Security News > 2023 > November > Plex gives fans a privacy complex after sharing viewing habits with friends by default

A Plex "Feature" is raising privacy hackles of some users after sharing with others what they are watching on the streaming service - seemingly without their consent.

At the start of this month Plex rolled out "Discover Together," with an "Activity" feature that shows "What you and your friends are watching, rating, and saving to your Watchlists," according to the streaming service.

This, unsurprisingly, sparked outrage on social media and Plex's own user forum, with many pointing out that Plex is "Self-hosted," and as such, they believed, more private than other streaming services - like Netflix, for example.

A discussion about pornography - who is watching it, whether one should be embarrassed about it, and if Plex should disclose this info - ensued.

"It is opt-in. To share content viewed on a Plex Media Server, you had to opt in to sync your watch history data and then also opt in to make your watch history visible to friends. Both of those were prompted in the Plex app after screens explaining the features."

According to another Plex customer: "When the user doesn't touch anything, but the OK button, the setting is set to"Friends" unless he ACTIVELY changes that setting.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/11/28/plex_privacy/