Originally Posted By HokieSkipper Title says it all. Personally I think the panic over "tracking" people is overblown, as it happens every day anyway, but it'll be interesting to see how this ends up going. <a href="http://markey.house.gov/sites/markey.house.gov/files/documents/Letter%20--%20Disney%20--%201-24-13.pdf" target="_blank">http://markey.house.gov/sites/...4-13.pdf</a>
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: Personally, I think there isn't ENOUGH panic over tracking people. The fact that it happens every day is no defense for continuing something that is unconstitutional to begin with. How easily people become sheeple once they accept the loss of their freedoms...
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper I'm not a sheep. I just don't really give a crap if someone knows where I am all the time. If they want to see how boring my life is, they're welcomed to it. And if Disney wants to see that I went to the MK and rode HM, POTC, BTMRR, and the TTA in a continuous loop for 6 hours then bought a Dole Whip, they're welcomed to it.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Not THAT is amusing. Someone who uses the Internet being worried about others being able to find out what they do and where they go!! ROTFL!!
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Doesn't Congress have better things to do than to worry about this? Perhaps I'm naive, but wouldn't Disney Legal ensure that the program was adhering to state and federal laws? Why is this address to Iger and not Tom Staggs? Something's not right here.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Here's the basic response that I sent to a fiend earlier via email about this letter: Yah, none of these questions are terribly insightful. They also seem to completely miss the fact (like everybody else who is raising a stink about it) that RFIDs really don't work long-range to determine your location. If you tap it against a reciever, they'll know you are at that location, but there's no way of knowing where you go in between taps. This isn't the GPS parole bracelet, it's a metro card on your wrist (side note: I had to take the WDW hotel key out of my wallet to get my metro card to be able to work). I'm pretty sure the Glow with the Show ears have way more tracking capabilities than the wristbands will. I'm pretty sure I could answer most of those questions without even consulting anybody. No, you won't be required to use the bracelet (my guess is that you'll be given the privelage of buying it for ~$25). Yes, they will use your information for targeted marketing. Yes, they will share it with other branches of TWDC. Yes, they will use predictive analytics to create profiles for guests (haven't they been doing that for years?). Yes, if you don't use it you will have longer waits in the parks. And they will keep your information indefinitely, so that you can have an extra magical return trip, since they remember that you like Sunshine Seasons for lunch on Tuesdays, and Mamma Melrose for dinner on Friday. With all the information they already have about guests, it really impresses me that there are people out there who don't realize how little additional information they'll get from this. Yah, it will be more real-time, but isn't the whole point of it to track crowds before they even happen? And to find more ways to try to get you to buy stuff? Jeez, some people... Okay, rant over. It's a slow day today, and it seemed like a good time for a rant! (And for the record, I read the entire letter in my head using the Sam the Eagle voice. Not giving Disney your personal information is distinctly unpatriotic!) I would be more interested to see how practical it is to plan every moment of your vacation months in advance. I think that will ultimately be where this system falls on its face, but everybody is too concerned about the privacy issues (though Disney already has the vast majority of that information) to wonder how it will actually impact the in-park experience.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Doesn't Congress have better things to do than to worry about this?<< Of course they do. But, being politicians, they also know how to make a splashy news story. People are tired of hearing about the budget, deficit, and debt ceiling. Mickey trying to take your personal information makes for much more exciting headlines. >>Perhaps I'm naive, but wouldn't Disney Legal ensure that the program was adhering to state and federal laws?<< Of course they will. I can't think of another company whose legal department is more cautious than Disney's. I'm sure they've made sure that everything they're doing is perfectly legal. As I pointed out in my previous post, Disney already has most of the information that they will be collecting with this system; it's just a new way to access it, and a couple more data points along the way. >>Why is this address to Iger and not Tom Staggs? Something's not right here.<< Again, I think it goes back to making headlines. Writing to Staggs would be much more appropriate to actually have something done; writing to Iger makes for a juicier story. If Iger has proven anything during his tenure, it's that he doesn't care for the parks and does his best to actively avoid them, despite their popularity with the fans.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "And for the record, I read the entire letter in my head using the Sam the Eagle voice. Not giving Disney your personal information is distinctly unpatriotic!" LOL. >>Why is this address to Iger and not Tom Staggs? Something's not right here.<< "Again, I think it goes back to making headlines." Which makes me think that this letter isn't genuine. Why would a congressman in Massachusetts be so concerned about what Disney is implementing in Florida?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Which makes me think that this letter isn't genuine. Why would a congressman in Massachusetts be so concerned about what Disney is implementing in Florida? << I read somewhere that he's on (possibly in charge of) a committee on privacy, so that would sort of be in his jurisdiction, but it still seems like a stretch. It seems like people are all in a tizzy about NextGen and what information Disney will have (mostly because Disney has released so little meaningful information about the program), and he wants in on the action.
Originally Posted By TP2000 Hans, it's legit. I lived in Massachusetts for quite awhile and I remember Ed Markey. He hasn't changed. Markey has been a Congressman since 1976; one of those career politicians from New England, with all that entails. The key here is that Senator Kerry's spot is about to be vacant with Kerry becoming the UN Ambassador. The Massachusetts governor will need to appoint someone to fill Kerry's spot in the Senate, and after nearly 40 years in the House this is Markey's golden opportunity to finally get to the Senate. (A Kennedy was always hogging those seats from Markey for the past few decades) This is the perfect opportunity to get his name out to a national audience, and Markey pounced on it. End of story. That said, it's a complete PR disaster for Disney. Al Lutz has a note up today commenting on the panic and crisis this has caused in the last 36 hours in Burbank offices. I can just imagine how upset Iger and the rest of his suits must be this weekend. Disney is losing control of their message on MyMagic+, and it could get worse for them over the next 30 days. Not a good way to launch a Billion dollar program, and heads might roll over this mess.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt How can anyone accurately predict how this program will go when it hasn't even been rolled out yet? From what I remember Lutz isn't a very good soothsayer.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt I just read Al's brief update and, oh my gawd, what a crock of s**t. Al wants this program to fail and is looking for every stupid thing he can find to gin up angst inside the fan community and take the credit if it fails. A system to enhance the guest experience at Disney theme parks that uses RFID technology? OH DEAR GOD THE HORROR!! *screams and runs from MyMagic+ as if my pants are on fire*
Originally Posted By Yookeroo "I just read Al's brief update and, oh my gawd, what a crock of s**t. Al wants this program to fail and is looking for every stupid thing he can find to gin up angst inside the fan community and take the credit if it fails." Sounds like his MO. "A system to enhance the guest experience at Disney theme parks that uses RFID technology? OH DEAR GOD THE HORROR!! *screams and runs from MyMagic+ as if my pants are on fire*" It's not just Al. We see this overreaction here.
Originally Posted By leemac <<I just read Al's brief update and, oh my gawd, what a crock of s**t. Al wants this program to fail and is looking for every stupid thing he can find to gin up angst inside the fan community and take the credit if it fails.>> To be fair the Company has done a good job of teeing him up - it is like shooting fish in a barrel. I think it has been handled badly as a PR exercise and stuff like this congress letter should have been avoidable. WDW Co. should have either released full details immediately or held back until they were prepared for the launch. The current drip-drip-drip approach doesn't help anyone with their vacation planning or even day guests trying to establish the impact on their visit. Therefore there are valid concerns - I'm just struggling to understand how adding 1 and 1 together to get 3 helps anyone. There is still a shortage of information. Bloggers will do what bloggers do - shoot from the hip. They can't lose so it is easy to reach an uninformed conclusion. It seems the blogsphere fan base have short term memories when it comes to opinion accuracy.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "Perhaps I'm naive, but wouldn't Disney Legal ensure that the program was adhering to state and federal laws?" Disney legal is notorious for telling the Corporate honchos exactly what they want to hear, which isn't always sound legal advice. And Disney legal, while competent, also often prevails not because they're necessarily skilled more than the next guy, or have the law and facts with them, but because they have the resources to drag something on and on and on, making the opponent finally capitulate. And not that it matters, but John Kerry is going to be the Secretary of State, not the U.N.Ambassador. He's still vacating his Senate seat though, just the same.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "To be fair the Company has done a good job of teeing him up - it is like shooting fish in a barrel." It always surprises me when Disney missteps with their theme park marketing. The abysmal DCA launch should have been the final lesson learned.
Originally Posted By TP2000 Thank you SinglePark..., Kerry is off to be Secretary of State. Susan Rice was UN Ambassador and was supposed to get that spot, but Benghazi got in her way and the names changed. But it's all politics. Markey has been stuck in the House for almost 40 years waiting for a Kennedy to give up that Senate seat. This spring he's finally got his chance at getting to the Senate where he can retire. Poor guy, he needed to get his name in the papers and there's nothing that plays to the hometown crowd better than Big Gub'ment coming in to save "the children!".
Originally Posted By Socrates Catching up on this, has anyone been following what others are doing in this area? <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Tech/2013/0127/App-driven-life-How-to-pay-by-phone-with-Square-Wallet?nav=615841-csm_article-bottomRelated" target="_blank">http://www.csmonitor.com/Innov...mRelated</a> Socrates "The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."
