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Comment by stock_toaster | Hacker News Reader

  > In order to understand the usage across the Plex ecosystem and how we
  > need to improve, Plex will continue to collect usage statistics, such
  > as device type, duration, bit rate, media format, resolution, and 
  > media type (music, photos, videos, etc.). 
  > **We will no longer allow the option to opt out of this statistics collection.**

Ugh. Not especially happy about this one.

EDIT: First it was opt-out, which is bad enough (opt-in is much less underhanded). I am calling this new thing the "sucks to be you" option. :(

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This is going to be very interesting.

The European Union General Data Privacy Regulation is going to come into force very soon, and it applies to anyone processing data of EU citizen.

Under that, this privacy policy from Plex would be a crime, as you need to provide an opt-out for this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regula...

"It is a violation of the Plex license to use this software in Europe or any other jurisdiction subject to the European Union or any of its laws or regulations. We disclaim all responsibility, and will not be held liable, for any violation of the laws resulting from or associated with the use of our product."

Would that work? Because dollars to doughnuts someone's going to try it or something like it.

I'm no lawyer, but from similar situations I'd imagine that they would need to make a reasonable effort to block EU users from using the product to get away with that. Eg. forcing users to use a VPN by hiding the download button for EU IPs.

Isn't Plex based off XBMC/Kodi and licensed under GPL2? I didn't think GPL2 allowed adding additional restrictions to the license?

https://github.com/plexinc/plex-media-player/blob/master/LIC...

Only the native Plex player is based on XBMC/Kodi, the Plex server and web player is and always has been proprietary. I also imagine the server is where they do stats collection.

OK, they could make it part of the TOS of their online service.

You know, the service you're giving information to in the first place.

No it isn't

Is https://github.com/plexinc/plex-media-player/blob/master/LIC... not the Plex source code repository?

Nope, that’s the interesting part of the GDPR. No ToS, no contract, no terms can get you out of it.

As long as you have a single EU citizen as user, you’re liable.

Read the article I’ve linked, it’s definitely an interesting law, and will create lots of interesting legal debates.

Are you sure about that?

The European Union General Data Privacy Regulation regulates only personally identifiable information. IF(just an assuption) the collected data does not identify the user, does it still apply?

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