When Bandersnatch hit Netflix, people didn’t quite know what to do with themselves. The world’s first interactive movie had finally landed, and with no less than 1 trillion different story combinations.
Not only was it a gripping story that became more twisted and insane with every choice the viewer made, some people began to suspect that Netflix was doing something a tad bit sinister with all the choices we made.
Michael Veale, a technology policy researcher at University College London, spoke to VICE’s Motherboard and said he actually contacted Netflix to see what the go was.
“People had been speculating a lot on Twitter about Netflix’s motivations,” Veale told Motherboard, “I thought it would be a fun test to show people how you can use data protection law to ask real questions you have.”
Under Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, which allows anyone to request information from a company collecting data, he was able to ask “the reason its collecting data, the categories they’re sorting data into, third parties it’s sharing the data with, and other information.”
Netflix replied to Veale via email by saying that the choices viewers made
would “inform the personalised recommendations you see in future visits.”
So basically, Netflix used a prime oppurtunity to deduce what exactly we want to watch. Perhaps those who chose gruesomely will be prescribed horror or those who were merciful get treated to comedies.
I guess there’s only one way to find out.
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