I'm pretty sure getting data about # of bytes transferred on a hourly basis from Netflix's instances would be valuable to estimate # of movies viewed. Further subdividing the flow by (src, dst) IP will give a good idea about # of minutes watched per day etc.
The point is that innocent statistics about Netflix's machines gathered for routine "security" and other housekeeping efforts can lawfully give Amazon a lot of information about Netflix.
IMHO, Netflix has needlessly put themselves in a vulnerable position by moving to Amazon.
Netflix doesnt stream off of Amazon and even if they do use cloudfront (which i highly doubt), they have other CDN's (Akamai,Limelight) off which they would stream traffic too. I do not see how it would be possible for Amazon to monitor that network activity and get information about Netflix.
Thanks for the clarification. So the video files are directly hosted by the CDNs? OK, in that case, Amazon can't get insight into Netflix by gathering network statistics.
Google is probably doing the same thing with AdWords.
Google has every bit of information about Groupon and LivingSocial AdWords spending (millions of dollars per month). When Google launches their competitor, Google Offers, they'll know exactly which ads get people to buy deals. Incidentally, Google Offers will work by running offers across Google ad networks.
The point is that innocent statistics about Netflix's machines gathered for routine "security" and other housekeeping efforts can lawfully give Amazon a lot of information about Netflix.
IMHO, Netflix has needlessly put themselves in a vulnerable position by moving to Amazon.