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YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Senators Don't Want Your Netflix Viewing History on Facebook [VIDEO]

    A number of U.S. senators are opposed to amending the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act to let Netflix automatically publish user views on Facebook via frictionless sharing.

    [More from Mashable: Analyst: Google+ Hits 100 Million Users]

    Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who sponsored the VPPA, said in a hearing on Tuesday that he wanted to keep movie titles private on Facebook.

    Netflix appealed to Congress to allow Facebook app users one-time consent to share video streaming histories instead of on a movie-by-movie basis. But Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, subcommittee chairman, said a one-time consent policy would be a breach of users' privacy.

    [More from Mashable: Want to Search Google Images? Draw a Picture [VIDEO]]

    "It's just as easy to click one 'watch-and-share' button," Franken told AdWeek. "It's no more burdensome to share each time as opposed to a consumer not being able to find out how to opt out."

    A Netflix integration with Facebook outside of the U.S., launched in 2011, allows users in 47 countries to see what friends are watching on Netflix. This new social layer to streaming movies is similar to the Spotify integration that broadcasts every single song you listen to on your news feed. The one country where it isn't allowed: the U.S.

    Check out the video above to learn more about the VPPA and Netflix.

    Do you want your friends to see what you are viewing on Netflix? Let us know in the comments.

    This story originally published on Mashable here.

     

    6 comments

    • gigs66  •  Vancouver, Washington  •  3 mths ago
      I really don't want any website posting what I watch, listen to, read, type, etc. Keep your nose out of my business or it may get broken.
    • redassbaboon  •  3 mths ago
      watched a French spy film w/subtitles and two female spies were lezzies.....now I get 'recommended for' a ton of gay and lesbian films (not that there is anything wrong with it ).....my college age kid says ' hey dad a little curious eh ???? ' ( account is shared with family )...........please 'FACEBOOK' jus go away !!!!!!
    • local  •  3 mths ago
      Do people really have no sense of privacy anymore? People are in everyone's business too much as it is, butt out! If Netflix and Facebook do this in the U.S., that will be the minute I cancel my Netflix subscription. And so far I have managed to not register on Facebook, and don't plan to.
    • itzsm00th  •  San Antonio, Texas  •  3 mths ago
      It's nobody's business what I decide to watch.
    • ourvoicesheard.com  •  3 mths ago
      With all the urgent problems facing our nation this is what our leadership is concerned about...
    • susankt  •  Duluth, Minnesota  •  3 mths ago
      I don't like anything that I have to "opt out" of, or it becomes automatic. Besides, my facebook friends would think all I watched were cartoons and Benji movies. I rarely have time to watch netflix, myself. So, in short, I'd appear even dorkier than I actually am.
      • local 3 mths ago
        ha ha ha, I can identify with that. Ours would show the Power Rangers marathon we had at our house. :)
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