this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2023
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As you may have seen Plex decided it was OK today to send an email showing me what my friends have been watching. To be clear, this is Plex telling other people what I've been watching from my server, with my files, and this is not OK.

https://imgur.com/a/DYR4wlh

We all knew it was a matter of time before Plex started collecting data on our libraries and sharing it with advertisers. What happened to their "we don't know, and don't want to know, what is on your server"?. This, for me, is proof that those fears were absolutely founded in reality. On what planet would I ever want this information to be shared with friends on family on an OPT OUT basis?

It's totally unacceptable to collect this data in the first place. It's totally unacceptable to share this information with uniquely identifiable information. And it's totally unacceptable to do this without explicitly asking me if it's OK.

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about this as a server admin, because technically these are Plex users and their marketing email preferences are controlled on the user side in the Plex website preferences. Not on your server.

This is an absolutely egregious overreach.

Thank goodness there are alternatives available in the form of Jellyfin and Emby. I left my Plex server up after the Jellyfin January challenge we did on the Self-Hosted podcast but because of this I feel that I have no choice but to take it down for good.

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[โ€“] Mandus_Therion@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

You Plex and Emby users deserve what you get

Jellyfin is only good choice

[โ€“] Labeled90@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Has jellyfin's UI improved? My wife preferred plex, and plex has a native Samsung app ๐Ÿ˜ฎโ€๐Ÿ’จ

As much as I want to switch, Samsung app store has me stuck currently.

[โ€“] Chaphasilor@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

They are working on getting the Jellyfin app to the Samsung Tizen store, but it's a slow process. The app itself if working quite well already, if you manually install it (which is rather simple if you have docker installed)

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[โ€“] mauvehead@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Donโ€™t forget every email provider who accepted the email (and all three letter agencies who monitor unencrypted email) also have that info now as well.

[โ€“] tariandeath@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (7 children)

What do you mean? I have used chromecast with Jellyfin many times.

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[โ€“] 2manyBi7ches@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Ah enshittification, guess ill go install jellyfin, i self hosted to not deal with stupid shit like this but here we are.

[โ€“] Scary_le_Poo@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago

I think you only got this because you are the server owner, which you already have access to all that info.

[โ€“] sweptself@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I hope jellyfin comes fully to samsung tvs soon since the only thing stopping me from moving to jellyfin is my dad uses a samsung tv and I live to far away to go sideload it for him

[โ€“] Chronotaru@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

There's nothing you can do to stop Plex collecting the data, but you can at least stop your friends seeing what you're watching by adjusting the privacy settings.

[โ€“] BearClaw0048@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Literally exploring other options. Plex, your days are numbered, cause this is BS! ๐Ÿคฌ๐Ÿคฌ๐Ÿคฌ

[โ€“] CornerHugger@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Wow. This did step.over a line. Disgusting move by Plex.

Now everyone knows all my weird kinks! How am I supposed to explain my weird milk, baby diaper, shaming fetish to them? Unless...

Lol, time to use alternative media servers.

[โ€“] hezden@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Its been a long time since i was a plex user, can someone explain how they get ahold of that data from your selfhosted solution?

[โ€“] identicalBadger@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I just came here to say hi to a fellow badger! :)

[โ€“] fat_shibe@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Left Plex for Emby (when they started adding their own content and marketing it to me) few years ago, never looked back. You are absolutely right, one email like this and Iโ€™m gone. Emby does what itโ€™s supposed to do and just that, thatโ€™s all I care about. Jellyfin looks cool too..

[โ€“] AtticusGhost@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I know what the discussion on my favourite podcast is gonna be next week. This is kinda shenanigans. Ive had plex SO bloody long I dont remember ever getting this option to set it. Now I only have 1 friend, but still. Setting changed.

Edit: I commented on why im still using Plex the other day

โ€‹

My Jellfin server has crashed a few times for no ryhme or reason without having touched it for a couple of weeks (no patches, no watchtower for docker, just dead). Plex has been fine.
Plex has proper intro skipping.
I was able to set up parental controls on Plex very quickly without any headache.
The wife/kid factor. Plex was/is easier for them.
The amount of time I have invested into managing Plex over the past decade is still less than I have into managing Jellyfin in the past 3 years.
Lifetime plexpass was gifted to me.

[โ€“] rudibowie@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

AFAIK they don't circulate emails to your contacts, but smart TV makers routinely overstep the boundaries of acceptability and harvest data that should remain private. On LG TVs, for instance, if you insert a USB, the contents of that USB are read and sent back to HQ to further add to the other data they capture about you e.g. watching patterns, which sources you use, which programmes you watch etc. They cash in by leveraging such data. Low TV prices are effectively subsidised by this model.

[โ€“] machstem@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I switched to jellyfin when my internet was dead and I couldn't quite get my content to work.

Jellyfin is decentralized and is 100% free

I haven't found an option that plex has over jellyfin yet

The subtitles bug I get on my ShieldTV is a little weird but after they started pushing live TV with ads, I decided to abandon it.

I have had a lifetime pass since year 2

Use jellyfin. Problem solved

[โ€“] ultimation@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

If the software is free, you pay with your privacy

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