Netflix’s $1 million contest for the best method to improve its movie recommendation software was canceled after it was determined the method contestants used to obtain data, could be used to identify them.
The competition which started in 2006, offered $1 million to the first group that could improve the predictive accuracy of the company’s movie recommendation software by at least 10 percent.
After a lawsuit by an angry Netflix customer and discussion with the chief officer of the FCC, Netflix canceled the contest until further enhancements can be made without violating consumers privacy.