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Netflix unfortunately finds itself in a tough spot trying to get support for allowing their Facebook app in the United States which would allow members to share their recently played movie history to their Facebook timelines. This app is available in the U.K. and some other countries but is blocked in the U.S. as a result of the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act which prohibits the storage and sharing of video rental history.
Mashable covered this story previously http://mashable.com/2012/02/01/netflix-on-facebook/ but I hadn’t actually known about it until I read a CNN article where Netflix had to pay a fine related to not purging former members video history which is required by the same act.
With nearly every other entertainment platform allowing you to share your interests, listens with friends and family should Netflix be excluded from this option?
I think congress should pass a bill to allow for opt-in sharing subscriptions, simply offering a “watch and share” button as was mentioned in the Mashable article seems like a perfectly good solution because it is basically putting the rights in the hands of the member and they can choose not to share, and/or remove it from their timeline at any time.
What do you think about sharing your recent movie history from Netflix in a timeline on Facebook?
In my case, this would be useless because my kids pretty much just watch Disney, Nickelodeon shows on my Netflix membership so I would look like a kid using Netflix
-Justin Germino