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1.  

   

   Designerfx (profile), Mar 12th, 2010 @ 2:29pm

   
   

   welp

   people should have known netflix was going downhill the second they forcefully moved people to silverlight.
   
   now they're just circling the drain, really. I give it 2 years.
   
   Oh well, mission creep affects every success that isn't ready for it, and is what is happening to netflix right now.

    

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2.  

   

   Phillip Vector (profile), Mar 12th, 2010 @ 3:05pm

   
   

   Solution?

   Why can't they offer a free extra movie rental or some such for those who opt in to being included in such plans? That way, they gain the permission of whoever provides the data and they can still make in anonymous (or at least, as well as they can).

    

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3.  

   

   Derek Bredensteiner (profile), Mar 12th, 2010 @ 3:49pm

   
   

   Re: welp

   Yes, clearly the company is in deep trouble because they're cancelling a research competition[!] Oh and they use Silverlight? Well that's another nail in the coffin[!]
   
   But seriously, I think the investments they have made in getting their players on tons of set top devices and expanding their digital library are the smartest moves they've made for surviving the ongoing transition to digital distribution. They've even got a revenue model around it that it seems more than a few people are willing to stomach for the convenience granted.

    

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4.  

   

   Jake, Mar 12th, 2010 @ 9:54pm

   
   

   The only part of this story that I find surprising is that this idea was ever green-lighted in the first place, it being quite well established that there's no such thing as totally anonymised data. Compliant with the letter of the VPPA or not, (and how did your video rental history end up needing its own special act anyway?) I can't believe it never occurred to Netflix that people might prefer not to have their personal information turned over to someone not affiliated with the company withour their prior, informed consent.

    

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5.  

   

   Anonymous Coward, Mar 13th, 2010 @ 11:29am

   
   

   I thought the contest was a great way to foster research and produce a better product. I can understand the privacy issue though. Wish there was a better way. I think the whole contest makes good sense for everyone involved.

    

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6.  

   

   Nicholas Head (profile), Mar 13th, 2010 @ 11:02pm

   
   

   Re: welp

   I don't understand why people don't like the Silverlight player; it works fine on my laptop, my media center PC and my desktop..

    

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7.  

   

   Chris, Mar 15th, 2010 @ 6:38am

   
   

   What if Netflix randomized the data such as randomly change the zip codes and other data it gives to the public? Would that help to protect the data from being "re-nonymize"? I know this would not give that true real world sample but it should give the public the ability to test their own code against some sudo real data. Netflix can then take the submitted code and run it themselves against the "real" data to give the true real world score. This way the public never gets the real data but has enough to test their code and still see how their code did against the real data.

    

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8.  

   

   Keith, Mar 16th, 2010 @ 3:01am

   
   

   Re:

   If the public never gets to see the real data and run it themselves, how can they be sure the contest isn't rigged? There's no third party verification.

    

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9.  

   

   newest jordan shoes, Nov 9th, 2010 @ 12:32am

   
   

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10.  

    

    willbates (profile), Nov 12th, 2010 @ 3:22am

    
    

    I'm usually one to be fairly liberal with information sharing but there has to be decent degree of privacy protection and sharing peoples searches with just anyone isn't really on in my book.

     

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11.  

    

    lrobbo (profile), Jun 12th, 2012 @ 11:28am

    
    

    It's not on in anyones book I'd have thought.

     

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