If you've been a Netflix subscriber for a while, you likely appreciate that the online video-streaming and DVD mail-rental service stores all of your payment information and rental history to ease transactions and provide future viewing recommendations. Recently, however, some former subscribers have discovered that Netflix holds onto that personal information long after they've canceled their service, and believe that the practice is a violation of US privacy laws.
In just the past two months alone, five separate lawsuits have been filed against Netflix alleging that their customer information retention practices violate the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), a law enacted by Congress in 1988 to give consumers peace of mind that the information collected during the process of renting films will be protected by those who collect it.
One of the lawsuits, filed by former Netflix subscriber Michael Sevy, claims that the rental service has violated the VPPA by "collecting, storing and maintaining for an indefinite period of time, the video rental histories of every customer that has ever rented a DVD from Netflix." Sevy's case also alleges that the stored information "identifies the customer as having requested or obtained specific video materials or services."
The other four lawsuits are nearly identical in their allegations, with prosecuting attorney Bill Gray using Netflix marketing emails which attempt to entice customer's back with the promise of retained historical subscription data as proof that the company has violated the VPPA. That law requires that a rental company must "destroy personally identifiable information as soon as practicable, but no later than one year from the date the information is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected and there are no pending requests or orders for access to such information under subsection (b)(2) or (c)(2) or pursuant to a court order."
"We want Netflix to operate in compliance of the law and delete all of this information," Gray told CNET.
But not all Netflix subscribers are upset about the company's information retention policies. One CNET reader cites the convenience of being able to continue a Netflix subscription 18 months after he canceled while trying to conserve money after being laid off from his job. "I rather liked it, but others apparently have a different opinion," the reader stated in a comment.
Netflix has yet to issue a comment on the recent lawsuits.
I don’t have a problem with Netflix retaining my rental history, but then the only embarrassing thing I have to show is a habit of watching immature comedies on a regular basis. It doesn’t seem terribly unreasonable though for the company to enact a system that would purge the data for former customers that have been unsubscribed for over a year.
