Netflix ponders password sharing crackdown

[HEXUS]

In some regions it has trialled messages telling people "you need your own account".

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[philehidiot]

I don't really begrudge them this. There's a grey area between reasonable sharing and taking the smeg. If they want to start nibbling at the people pushing the bounds of reasonableness, they just need to be careful they don't go full accusatory.

[ik9000]

shock horror: company asks users not to take the p.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It's probably because people are getting fedup of having to buy a 1000 streaming services for each show they want to watch,and then companies like Netflix nicely deciding to jack up prices at the same time. So people are being creative and probably sharing out accounts to family members,etc. I suppose the easier way is to not bother watching those shows, if you can't see the value in buying the attached streaming service.

[DanceswithUnix]

With a son hoping to go to university next year, it will be interesting to see if they start enforcing this. They have been pretty lenient so far.

[jimbouk]

Seen the notification and validated, not much of a pain. Pre lockdown it would have been 'normal' for one household member to watch when working away from home during the week for example so it's going to have to be nag rather than strict enforcement.

Real shame their stream quality and number of streams is linked - they're encouraging sharing by tiering it that way. Want HD? You now have an extra screen you'll never use. Want 4k, you now have 3. We don't all have a partner and 2.4 children...

[ik9000]

Seen the notification and validated, not much of a pain. Pre lockdown it would have been 'normal' for one household member to watch when working away from home during the week for example so it's going to have to be nag rather than strict enforcement.

Real shame their stream quality and number of streams is linked - they're encouraging sharing by tiering it that way. Want HD? You now have an extra screen you'll never use. Want 4k, you now have 3. We don't all have a partner and 2.4 children...

I'd hope not, as 0.4 of a child is going to be messy. I always feel sorry for the 0.4 children out there. In the bird world they'd just get pushed out of the nest/die of starvation. Given population issues it really ought to be 2 max shouldn't it? One-in one-out so to speak. Any more just seems greedy in an overpopulated world of insufficient and dwindling resources.

[Corky34]

So what the legalities of this, not that I'm asking for advise or anything like that, I'm just wondering where Netflix would stand legally, would it be a copyright thing or a breach of contract thing?

[ik9000]

So what the legalities of this, not that I'm asking for advise or anything like that, I'm just wondering where Netflix would stand legally, would it be a copyright thing or a breach of contract thing?

breach of contract would seem stronger. Copyright would presumably only apply if people were downloading and copying the thing or if netflix were knowingly sharing it willy-nilly. It's possible netflix may have been challenged on it hence this first step so they can say "we don't endorse it and are doing something - look". Any breach is ultimately the end user's/account holder's legal responsibility if Netflix have been clear in the T&Cs what is/isn't permitted.

[DanceswithUnix]

Seen the notification and validated, not much of a pain. Pre lockdown it would have been 'normal' for one household member to watch when working away from home during the week for example so it's going to have to be nag rather than strict enforcement.

Real shame their stream quality and number of streams is linked - they're encouraging sharing by tiering it that way. Want HD? You now have an extra screen you'll never use. Want 4k, you now have 3. We don't all have a partner and 2.4 children...

They can track unique devices as well as IP addresses. I'm sure they know when a child becomes a student when a device moves IP address to one used by a university halls, and with the "Who's watching" feature can even put a name to them. They can probably track divorces and stuff as well. They can also work out when a device and/or user never returns to the main IP address. With the amount of data they have available to them, I suspect they can carefully pick and choose who they kick out.

As for the tiers, I get hit the other way up. We kept needing three streams, so now I pay for 4K despite not owning a 4K tv. But hey, all worth it for Bridgerton

And yeah, we stopped at 2 children, not the extra 0.4

[ik9000]

They can track unique devices as well as IP addresses. I'm sure they know when a child becomes a student when a device moves IP address to one used by a university halls, and with the "Who's watching" feature can even put a name to them. They can probably track divorces and stuff as well. They can also work out when a device and/or user never returns to the main IP address. With the amount of data they have available to them, I suspect they can carefully pick and choose who they kick out.

As for the tiers, I get hit the other way up. We kept needing three streams, so now I pay for 4K despite not owning a 4K tv. But hey, all worth it for Bridgerton

And yeah, we stopped at 2 children, not the extra 0.4

Yeah 0.4 is an awkard ratio too. You'd have to team up with at least 4 other families, hope that all the different bits were all handed in the right way and complimentary rather than duplicate, and then unite them captain planet rings-style to make a whole. Who has the time for that? It'd be like a frustrating ikea flat pack where they've given you two lefts and no right, and then you're hunting on gumtree/ebay for someone with two rights and no left etc to do a swap. Then you'd have to work out a sharing system, and 5 is difficult when it comes dividing into days/weeks/months etc. 0.4 children. Just not practical is it?

[Ttaskmaster]

Real shame their stream quality and number of streams is linked - they're encouraging sharing by tiering it that way. Want HD? You now have an extra screen you'll never use. Want 4k, you now have 3.

Sorry, but what does this mean?
Genuine question, as I've never used Netflix myself. The wife has it downstairs, but I couldn't even tell you where to find it in the living room!!

[cheesemp]

I share my brothers netflix. He has the top package but only two TVs so I don't see the harm in use being the 3rd screen and to be fair we only use it for the kids stuff.

If they locked this down would I buy Netflix? No is my genuine answer so I don't see how they are losing out. We already have Disney+ and Amazon Prime so I'm not going to get a 3rd service.

[jimbouk]

Sorry, but what does this mean?
Genuine question, as I've never used Netflix myself. The wife has it downstairs, but I couldn't even tell you where to find it in the living room!!

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24926 - if you only need one screen/stream at a time you can either get the cheapest plan with standard definition streaming, or pay more for HD/ultra-HD which come with 2/4 screens/streams.

If you and the wife want to watch something different at the same time you need the middle tier, (HD / 2 screens), but if you wanted UHD you need the top tier and would be paying for 2 extra screens you'd never use (UHD / 4 screens).

[Crowls]

If they want to get stricter on password sharing then they should offer a wider range of single screen packages or better yet, drop the resolution limitation (an outdated restriction by this point anyway) from the packages so you were purely paying for the amount of screens you needed.

[Gentle Viking]

People in my family do this

I also think this might be where streaming services will make the "same" mistakes the cable companies have made.
I found the solution over a year ago, Do not have a TV, do not watch TV = problem solved.