Online streaming content provider, Netflix, has acknowledged to Washington based politic journal, Talking Points Memo, that social sharing features will be released to users based in the United States in 2013. However, the precursor for the popular website to do this will be for President Obama to sign a bill that makes sharing information about what movies users have seen with friends easier. The legislation has been passed and requires the President’s signature in order to pass and allow the on-demand video streaming platform to introduce its social sharing feature.
The current bill is a revamped version of the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). The original VPPA was made into law after late Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork’s video rentals were leaked to the media. Netflix has a feature that lets users in 40 countries and territories to share the movies and TV Shows they watch with friends on their Facebook accounts and cannot do the same in the U.S. because of the VPPA.
The latest law will require that Netflix first get “informed, written consent” before the user data is shared. Furthermore, the user can withdraw his or her approval anytime on a “video-by-video” basis.
An interesting note about the new law is that it does not have an email privacy section that Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy asked to be included in the legislation. This would have forced law enforcement officials and other government agencies to be in possession of a warrant before they could get access to a user’s stored electronic communications.
Source: TechCrunch
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