This Is Like A Bad Episode Of Black Mirror
February 9, 2022 2:28 PM Subscribe
Started watching a show on my Netflix account with a friend in the room. Now her Netflix is displaying the show under her account with the correct next episode and I cannot figure out how.
This is a bizarre tech mystery that is bothering me. Invited a friend over and we started watching a show on Netflix. We watched six episodes. She went home, booted up Netflix and told me that the show now appears under her “Continue Watching” section with episode seven queued up. I’m trying to figure out how that is at all possible.
- We both use Neflix on stand-alone Roku devices.
- We have separate Netflix accounts and have never signed into each other’s account.
- She has never watched the show on her profile but her father has finished the series on his.
- Her phone connects to my wifi and we did set it to act as a Roku remote for my device but this was a long time ago and she never uses that feature.
- She has used Netflix from her phone but hasn’t signed into it “in a while”.
I’m trying to logically figure out how Netflix could’ve possibly known what episode was next up besides “Big Brother is always listening”. Any ideas?
This is a bizarre tech mystery that is bothering me. Invited a friend over and we started watching a show on Netflix. We watched six episodes. She went home, booted up Netflix and told me that the show now appears under her “Continue Watching” section with episode seven queued up. I’m trying to figure out how that is at all possible.
- We both use Neflix on stand-alone Roku devices.
- We have separate Netflix accounts and have never signed into each other’s account.
- She has never watched the show on her profile but her father has finished the series on his.
- Her phone connects to my wifi and we did set it to act as a Roku remote for my device but this was a long time ago and she never uses that feature.
- She has used Netflix from her phone but hasn’t signed into it “in a while”.
I’m trying to logically figure out how Netflix could’ve possibly known what episode was next up besides “Big Brother is always listening”. Any ideas?
I think this might explain it, at least somewhat. Scroll through all the screens:https://www.instagram.com/p/CPhRFBjBX17/
The gist of it, as I understand it, is that your phone knows what you're watching due to data aggregation, her phone knows she was with you due to location tracking, so her Netflix knows that she was watching that show with you, and is suggesting it to her.
posted by ralan at 3:10 PM on February 9, 2022
The gist of it, as I understand it, is that your phone knows what you're watching due to data aggregation, her phone knows she was with you due to location tracking, so her Netflix knows that she was watching that show with you, and is suggesting it to her.
posted by ralan at 3:10 PM on February 9, 2022
Yeah, I would not be surprised if this was a "feature" having to do with passing show viewing data between Roku and Netflix. Unless you disable stuff (like a wifi connection or remote app) it will be "aware" that it is near devices it "knows" (i.e. it encounters the same MAC addresses and such) so it will pass data back and forth. It's certainly possible that this happened here.
I would suggest ralan is correct if it was merely being advertised to you, but because it actually skipped to that episode I have to imagine your phone thought you were watching the show, mostly likely through the roku app, which may have passed it to Netflix. My guess is this is a real use case gone sideways.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 9:55 PM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
I would suggest ralan is correct if it was merely being advertised to you, but because it actually skipped to that episode I have to imagine your phone thought you were watching the show, mostly likely through the roku app, which may have passed it to Netflix. My guess is this is a real use case gone sideways.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 9:55 PM on February 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
If her phone was setup as your remote then my guess is her account is linked to yours for recommendation purposes.
posted by kschang at 10:39 PM on February 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by kschang at 10:39 PM on February 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
Ralan's comment & link is great for thinking about the wider data relationships we are increasingly being subjugated by, but I think it makes this use case more complex than it needs to be.
Her phone is connected as a remote to your Roku. That's all that was needed for the data to get passed on. Check Roku's small print. It's very possible that they will say something about data being passed on to third parties etc.
It would be interesting to do an experiment where you go over to your friend's house and watch something new on Netflix and see if the same thing happens. Especially if your phone has never been connected as a remote to her Roku. I very much doubt that GPS proximity alone could cause this. If it could, then everybody living in a block of flats would be constantly bombarded by their neighbours' Netflix shows. You need a direct data link (which means at some point you have clicked a link acknowledging that an app can make extrapolations from your data) + the GPS proximity for things to match up.
posted by 0bvious at 4:37 AM on February 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
Her phone is connected as a remote to your Roku. That's all that was needed for the data to get passed on. Check Roku's small print. It's very possible that they will say something about data being passed on to third parties etc.
It would be interesting to do an experiment where you go over to your friend's house and watch something new on Netflix and see if the same thing happens. Especially if your phone has never been connected as a remote to her Roku. I very much doubt that GPS proximity alone could cause this. If it could, then everybody living in a block of flats would be constantly bombarded by their neighbours' Netflix shows. You need a direct data link (which means at some point you have clicked a link acknowledging that an app can make extrapolations from your data) + the GPS proximity for things to match up.
posted by 0bvious at 4:37 AM on February 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
Hm. I have the Roku app installed on my phone, and have used it to control the Roku when it's signed-in to my partner's account, and it's never seemed to affect the "continue watching" options on my Netflix account or anything.
It's certainly technically possible for Roku and Netflix to be passing data around in this way—there are a bunch of ways, including a direct connection between the Roku and the phone (which you allowed when you installed the Roku app and paired it with the device to use as a remote, which incidentally also requires giving the Roku app "local network" permissions) which would be the most direct and reliable way.
But I'm a little skeptical just because I've done this and haven't seen the same behavior. Guess I'll have to keep an eye out for it.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:26 AM on February 10, 2022
It's certainly technically possible for Roku and Netflix to be passing data around in this way—there are a bunch of ways, including a direct connection between the Roku and the phone (which you allowed when you installed the Roku app and paired it with the device to use as a remote, which incidentally also requires giving the Roku app "local network" permissions) which would be the most direct and reliable way.
But I'm a little skeptical just because I've done this and haven't seen the same behavior. Guess I'll have to keep an eye out for it.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:26 AM on February 10, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by koroshiya at 2:39 PM on February 9, 2022 [2 favorites]