Plex Removes Telemetry Collection Opt-Out – Update

In an announcement of a change to its privacy policy, Plex has indicated that it will no longer be possible to use the software without sending telemetry. The company will also collect data about media consumption via services from Plex.

The telemetry that Plex collects consists of information about the media being played, such as bitrate, media size, resolution, and whether it is a photo, video, or audio file. The software also checks which type of device is used for playback. However, the company emphasizes that it does not know substantively which files are stored on its own media servers and that the telemetry is not shared with third parties. Exceptions to this are when the locally stored media is combined with third party services such as Amazon Alexa or Last.fm.

Information that is shared with third parties is the content of the media consumed through third party services. These services also include media files hosted by Plex itself, such as trailers, the Plex It feature, the dvr service, and the recently introduced Live TV. In these cases, it is kept track of which video is viewed and to what extent there is interaction with advertisements. The company also collects information about the user’s location, based on the IP address or by asking the user for his zip code.

The new privacy policy is effective from September 20. The full overview of the information Plex collects can be found on the company’s website.

Update, Sunday: Plex CEO Keith Valory has indicated in an update that he is taking extra steps to reassure users about their privacy. Information about played local files will be generalized: the length and bitrate of the files will be rounded so that it is no longer possible to get a ‘fingerprint’ of the video file. In addition, it is still possible to opt-out with regard to these playback dates. Finally, there is a ‘privacy’ tab in the server settings where an overview is given of which data is shared, including examples.
Furthermore, Valory emphasizes that the data will not be sold and that over time the opt-out has increasingly become subject to exceptions that require user data, such as update checks, premium memberships, command passing and the use of services for trailers, photo tags , lyrics, and so on. This article also stated that the new policy will apply from September 30, but that must be September 20.