A message that one person might see as clever and unexpected can just as easily be seen by another as an ominous reminder that Big Data is often lurking just around the corner.

“This gives the public a kind of view into the ways that the major content companies are gathering and using our data,” said Jeffrey Chester, head of the nonprofit Center for Digital Democracy, which advocates for consumer protection and privacy. “Behind the ease of being able to access video and audio content are very sophisticated customer surveillance and analytics applications, and there’s nothing funny about that.”

Others scoffed at such concern last week, saying Netflix’s joke was harmless and noting that people were complaining on a social media platform that engages in similar data collection practices.