What you've watched & thought of it is, of course, your data.
However, Netflix is in no way obligated to act as your memory in when & whatever manner you demand.
Similiarly Netflix's APIs add value for customers, and apps and outboard memory are/have been a big part of Netflix for me. Will loosing that make me leave? I don't know - but clearly this is a major downgrade in their service.
--
* It looks like they pretty much are obligated by law - thanks benatkin.
I get an email each month, that I don't think I can opt out of, that says "New (name of bank) eStatements Available" and links me to the bank's website, where I can view and download it.
You're probably right that they aren't legally obligated to provide transaction data in a machine-readable format.
banks used to that to gain customers. Some time ago, every developer working at banks knew that customers were measured in cost per customer. You'd had the cost to please them, and then you'd make money investing their money.
then, fast forward a measly decade, and banks are seen as obligatory. nobody things about NOT having their money in a bank. So banks drop all of the benefits, and we start to measure clients as profit per account. banks now are profiting from investing your money AND holding that money for you just because you never though about not paying the bank.
So, that's the time when we started to have some regulations and minimal service the bank's supposed to provide.
True, you provided the information. But, to me at least, since Netflix is the one who collected it and are actively storing it then it is their data in terms of ownership. Unless there is some language somewhere that states that Netflix is storing this data on your behalf it belongs to them to do with as they please.
For me it seems that you are referring to the data as something you provided and I'm referring to it as something Netflix collected and is storing. These two ideas do not necessarily contradict each other.
If you go to a site and sign up for their newsletter, that data now belongs to them. If you go to your Google Docs account and type the same information into a text file to store there then that data belongs to you. The difference being is that Google Docs is storing that data for you, while the other is not.
That's all I'm saying.
What I eat, my shoe size, where I've been, the drugs I take, where I work, my mortgage and tax payments, the movies I like.
Netflix should pay me for the honor of storing, mining, analysing, and reselling any and all information about me.
Ditto every one else peddling my data. Exploiting me (and you) for profit.
I want my cut.
And you have always been free to write that down in your own notes, if you wish, however you wish. Some folks actually keep their own simple written text notes on what movies they've seen and want to see. same with books, albums, etc. It's free, fast and simple, and nobody has or probably can take that ability away from you.