6 ms·

While I agree that it's hard to support legislation that's likely to have a lot of unintended consequences, it's also important to realize what's driving folks

While I agree that it's hard to support legislation that's likely to have a lot of unintended consequences, it's also important to realize what's driving folks to introduce a bill like this. It's also worth pointing out that (in particular with Netflix) your example is its own counter-argument. You can't turn off autoplay, and that's the opposite of letting me make choices for myself. There's also plenty of other examples of government regulating or banning things which exploit human weakness. Ponzi schemes, meth, gambling, and more are all controlled. It's pretty clear that a lot of tech-company design is (intentionally or not) probably scratching a lot of the same itches. It's reasonable to expect regulation.

12elephant 7y ago
You turn off autoplay by exiting netflix.
- dmcclurg 7y ago
  That makes it a zero sum game--all or nothing. Not good enough.
  - SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
    Or you could just press the "back" button on the remote.
  - bityard 7y ago
    That's not what zero sum game means... you probably meant false dichotomy.
    - dmcclurg 7y ago
      Lol, indeed
GhostVII 7y ago
I think the choice is to just leave Netflix when you are done an episode. Maybe it's just me but I've never felt like the autoplay makes me much more likely to keep watching, it is just convenient so I don't have to go through all of the menus again. If we ban autoplay on Netflix, we should also ban cable I suppose (not a big loss, really), since cable will autoplay indefinitely.
- lloeki 7y ago
  I find autoplay on Netflix highly inconvenient. Disable it and you can continue to watch the next episode with just one button press. There is no need for navigating around. Also super useful when you happen to fall asleep in front of the TV so that it doesn't keep pumping all the way through the night. Autoplay on Netflix is IMHO a dark pattern to feed on attention and FOMO.
  - modoc 7y ago
    Is it any different than traditional TV?
    - lloeki 7y ago
      I don’t find traditional TV to be any good. Having no autoplay is an improvement.
    - tedunangst 7y ago
      Traditional TV usually switches shows, indicating I'm done. Netflix skips credits and openers, turning an entire season into one 20 hour episode.
      - beatgammit 7y ago
        I personally love that about it. I can watch more episodes in less time with Netflix, whereas I have to sit through the openers and credits for TV. I also like watching shows while doing something else (e.g. folding laundry), so autoplay makes it so I don't have to worry about engaging with the service between episodes. Afaik, you can disable it in the settings.
mFixman 7y ago
> You can't turn off autoplay I'm pretty sure you can turn it off for all devices from desktop Netflix's settings. I somehow don't have autoplay enabled when I watch any series.
- jschwartzi 7y ago
  It doesn't work if you're on PS4, which is where I watch. No matter what those settings are it always auto-plays the next episode and also the really annoying trailers. It's actually driven me to consume most of my content from Amazon instead.
  - magduf 7y ago
    Are you watching Netflix on your PS4 in a web browser, or a Netflix app? Personally, I'd love to ban autoplay videos, but I'm really concerned about web pages here. A custom app, to me, doesn't fall under this purview. Netflix can do just about whatever they want in their own app AFAIC. For websites that have a legitimate use for autoplay, but are still websites and not custom apps, I would support making it a user-controlled preference that only works for logged-in users. Usually, people view YouTube as a logged-in Google user, so that can be used to allow them to turn on autoplay for that.
- floatrock 7y ago
  > from desktop Netflix's settings Isn't that an indicator that something's wrong when the company says "technically you can turn this off, it's just buried in the form of the product that people use the least. But technically you can turn it off."
  - Fjolsvith 7y ago
    Definitely something is wrong because offering the ability to turn it off seems to be the way to fix the problem.
- waitwut2 7y ago
  What do you mean "desktop Netflix"? You mean the web site? Please let me know where this setting is! I would love to turn this off but have never found a way.
moate 7y ago
This is it. You want autoplay? Make it opt in. Problem solved. Make more features opt in. I'm not sorry that this makes things harder for companies to make money. When they keep failing at self regulating shit behaviors that consumers don't want, this is what happens.
gregmac 7y ago
You can turn off autoplay from the website, under Playback Settings: https://i.imgur.com/gctaiHK.png https://i.imgur.com/gctaiHK.png https://www.netflix.com/HdToggle https://www.netflix.com/HdToggle
dantheman 7y ago
What's driving bills like this is simple - people need things to campaign on and instead of addressing real problems they're busy trying to 'solve' easy ones.

12elephant 7y ago

You turn off autoplay by exiting netflix.

dmcclurg 7y ago
That makes it a zero sum game--all or nothing. Not good enough.
- SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
  Or you could just press the "back" button on the remote.
- bityard 7y ago
  That's not what zero sum game means... you probably meant false dichotomy.
  - dmcclurg 7y ago
    Lol, indeed

GhostVII 7y ago

I think the choice is to just leave Netflix when you are done an episode. Maybe it's just me but I've never felt like the autoplay makes me much more likely to keep watching, it is just convenient so I don't have to go through all of the menus again. If we ban autoplay on Netflix, we should also ban cable I suppose (not a big loss, really), since cable will autoplay indefinitely.

lloeki 7y ago
I find autoplay on Netflix highly inconvenient. Disable it and you can continue to watch the next episode with just one button press. There is no need for navigating around. Also super useful when you happen to fall asleep in front of the TV so that it doesn't keep pumping all the way through the night. Autoplay on Netflix is IMHO a dark pattern to feed on attention and FOMO.
- modoc 7y ago
  Is it any different than traditional TV?
  - lloeki 7y ago
    I don’t find traditional TV to be any good. Having no autoplay is an improvement.
  - tedunangst 7y ago
    Traditional TV usually switches shows, indicating I'm done. Netflix skips credits and openers, turning an entire season into one 20 hour episode.
    - beatgammit 7y ago
      I personally love that about it. I can watch more episodes in less time with Netflix, whereas I have to sit through the openers and credits for TV. I also like watching shows while doing something else (e.g. folding laundry), so autoplay makes it so I don't have to worry about engaging with the service between episodes. Afaik, you can disable it in the settings.

mFixman 7y ago

> You can't turn off autoplay I'm pretty sure you can turn it off for all devices from desktop Netflix's settings. I somehow don't have autoplay enabled when I watch any series.

jschwartzi 7y ago
It doesn't work if you're on PS4, which is where I watch. No matter what those settings are it always auto-plays the next episode and also the really annoying trailers. It's actually driven me to consume most of my content from Amazon instead.
- magduf 7y ago
  Are you watching Netflix on your PS4 in a web browser, or a Netflix app? Personally, I'd love to ban autoplay videos, but I'm really concerned about web pages here. A custom app, to me, doesn't fall under this purview. Netflix can do just about whatever they want in their own app AFAIC. For websites that have a legitimate use for autoplay, but are still websites and not custom apps, I would support making it a user-controlled preference that only works for logged-in users. Usually, people view YouTube as a logged-in Google user, so that can be used to allow them to turn on autoplay for that.
floatrock 7y ago
> from desktop Netflix's settings Isn't that an indicator that something's wrong when the company says "technically you can turn this off, it's just buried in the form of the product that people use the least. But technically you can turn it off."
- Fjolsvith 7y ago
  Definitely something is wrong because offering the ability to turn it off seems to be the way to fix the problem.
waitwut2 7y ago
What do you mean "desktop Netflix"? You mean the web site? Please let me know where this setting is! I would love to turn this off but have never found a way.

moate 7y ago

This is it. You want autoplay? Make it opt in. Problem solved. Make more features opt in. I'm not sorry that this makes things harder for companies to make money. When they keep failing at self regulating shit behaviors that consumers don't want, this is what happens.

gregmac 7y ago

You can turn off autoplay from the website, under Playback Settings: https://i.imgur.com/gctaiHK.png https://i.imgur.com/gctaiHK.png https://www.netflix.com/HdToggle https://www.netflix.com/HdToggle

dantheman 7y ago

What's driving bills like this is simple - people need things to campaign on and instead of addressing real problems they're busy trying to 'solve' easy ones.