In the course of releasing boatloads of data to contestants in its "Beat Netflix's Recommendation Algorithm" contest, they may not have disguised where that data came from as well as they should. The plaintiff, known here as Jane Doe to preserve privacy, alleges that her identity could be divined from the data, and thus threatens her civil right to privacy. Apparently, two researchers compared Netflix reviews to IMDB reviews and figured out some identities that way.

The suit seeks a cash settlement for each of the 2 million Netflix customers involved, and also seeks to stop the upcoming sequel to the original Netflix contest. We'll keep you updated on the suit—it's a pretty interesting one, for sure. [Wired]

Lion's Gate, Sony and Warner Bros are all reportedly discussing such a service with Google (who owns YouTube), although details are thin. Negotiations are still ongoing, so a lot of major issues (will downloads be available? Which films would be ad-supported versus a flat fee? What about TV shows?) are still unresolved. But if YouTube could get a solid, competitive system going, they'd have a fair chance at competing with Hulu, iTunes and Crackle and maybe even turn a profit one of these days. [WSJ]

For example, Slumdog Millionaire's retail DVD will have deleted scenes and commentary, but the rental will not. It will have the movie (obviously) and trailers (why would they take out ads?). On the other hand, Blu-ray discs will be the same in both version, but lack the digital copy that you can import to your computer.

Each movie will be different. Marley & Me, that movie starring a dog or something, will have special features on both editions. Fortunately enough, rental chains can go to retailers, buy that version, and rent those. But we doubt many customers will really care either way once they get the disc home. [Variety via BBG]

Extra profiles wont' be merged, they'll be deleted, come Sept 1st, 2008. When asked to comment on "WHY OH WHY?!" Netflix responded that it was in the best interest of most customers. I'm not sure that makes sense to me, since the majority who don't need the extra profiles can just opt out of using them.

Let's submit customer feedback and complain if you feel the way I do and don't want your significant other's terrible movie tastes infecting your queue! Here's a petition.

Important News Regarding Netflix Profiles

Dear Brian,

We wanted to let you know we will be eliminating Profiles, the feature that allowed you to set up separate DVD Queues under one account, effective September 1, 2008.

Each additional Profile Queue will be unavailable after September 1, 2008. Before then, we recommend you consolidate any of your Profile Queues to your main account Queue or print them out.

While it may be disappointing to see Profiles go away, this change will help us continue to improve the Netflix website for all our customers.

If you have any questions, please go to http://www.netflix.com/Help?p_faqid=3962 or call us anytime at 1 (888) 638-3549. We apologize for any inconvenience.

- The Netflix Team

Does that matter to you? Not really. All you need to know is that you can take a Netflix mailer to Blockbuster and get a free movie rental. – Jason Chen

Blockbuster gives free rentals to Netflix users [Ars Technica]

In addition, your online queue will show your movie as returned, and BB will send out your next movie as soon as possible or whenever they get around to it (most likely the latter). If you're like us and enjoy Blockbuster Online because your old account gave you two free coupons that let you rent games in stores, you'll probably enjoy this new feature as well. – Jason Chen

Blockbuster tries new online rental incentive [News via ]