Hulu is after your data (and they’re not the only ones)
In this post:
- A major retailer uses in-store cameras to get demographic and marketing data about you
- Two wildly popular news sites can transfer your data to countries with the weakest data protection laws
- A big financial institution doesn’t ensure the safety of your credit card and social security numbers
We’re back with our second installment of the Privacy Misleader Board and let’s just say that these sites give last month’s Misleaders a run for their money.
What’s really interesting about this one is May’s worst offender — Hulu. Disney announced an immediate takeover of the streaming service this week just as Hulu coincidentally topped our misleader board. The news brings up all kinds of questions, specifically, What happens when a company with good privacy practices (Disney) acquires a bad actor (Hulu)?
It will be interesting to follow events as they unfold. Will users really be held to Hulu’s horrific privacy policies? Will the takeover lead to a series of class actions against Disney? What does the cross-platform data sharing mean for my kids’ online privacy? Only time will tell.
But let’s not let Hulu take all of the blame and shame. Joining it on the misleader board this month are seven other household names.
May 2019 Privacy Misleader Board
Hollywood Reporter: Snooping on more than celebrities
The Hollywood Reporter, along with parent company Prometheus Global Media, seems to care as little about online privacy as it does about offline. In their own words, you give them information “at your own risk.”
What’s more, they can store your information indefinitely and transfer it to any country, including those with the weakest data protection laws.
Hollywood Reporter Privacy Score »
Dick’s Sporting Goods
When you shop at dickssportinggoods.com, you give the sporting goods giant permission to track and combine your online search history, physical location, and more.
Oh, and the cameras you see in-store? They may very well be used for preventing theft, but they are also used for collecting your demographic and personal information for marketing!
Dick’s Sporting Goods Privacy Score »
Wired Magazine
The publisher is all about emerging technologies — and it shows. Beyond the detailed level of information they collect about you, Wired’s privacy policy states that “The Service may collect your Data even if the Service is not open on your Device or you’re not logged in.”
Wired Magazine Privacy Score »
O’Reilly: Why collect books when you can collect data?
Since 2017, it seems that O’Reilly Media has dialed back its book-selling efforts and doubled down on user data collection. Per its privacy policy, your “partner in learning” can collect special categories of data and information, including but not limited to your race or ethnicity, religious and political beliefs, sex life, and genetic and biometric data.
As with your location data, O’Reilly gives no basis for collecting your sensitive information, leaving us to wonder why it’s collected in the first place.
O’Reilly Media Privacy Score »
Newsweek
Given its very low privacy score (543 out of 850), you might want to think twice before getting your news from Newsweek. By visiting any Newsweek website you consent to their privacy policy, and we agree with them when they say you should read the policy carefully.
Among things to note, Newsweek collects a great deal of personal information and shares it with third parties; passes your subscription payment information to third parties for processing and storage (meaning you agree to the third-party privacy policies), and can retain your data indefinitely.
As with the Hollywood Reporter, be aware that Newsweek may transfer and store their data to other countries in order to use it with less regulation.
Kelley Blue Book (KBB) — a 2015 fixer-upper
If you’re looking for the trade-in value of your 2019 Honda with 32,000 miles on, you’ve come to the right place. If you’re looking for a privacy policy that hasn’t been updated since 2015, you’ve also come to the right place. 2015 might not sound like that long ago, but the advancements in data collection technology and the misuse of personal data have been staggering since then.
If Kelley Blue Book hasn’t updated its privacy policy since 2015, it’s hard to feel confident that they’re properly storing, securing, and handling your sensitive financial, demographic, location, and other data. In fact, we found little information about KBB’s data security measures or your rights to delete your data.
Kelley Blue Book Privacy Score »
Synchrony
For a financial institution, Synchrony appears to take few precautions to secure sensitive personally identifiable information transmitted through their site, stating, “Please note that information you send to us electronically is not necessarily secure when it is transmitted to us.”
This places the burden on you, the consumer, to ensure the safety of your credit card and social security numbers when you apply for one of their private label credit cards or one of their other services.
Hulu
At the end of 2018, streaming service Hulu reported a nearly 50% annual increase in subscribers — up to 25 million in the United States. But watching is a two-way street with Hulu, even if you simply visit the site. While you’re busy sharing your login with friends, Hulu may very well be collecting and sharing massive amounts of your data (including location) with social networking sites, advertisers, business partners, and even companies not affiliated with Hulu.
Decide you can live without The Handmaid’s Tale and 30 Rock? Per Hulu, they reserve the right to retain some information about you even after you delete your account. Should there be a security breach, don’t count on their privacy policy to tell you how they’ll handle it.
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Originally published at https://www.privacymonitor.com on May 15, 2019.
