Netflix Sharing On Facebook May Be Coming To U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO -- It may not be much longer before there's an easier way for Netflix's U.S. subscribers to share their tastes in movies on Facebook.

Netflix Inc. has developed a feature that would automatically connect what's being watched on its Internet video service with Facebook's social network. Subscribers would still be given control over whether they wanted their online social circles to see their viewing habits.

The sharing tool became available in September to Netflix's international subscribers, but the company has withheld it from its nearly 24 million U.S. subscribers for fear of breaking the law.

The reason: the Video Protection Privacy Act, which forbids the disclosure of video rental records. The law was passed in 1988, after a newspaper published a list of movies that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork rented from a video store. The U.S. Senate wound up rejecting Bork's nomination.

Netflix says it's time to rewrite a law drawn up in an age of VHS tapes.

That thinking is gaining support in Congress. This week, the House passed legislation that would allow a merchant to share viewing records with a customer's consent. Most importantly to Netflix, the authorization can be made online.

The House approved the bill 303-116. It still needs the backing of the U.S. Senate to become law.

Empowering Netflix's U.S. subscribers to share their movie picks on Facebook could help make the service more useful and lure new customers. That's the kind of lift that Netflix needs after its subscribers revolted against price increases of as much as 60 percent. The service lost 800,000 U.S. subscribers during the summer months, and management has said the attrition extended into the autumn.

Comments

[btbamfan]

07:48 PM on 12/08/2011

Yeah, whatever. Nice too see the House has no trouble wasting time on petty crap like this.

[TheOuroborus]

02:18 PM on 12/08/2011

We all gave up our privacy a long time ago. There is no hiding place remote enough that Big Brother won't find you. Our government is complicit in the screw.

[RTIII]

01:35 PM on 12/08/2011

They Damned Well Better Have It Set Up As OPT-IN, instead of Opt-Out!

I WILL call them to REMIND THEM of the difference and what I want!

[Rush Libraughl 83]

01:11 PM on 12/08/2011

It's whatever.

But the idea suggest that there is opportunity for a social second-screen experience for Netflix users in the not-so-distant future which is really cool.

[choo-chew]

12:56 PM on 12/08/2011

Sooner or later Kroger is going to buy Facebook (or the other way around) and then Facebook will know everything you buy at the grocery store. Then CVS. Then (insert name)

[homer winslow]

01:03 PM on 12/08/2011

Kohler

[PassingBy]

12:46 PM on 12/08/2011

Another opportunity for unexpected consequences.

[antv]

12:30 PM on 12/08/2011

This is yet another instance of how money makes the laws. Poor Netflix, having trouble keeping subscribers because of poor business decisions, so then they lobby congress to change the laws, that they may share viewing habits of customers with advertisers through FB.
I thought the government wasn't in the business of picking winners or losers? This is clearly a law that favors one business over another. Since it wouldn't even be getting considered if it hadn't already been the corporate strategy of Netflix.

[Bgrngod]

01:08 PM on 12/08/2011

Eh.. not exactly.

They are inserting that little hook about requiring the customer's consent.

If anything this is a case were congress is at least trying to keep up with the times.

[SofaKing22]

12:23 PM on 12/08/2011

I remember when I first got Netflix on the Xbox and was watching a movie and then my brother-in-law texted me how I liked the movie? I was confused because I was watching it alone and didn't post anything about watching it or anything like that. Needless to say I had to figure out how to change the privacy settings on Netflix and the Xbox so that people didn't know what I was watching. It could get a little embarrassing. I guess if you're not doing anything wrong you shouldn't really have anything to hide. It's not like Netflix has raunchy X-rated movies but people have their guilty pleasures that maybe they don't want everyone in the world to know about. So I think allowing it for Facebook would probably even worse. And I'm guessing the default setting is to broadcast it to the world and you will have to go and change it yourself.

[wilray]

10:23 PM on 12/08/2011

Netflix doesn't have raunchy X-rated? No wonder I was having trouble. I think I subscribed to the wrong service. I guess I meant to subscribe to XFlix.;-)

[Klabb]

12:10 PM on 12/08/2011

I stream Netflix through the tv; and it’s a better alternative than cable – one thing I don’t like though it is that it has a list of “recently watched” stuff. My wife is pretty much the only person that would see that list, but I would still like to get rid of it; so sharing what I watch with the whole world is totally out of the question.

That said though, young people today seem to be sharing all kinds of stuff online, so I guess it would work for them – it would even save them the thirty seconds or so it takes to update their Facebook status:

“Klabb is currently watching General Hospital – and lovin’ it!”

[SofaKing22]

12:26 PM on 12/08/2011

Like you, I don't really like the "recently watched" that pops up right away when I go to Netflix. All you have to do is then watch a bunch of other random shows and movies and hopefully the movie that you don't want your wife to see that you watched isn't on the screen when you go to Netflix. LOL.

[Gennaphyr]

12:38 PM on 12/08/2011

I found out my daughter watched Human Centepede because of the recently watched feature. I gave her Netflix as a gift and logged into her account to was show a co-worker how streaming works.

[berrycuda]

12:08 PM on 12/08/2011

Does anyone still use FB?

Nobody I know does...

[portabello]

12:19 PM on 12/08/2011

Young people do.

That would NOT include myself, btw.

[TheOuroborus]

02:19 PM on 12/08/2011

Yes, but you're still on AOL/HUFFPost. Interesting.

[themidnightreview]

11:53 AM on 12/08/2011

I don't want Netflix to release my video records. If I am watching a movie and I want my friends to know I will be the one to share that information - not some corporation trying to use my viewing habits as a marketing ploy.

[portabello]

12:22 PM on 12/08/2011

Reading the article reveals that you would have to link your Netflix account to your Facebook account and then you would have to opt-in to the service.

This law has NOTHING to do with releasing your video watching habits without your consent and it cannot be done unless you take the time and trouble to link your account to your Facebook account.

I don't even have a FB account, but young people today have no concept of privacy and like to share themselves with the world. Only time will tell if this is a great social innovation or the end of civilization. :)

I'm not sure how this would work in the US, but in Canada a little thing pops up when you watch each movie asking if you want to share your selection on Facebook.

Sort of EXACTLY how Huffington Post works.

[Dan Langdon]

11:45 AM on 12/08/2011

Bad idea. Online approvals can be fabricated by the service provider

[Shred of Decency]

11:28 AM on 12/08/2011

how is this a good idea? All you folks who love social media and facebook so much, please explain to me why you want want to broadcast every inane detail of your mundane life . Does it validate your existence? DO you need other people to be bored to tears over your personal trivia?
Why not just publish a list of farts you cut during the day?
Honestly, i just don't get the appeal...

[independentvoter007]

11:56 AM on 12/08/2011

Why do you care?

[Shred of Decency]

12:26 PM on 12/08/2011

Because I never imagined the internet's great promise would devolve into a mere exercise of consumer self reinforced corporate marketing?

[Eris23]

11:57 AM on 12/08/2011

"how is this a good idea?"

How is it a bad idea?

[TheLetterH]

11:25 AM on 12/08/2011

It makes sense, people here just don't get it. How else are people supposed to know what you are watching? Would you rather they peek through your window, plant cameras in your house or...

...ASK you? For shame, America! We can no longer allow society to freely share information they feel is proper. We must give them the option to accidentally expose their viewing habits!

[CSDofNM]

11:12 AM on 12/08/2011

So let me get this straight -

We are supposed to give up our privacy rights, so that a company that pizzed off its customers with greedy price increases can "lure new customers"?

Can Congress do ANYTHING except bad ideas?

[Bgrngod]

01:11 PM on 12/08/2011

Try reading the article again. They are just keeping up with the times.

Did you skip the part about the "Customer consent" hook that is included?

[CSDofNM]

04:02 PM on 12/08/2011

"Consent" to give up your rights in an on-line agreement that 99% of users don't even read (how many "terms and conditions" have you read?) while legal, simply means stripping people of rights they didn't even know they had.

Where do you think the "lure new customers" quote came from - some other article?

And for the final point on consent - consent to be raped isn't valid either.

[RTIII]

01:37 PM on 12/08/2011

Not with Republicans in control of any of it, clearly.