That time you gave in and watched I Know Who Killed Me, you probably thought no one would know. You believed that your unending obsession with Ally McBeal would remain a private shame. You trusted that the world would never discover that you've seen What Women Want 15 times. But you were wrong, wrong, wrong.
Turns out Congress just approved a change to the Video Privacy Protection Act that will indeed allow your favorite source for instant guilty-pleasure gratification, Netflix, to share your viewing history with third parties.
Now, it's not like anyone's going to be making billboards announcing your addiction to Ancient Aliens (which you should totally rethink, btw). No, this will be used more for compiling user tastes, identifying trends, and, of course, empowering targeted advertising (God knows, we can't get enough advertising, can we?). Nonetheless, like recent privacy and rights issues with Facebook and Instagram, this is another case of a private company offering what we believed to be an intimate, exclusive service acting like, well, a private company. Again, we can't help but feeling betrayed even if, technically, that isn't really what's happening. Yet.
So, yes, you can continue to watch marathons of Cake Boss without your friends knowing. The people trying to sell you stuff, however, may take notice — so, be prepared to get bombarded with Vera Wang ads the next time you watch The Wedding Planner. Don't lie, we know you love it. (Jezebel)