Netflix Pays $9 Million to Settle Class Action Lawsuit Regarding Privacy

By Karla Robinson
February 16, 2012

Although there was no admission of wrongdoing, Netflix is paying $9 million to settle a class action lawsuit that claimed the streaming service violated the Video Privacy Protection Act by retaining information about viewers’ habits.
The lawsuit was filed in March 2011 by individuals claiming that the company maintained viewing information “long after they had canceled the service.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix will continue to “push for changes in legislation that would allow it to make more uses of customer data,” like enabling users to share their viewing habits on social media sites.
“The House has approved a bill to do so, but the proposed legislation has encountered resistance in the Senate after it heard from some critics who say the VPPA is one of the few strong consumer privacy protections out there,” explains the article. “There’s also concern that eliminating the VPPA would allow sites like Netflix to share personal information with advertisers.”

No Comments Yet