MoviePass CEO: 'we watch how you drive from home to the movies'

MoviePass' approach to gathering viewer data might raise eyebrows. According to Media Play

News, CEO Mitch Lowe told those at a business forum that the movie subscription service's

app not only tracks your location, but follows you to and from the theater. "We watch how you

drive from home to the movies," he said, adding that "we watch where you go afterwards." Not

surprisingly, the company is hoping to understand customer habits and "build a night at the

movies." If people tend to have dinner before the movie or to have a drink afterwards, for

example, MoviePass could steer customers to restaurants and bars and take a cut of the

revenue.

It's no secret that MoviePass would want to collect at least some data. It can use that to help

movie studios gauge how well their shows are really doing, which is particularly important now

that MoviePass has a stake in some productions. However, the company doesn't tell you that

it's actively tracking your location. As TechCrunch explains, the privacy policy only covers a

"single request" to help you choose a theater and improve the service. If Lowe is right, the app

is not only collecting location info without consent, but creating a huge privacy risk -- even if

the tracking data is anonymized, someone could theoretically figure out who you are and

where you live.

We've asked MoviePass for comment. Provided Lowe hasn't misspoken, though, this would

help explain why MoviePass is comfortable charging so little for a month's worth of theater

trips. In theory, the wealth of data would offset whatever losses MoviePass endures. The

question is whether or not it's collecting that data honestly, and it doesn't look like that's the

case.