Broadcaster says move will ‘increase user experiences’ while critics raise concerns about privacy and ‘barriers’ to publicly-owned content
Photograph: ABCPhotograph: ABCAustralians wanting to catch up on ABC television shows will soon need to create a free account and login to watch programs on its streaming platform iView.
The ABC said the move would bring it into line with other streaming services, commercial and public, to offer users a tailored viewing experience.“Requiring a login on ABC iView, with all the privacy and data protections people expect of the ABC, enables the commercial-free public broadcaster to continue to nurture its relationship with audiences,” it said.
“I think many people would think, ‘what are they complaining about?’ but other people, like me, say if I have to have another password I’ll need a separate room just to keep them in.”Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning. “Others, however, actually get benefit from having an account: they can return to a program wherever they last left off, and programs will be suggested to them based on their viewing habits – some viewers see these things as positive.”
“A generation who has known no world prior to having an infinite number of digital accounts will likely find having to have an iView account as less of an imposition than those who have spent comparatively less time online and guard their privacy with more vigilance.” But CEO of Thinking Cybersecurity and associate professor at ANU, Vanessa Teague, said the ABC can still legally provide Google and Facebook with a hashed version of someone’s email – a unique code used to cover the actual email.“But you don’t need to convey that I have a habit of watching cooking shows.