Recap: Amazon Fresh/Prime Pantry, MoviePass Tracking, Lottery Hacking

 

  • Reader Emily was offering a free trial of Amazon Fresh for 90 days when asking Alexa about grocery items. This was available even though she has received multiple free trials previously.
  • The Lottery Hackers by Huffington Post via Travel With Grant on Twitter. Long read, but if you’re in this hobby you will enjoy this story.

 

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NinjaX
NinjaX (@guest_569791)
March 13, 2018 21:09

where is the TLDR to the lottery story. is it pudding man or what?

John K
John K (@guest_569516)
March 13, 2018 09:56

I’m only two chapters in to the MI lottery story, but I’m loving it! Jerry sounds like a pioneer of our hobby – thanks for sharing! 🙂

boogieforward
boogieforward (@guest_569605)
March 13, 2018 14:07

Agreed – this story mirrors this hobby, but on a much grander scale. That was a highly enjoyable read.

BG
BG (@guest_569503)
March 13, 2018 09:06

On iPhone you need not give MoviePass access to your location. I don’t and it worked when I tried it a couple months ago. Slightly less convenient but worth it to me.

Bob
Bob (@guest_569499)
March 13, 2018 09:02

Dear MoviePass Members, Partners and Employees:

While speaking at a conference in Los Angeles, through a mix of exuberance about our future and joking around, I mischaracterized how MoviePass locates our members and I need to fix that. It has raised a lot of concerns and I understand why.

First and foremost, I apologize for these comments and the concern they caused. At MoviePass, we take customer privacy extremely seriously. I would like to eliminate any misconceptions that we’re collecting location related data.

The MoviePass app currently uses standard location services capabilities on an opt-in basis. There are only two events that would prompt MoviePass to identify a member’s location. These include when a member requests to search for theaters nearby and when a member requests to check into a theater. Both events require both the app to be open and for the member to request the action.

MoviePass does not track and has never tracked or collected data on the location of our members at any point when the app is not active. In our recent update with Apple, we removed the the background tracking capabilities. MoviePass does not use and has never used this feature.

Our goal at MoviePass has always been to encourage people to see more movies as they were meant to be seen — in the theater. We want to make our service available at a price anyone can afford and everyone can enjoy. While we do create partnerships with theaters and studios in which we offer statistical data on ticket use and other trends, we never share our members’ identities or personal information or personal data with anyone.

MoviePass takes its members’ privacy extremely seriously, and our current Terms of Use and Privacy Policy accurately state the ways in which we use data. If, in the future, MoviePass desires to expand how it uses data, we will amend our Privacy Policy and notify our members so that they will be afforded the opportunity to opt- in or opt- out of the MoviePass service. This is what our customers expect, what the law requires, and how we’ve always handled data. We want to assure everyone that we treat our members’ data with the utmost sensitivity. Your trust and enjoyment are the lifeblood of our service.

We understand that you may have further questions, so have included an additional FAQ page for your reference.

Warm Regards,

Mitch Lowe
CEO
MoviePass

Bob
Bob (@guest_569498)
March 13, 2018 09:01

Movie Pass just backtracked on that claim.

Mike
Mike (@guest_569497)
March 13, 2018 08:53

What are some reasons people are against MoviePass tracking where you go sometimes? I kind of made that assumption upfront when they said they needed to know I was within 100 yards of a theater to get my ticket. I honestly might be missing something. I enjoy the service, I just want to make sure I’m not missing a huge red flag.

Jeff L.
Jeff L. (@guest_569819)
March 13, 2018 22:02

It’s not clear how Moviepass can function in the long-term, considering offering 30+ movies a month for $9.95 makes them a massive loss-leader. They have to recoup those losses somehow, and there have been insinuations and instigations in the past on the part of their execs that selling the private information of their customers was not out of bounds.

Now I personally don’t care if some large corporation is paying Moviepass to see what sort of movies I’m going to see, if it offsets my out-of-pocket. However, it is a more dark and slippery slope if Moviepass is tracking your whereabouts and activities for more extended periods of time and selling that information.