev anymore…
And now this privacy infringement BS. I want my money back.
I will no longer recommend this to anyone else unless they change this policy. This is not acceptable for people that paid for Plex.
- Don’t save dates, times, IPs, or Plex user names with this data collection. Make that a clear transparent part of doing this that there is zero information tied to user names and accounts. Zero. Show this by releasing the data collected in a public manner. It’d be neat to see what codecs are most popular and what platforms are. People would even enjoy seeing that data.
Although helpful, fingerprinting techniques nowadays, still make this option not as anonymous as I would want to see. It is my f***ing media, there is no reason why plex would want to know about it. Period. It is my server as well, I paid for it.
- Don’t collect elapsed time of whatever is playing. Needing to know codecs, bit rate, and platform something is being played on makes sense. However, throwing in stuff that lets the file be easily fingerprinted easily makes me go hell no I’m out.
One thing is whether the data is fingerprinted in some way (like recording time, etc.). The other is whether the user is identifiable.
- Ask your community before you decide to do this and if they’re open to the idea and then when you realize the backlash will be very high maybe don’t do it?
You are soooo right on this one.
I am greatly disappointed in your privacy policy changes. I think you will find that a great number of the competent consumer/buyers of this “product” - which I guess has now been undergoing a shift from “product” to “service” - will agree. This is completely unacceptable. We as users have bought into this product because we believed and supported its goals to provide a secure and private way to consume our own media. Yet here we have our product we paid money for being counterfeited and turned into a service we did not agree to. A vast majority of your consumers wish to have complete control of the product they bought into, and the ability to disable any telemetry or tracking/usage statistics falls very heavily on this merit. We are not a product, we are not something you have the right to sell, we do not consent to these changes, and a multitude of users will leave this product on the floor as a piece of garbage; should you continue this practice of trying to find ways to use your “product” to make money off of your consumers, in a dishonest and disgusting manner. I will not be updating my current Plex Media Server installation and will not do so until I see this behavior reverted and the standards of user privacy protection re-implemented. I am greatly disappointed and if nothing is done to resolve this issue, when my Plex Media Server begins to have compatibility/playback issues I will request a full refund for the Plex Pass; because you have rendered the product I have purchased and bought useless, and destroyed the reason I purchased this product to begin with. Until then I will continue usage, but know you have lost my trust, and you may end up loosing my support for this platform. With this current privacy policy change I will no longer be recommending this product to friends and family. I have already notified friends and family, of this disgusting lack of respect for your consumer base and offered to inform and help migrate to products that do respect the buyers privacy. Thank you.
I am also disappointed in Plex’s decisions to remove opt-out tracking. Makes me regret my choice to buy a lifetime plex pass.
This is a real bummer. I just got my Lifetime pass this year, after using Plex for several years now. When I first found Plex I couldn’t believe how awesome it was. Sync however, never worked correctly and still doesn’t. There are lots of little bugs here and there, and I understand bugs happen. But we put up with it because Plex allowed us to control our own media. Now they want to ruin that with this bullshit?
I’ll be reasonable and give Plex a week or two to change their mind. I know change takes time and if a few people at Plex realize this is a mistake it may take time to get the thumbs up to reverse this. But if in a few weeks this doesn’t change… jumping ship, asking for a refund and letting the dozens of people I turned onto Plex know that Plex wants to sell their data.
Learn from Roomba, don’t sell your customers data.
