Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is Netflix’s first foray into interactive programming, allowing users to make choices throughout the episode that lead to different outcomes.
But what you probably didn’t know when you were happily clicking away with your remote control is that Netflix keeps a log of all the choices you make.
Michael Veale , a researcher UCL’s Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy, uncovered the news by putting in a GDPR "right of access" request to Netflix.
The company sent him a copy of his viewing data, including details of the choices he had made, when he made them, the platform he made them on, and whether he had watched those segments before.
Netflix said that it only uses this data to inform which video segments to show. However, it does track choices at an aggregated level, "to help us determine how to improve this model of storytelling".
While it is perhaps unsurprising that Netflix records users’ choices, Veale’s experiment highlights that the streaming service never asks for permission to store this data.
He also points out that viewers don’t have the choice to opt out – which is ironic, given that the Black Mirror episode in question is all about lack of control.
On the plus side, Veale’s experiment is a good example of GDPR giving Europeans power over their data.
The new data protection regulations have only been in place since last May, but it seems the "right of access" policy has a lot of potential to hold tech giants to account.
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