Any one else received a Video Privacy Lawsuit regarding Netflix today?

V

Video-Gamer

CAGiversary!
I got an email about an hour ago saying: "If you are a current or a former netflix subscriber - a class action settlement could affect you".
They saying that their records show that I was a current or a former{Former - I signed up for a free 30 day trial about a year ago plus minus} and they saying that a settlement may affect my legal rights, and they saying to go to www.videoprivacyclass.com for more information.

Any one else received this?
 
I received it, too. Doesn't sound like anything that will affect any of us subscribers in any meaningful way, though.

The only people that generally benefit from class-action lawsuits are the attorneys who get paid millions of dollars for their involvement.
 
[quote name='Josh1billion']I received it, too. Doesn't sound like anything that will affect any of us subscribers in any meaningful way, though.

The only people that generally benefit from class-action lawsuits are the attorneys who get paid millions of dollars for their involvement.[/QUOTE]


Thats what I was thinking, but the thing that kind of made me raise my eyebrow was where its written down in the bottom of the email that "if you do nothing - you will remain in the settlement and your rights will be affected. If you do not want to be included, you must exclude yourself by November 2012, if you exclude yourself you will keep your right to sue Netflix about the claims in this lawsuit. If you remain in the settlement - you can object to it by November 2012."
Then it also says in the bottom of that I can appear in the hearing but I dont have to.

Should this be taken seriously? Or its nothing?
 
[quote name='Video-Gamer']Thats what I was thinking, but the thing that kind of made me raise my eyebrow was where its written down in the bottom of the email that "if you do nothing - you will remain in the settlement and your rights will be affected. If you do not want to be included, you must exclude yourself by November 2012, if you exclude yourself you will keep your right to sue Netflix about the claims in this lawsuit. If you remain in the settlement - you can object to it by November 2012."
Then it also says in the bottom of that I can appear in the hearing but I dont have to.

Should this be taken seriously? Or its nothing?[/QUOTE]
I'm not a lawyer, of course, but I'm pretty sure all it means is that you have to respond if you don't agree to the terms of the settlement, in case you want to bring your own individual case to court instead of being lumped in with the class action lawsuit.
 
[quote name='Josh1billion']I'm not a lawyer, of course, but I'm pretty sure all it means is that you have to respond if you don't agree to the terms of the settlement, in case you want to bring your own individual case to court instead of being lumped in with the class action lawsuit.[/QUOTE]

Well I dont really know what terms they are talking about but I dont even use netfilx nor I care if they delete any kind of download history or what not since I never bought anything on netfilx besides trying to check it out once on my ps3 and that was that.
If I dont respond - do I need to worry about it?
I mean what Im trying to say if other people like me who just signed up for the 30 day free trial and barely used it if we dont respond - is it going affect us or hurt us in the future or something?
 
The length of your Netflix subscription or how extensively you used it is meaningless. Any and all members up until a certain date are included in this suit, because the plaintiffs are claiming all of our data was being kept without our permission. If you don't respond in anyway, the only thing you are giving up is your ability to sue Netflix over the issue. By not responding, you are saying you are comfortable with the settlement and do not wish to take further legal action. This will not affect you in any manner.
 
[quote name='Video-Gamer']I got an email about an hour ago saying: "If you are a current or a former netflix subscriber - a class action settlement could affect you".
They saying that their records show that I was a current or a former{Former - I signed up for a free 30 day trial about a year ago plus minus} and they saying that a settlement may affect my legal rights, and they saying to go to www.videoprivacyclass.com for more information.

Any one else received this?[/QUOTE]
Netflix will pay $9 million into a settlement fund that, subject to Court approval, will be used to (i) make donations to a group of not-for-profit organizations, institutions or programs approved by the Court (such donations are called “cy pres”, in legal speak), (ii) pay notice and settlement administration expenses, (iii) pay attorneys’ fees of up to 25% of the Settlement Fund, and up to $25,000.00 in out of pocket costs to Class Counsel, and (iv) pay a collective incentive award of $30,000 to the Plaintiffs.
Click to expand...
In other words, lawayers be gettin' paid, ugh.
 
[quote name='Clak']In other words, lawayers be gettin' paid, ugh.[/QUOTE]

I hear you. For what most class actions pay out, seems like lawyers get the payday while everyone else gets a nominal fee. Feels like most class actions are merely cash grabs by law firms.
 
[quote name='ced']I hear you. For what most class actions pay out, seems like lawyers get the payday while everyone else gets a nominal fee. Feels like most class actions are merely cash grabs by law firms.[/QUOTE]

There are many things wrong with the class action system but it's not always a cash grab. People have very little idea what good attorneys actually do and the insane hours they'll put into cases. I don't know anything about this specific situation, but its inevitable that when there is some kind of lawsuit in the news people always start clamoring "Ugh attorneys are involved? This is just a way for them to rip off XYZ and line their pockets!" by default.
 
Well when your reward as a claimant is a fucking coupon, what should we think? You think the attorneys are getting paid in coupons too? Half the time it seems the attorneys make out better than those who were actually effected by whatever the suit is about.
 
Off-topic, but has anyone here ever been part of a class action suit and gotten anything decent out of it? One time, I got a free game out of a suit against Sony over the poor build quality of the original PlayStation. Was kind of a pleasant surprise when I got the notification in the mail. Didn't really make up for the number of times I had to send the thing in for "repairs," and it was never actually repaired, though.
 
[quote name='Clak']Well when your reward as a claimant is a fucking coupon, what should we think? You think the attorneys are getting paid in coupons too? Half the time it seems the attorneys make out better than those who were actually effected by whatever the suit is about.[/QUOTE]

You must have replied without comprehending my comment. I'm not condoning coupons and shit.
 
[quote name='camoor']fucking ambulance chasing sharks. This is the kind of bullshit that gives class action lawsuits a bad name.

Although I do wish they'd give you the option to erase your instant queue history.[/QUOTE]
I find the lawsuit retarded. So netflix keeps your instant queue after you quit subscribing. PS+ keeps the free games you have downloaded through the PS+ program after you stop subscribing to re download when you subscribe again. So lets sue Sony now over this :roll:.

I mean yeah there should be the option to delete your queue history, but I never think after I stop subscribing to something they get rid of my data. I assume it's still there.
 
hi guys my dad is lawyer os i think i can be of some input

a long time ago i was in class acutoin suit 4 grand theft auto san andreas "hot coffeE" it was sex removed from game. google this cuz i aint explainin it i have 2 much 2 do 2night. sorry. in the end i only got $5 and it was a waste oftime. my dadd says some law firms make big bucks and ur basically not getting much whioel; they get it all. tthatsx just how it works.

and my dad is not home yetr. i can ask him bou netflix later if i remember. but this sounds possibly like a spoofed letter that ur getting fooled. it may have no legal basis. i have watcehd movie on laws id ont remember which but i seen something like this.

pm me for me info. please be nice. thank u. tim
 
[quote name='Sir_Fragalot']I find the lawsuit retarded. So netflix keeps your instant queue after you quit subscribing. PS+ keeps the free games you have downloaded through the PS+ program after you stop subscribing to re download when you subscribe again. So lets sue Sony now over this :roll:.

I mean yeah there should be the option to delete your queue history, but I never think after I stop subscribing to something they get rid of my data. I assume it's still there.[/QUOTE]

I stopped subscribing for a couple of months last year. I would have not been pleased had they told me I have to rebuild it when I resubscribed earlier this year.
 
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[quote name='Caleb_Bradham']hi guys my dad is lawyer os i think i can be of some input

a long time ago i was in class acutoin suit 4 grand theft auto san andreas "hot coffeE" it was sex removed from game. google this cuz i aint explainin it i have 2 much 2 do 2night. sorry. in the end i only got $5 and it was a waste oftime. my dadd says some law firms make big bucks and ur basically not getting much whioel; they get it all. tthatsx just how it works.

and my dad is not home yetr. i can ask him bou netflix later if i remember. but this sounds possibly like a spoofed letter that ur getting fooled. it may have no legal basis. i have watcehd movie on laws id ont remember which but i seen something like this.

pm me for me info. please be nice. thank u. tim[/QUOTE]

$5 isn't bad...that's a couple free bottles of Pepsi!
 
Can we get a class action lawsuit going to force them to show us our queues for services we no longer subscribe to? I want to see my DVD queue even though I don't get DVDs anymore because I want to see which of those movies are possibly streaming on demand. But the only way to see my old DVD queue is to switch back to DVD, copy down the list, then switch back to streaming.
 
[quote name='snakemaster2389']so this wont affect netflix subscribers? cause when i got that i was like should i cancel now? im scared @_@[/QUOTE]
Netflix's profits will surely go down a bit from having to shell out $9 million, which, I suppose, could affect us adversely in an indirect way (perhaps worse offerings or a slightly sooner end to Netflix as a whole), but that's about it. Just one more nail in the coffin.
 
[quote name='Josh1billion']Netflix's profits will surely go down a bit from having to shell out $9 million, which, I suppose, could affect us adversely in an indirect way (perhaps worse offerings or a slightly sooner end to Netflix as a whole), but that's about it. Just one more nail in the coffin.[/QUOTE]

So I take it you're either being sarcastic, or don't understand finance/stocks at all. A ~$57 price is pretty damn good. Netflix isn't going anywhere, nor is it in any kind of danger. They lost a ton of subscribers, but if you've paid attention to their most recent earnings reports, they're slowly but surely gaining the majority of them back.
 
[quote name='Josh1billion']Netflix's profits will surely go down a bit from having to shell out $9 million, which, I suppose, could affect us adversely in an indirect way (perhaps worse offerings or a slightly sooner end to Netflix as a whole), but that's about it. Just one more nail in the coffin.[/QUOTE]

I'm sure companies this big have money set aside for shit like this. Especially when you deal in a business that probably regularly involved copyright and contracts with other businesses. Even their lawyers are undoubtedly on retainer. That's literally pocket change to Hastings, he could pay that out of his own pocket as a genuinely microscopic loss.
 
[quote name='kodave']There are many things wrong with the class action system but it's not always a cash grab. People have very little idea what good attorneys actually do and the insane hours they'll put into cases. I don't know anything about this specific situation, but its inevitable that when there is some kind of lawsuit in the news people always start clamoring "Ugh attorneys are involved? This is just a way for them to rip off XYZ and line their pockets!" by default.[/QUOTE]

The thing that people never take into account with class action lawsuits is the other side of the equation where they work as a deterrent for corporations committing violations which fall short of criminal actions. Yeah this suit is somewhat frivolous but the law they violated was put in place for a reason and they violated it. Did it benefit them to violate it? Perhaps, but the main point at the end of the day is that the corporation broke the law and the only way to enforce it in this case was through a private action.

Corporations are not, and should not, be above the law, it's their responsibility to make sure that during their millions of dollars they're raking in that they aren't breaking laws, they did in this case and they were held accountable. Sure lawyers may have made a tidy sum from it but there's 2 things to keep in mind: it likely wasn't a sole practitioner working on this case and the firm working on it likely already had to shell out significant capital to get this lawsuit rolling in the first place. So a law firm made a tidy profit from bringing tthis suit, is it any more immoral or offensive than the profits that a corporation makes in knowingly violating the law?
 
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