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Netflix to start testing warnings for people borrowing login info

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Re: Netflix to start testing warnings for people borrowing login info

#101

Post by donmcronald »

matbilodeau wrote: post #90

Reminds me of something similar that happened in Canada. Satellite boxes were so easy to hack it was more of configuration, cable provider sued for disloyal competition. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bellexpressvu-must-pay- quebecor-137m-for-not-stopping-signal-piracy-1.2987341 Which brings my question : Would a provider who tolerates account sharing be at risk of being sued by competitors over similar?

That's the first time I've seen someone accuse the satellite providers of tolerating signal piracy. It wasn't THAT easy. The difficulty was in the range of a firmware flash.

It wasn't super reliable either. They used to change / fix things and people with the pirate boxes would end up waiting days or even weeks for the new hack. I can't remember the name of the content protection systems, but IIRC it was an issue / limitation with the actual satellite(s), so it's not like they could flip a switch and fix it. They made huge improvements with the next set of satellites that were put into service.

There was a very brief golden age of satellite piracy when all the FTA stuff was popular, but it didn't last any longer than you'd expect when you consider the logistics of having to deal with a satellite that's in space as one side of the system.

That's crazy.

Re: Netflix to start testing warnings for people borrowing login info

#102

Post by jfengel »

whatok wrote: post #85
tw04 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Netflix would not remotely resemble its current form and likely would have been acquired years ago if they did not pivot to their own content. You can't acquire a private company unless they're willing to sell. >Switching to their own content required and still requires huge amounts of money; est. 17bn last year[0]. I don't follow your point? Private companies can take a loan just as easily as public. If they were u…

> I don't follow your point? Private companies can take a loan just as easily as public. If they were unable to attain the financing they wanted, they'd still have plenty of their own content, just not as much. Private companies face a higher cost of capital than equivalent public companies and are unable to borrow as much money as public companies are able to. This is basic finance 101 stuff. Without debt financing,…

Private companies face a higher cost of capital than equivalent public companies

Why is that? (Sorry, I never took finance 101.) Is it because public companies can more easily put up corporate ownership as collateral for the loan? Or because of the extra scrutiny they get from the SEC?

Re: Netflix to start testing warnings for people borrowing login info

#103

Post by tw04 »

whatok wrote: post #85
tw04 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Netflix would not remotely resemble its current form and likely would have been acquired years ago if they did not pivot to their own content. You can't acquire a private company unless they're willing to sell. >Switching to their own content required and still requires huge amounts of money; est. 17bn last year[0]. I don't follow your point? Private companies can take a loan just as easily as public. If they were u…

> I don't follow your point? Private companies can take a loan just as easily as public. If they were unable to attain the financing they wanted, they'd still have plenty of their own content, just not as much. Private companies face a higher cost of capital than equivalent public companies and are unable to borrow as much money as public companies are able to. This is basic finance 101 stuff. Without debt financing,…

>Private companies face a higher cost of capital than equivalent public companies and are unable to borrow as much money as public companies are able to. This is basic finance 101 stuff. Without debt financing, they would not have been able to begin their pivot when they needed to. Netflix is able to borrow at much lower rates than a company with the same financials solely because they are a large public company. Google "equity cushion" if you're unfamiliar with the term.

I guess I took a different finance 101 than you did - it was at an accredited university though, so I'm fairly certain they weren't making things up as we went. I've literally never heard of a public company being able to borrow more because they were public. Quite the opposite actually, as a private company with a solid financial track record isn't subject to the whims of shareholders and short-term quarterly-returns based internal investment.

Now if you're pets.com that is burning through cash like it's water in the hopes of making money 20 years down the road... that's a different story. That's also not Netflix.

Re: Netflix to start testing warnings for people borrowing login info

#104

Post by websites2323 »

Google Voice numbers are cheap. If SMS is the only barrier to verifying and they don’t block it, could be easy to circumvent.

But then again, this and every other technical “solution” to this problem presented here (piracy, etc) is far beyond what a normal user could be bothered to implement.

I get it. Business team needs to see an upward trend in account sign ups and they’re seeing a plateau. This move will get the normal users legitimized and it will delay a bigger increase in cost for a year or two.

Re: Netflix to start testing warnings for people borrowing login info

#105

Post by Noted »

javagram wrote: post #98
NeutronStar wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok so, what if I live with you but work in another city I travel to every week, do I not live with you? What if I'm a trucker on the move? What if I'm in the army and getting deployed?

In those 3 examples you’d still both file your taxes at the same address and be legally eligible to vote there too. Seems easily distinguished from the case of independent adults who sleep in different homes every night and have separate addresses on all their tax forms, drivers’ license and voting registrations...

So is Netflix going to require tax information on everyone in the household? How can they tell the difference from their end I think is one of the questions being presented

Re: Netflix to start testing warnings for people borrowing login info

#106

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

fishtacos wrote: post #91
RHSeeger wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> geographically distant usage by users of the same account But that's just it. A Netflix account isn't valid "for you and anyone you think it is". It's valid only for people in the same household. The thing they are cracking down on is people using the account in a way that they were never supposed to.

If your account is usable by 2 people of the same household and 1 moves out and continued paying half of of the Netflix bill... would you expect them to be booted out? So how does Netflix make a differentiation?

If that person moves out, they are no longer a part of that household.

Re: Netflix to start testing warnings for people borrowing login info

#107

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

Noted wrote: post #105
javagram wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In those 3 examples you’d still both file your taxes at the same address and be legally eligible to vote there too. Seems easily distinguished from the case of independent adults who sleep in different homes every night and have separate addresses on all their tax forms, drivers’ license and voting registrations...

So is Netflix going to require tax information on everyone in the household? How can they tell the difference from their end I think is one of the questions being presented

Presumably, this person that is on the move is still using the same device no matter where they go. Their login session will be the same, just coming from a different IP.

Re: Netflix to start testing warnings for people borrowing login info

#108

Post by tomjen3 »

RHSeeger wrote: post #32
4ggr0 wrote: post #13

The Netflix I pay for is currently used by: Me, Mom, Dad, Grandparents, GF, GFs Mom. Other than myself and my GF, most of the people on this list watch something on Netflix every couple of months, when I or someone/something else recommend them a movie or show. I don't want them to use my profile, because we then obviously can't watch the same things, and it'll break my recommendations. I get why Netflix wants to spl…

What is it that you think is appropriate for you to be pissed off about? You pay for Netflix for you and your household, not for anyone that happens to be related to you. Has that ever not been the case?

The Netflix plan I pay for allows two simultaneous views and permits different profiles. On what possible ground should it matter what physical location those two screens are viewed at?

Re: Netflix to start testing warnings for people borrowing login info

#109

Post by tomjen3 »

macksd wrote: post #87
pbronez wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also have this use case and think it's really important. When I was a kid you could take a favorite VHS or DVD with you. Now you take your subscription. Sure, I guess you could take a phyusical authorized device (e.g. an iPad) with you, then screen cast it. But that requires grandma to figure out screen casting. And I'm trusting my kid with a $300 device instead of a $15 media artifact. Lame.

I'm actually curious if the physical device looks any more innocent in Netflix's future policies than straight-up credential sharing. It's still coming from a new IP.

If I have a Netflix account and I (post-pandemic) go to an ANB rental I would be pissed if my account didn't work there.

I subscribed the first month Netflix came to Denmark (my country) and I kept the subscription up for a decade until they started to degrade the stream too much. They fixed that and I eventually came back but stuff like that would turn me of for good.

Re: Netflix to start testing warnings for people borrowing login info

#110

Post by leereeves »

javagram wrote: post #97
sandworm101 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that you are upset about the subscription model not serving your use case. Pay-per-view is probably more appropriate for those who only want to watch a couple movies every month, put ppv isn't available. Customers instead share their accounts with family members. It is dirty rotten piracy and anyone doing it is stealing bread from the mouths of babes, but that's what happens when the legitimate system fails t…

> Pay-per-view is probably more appropriate for those who only want to watch a couple movies every month, put ppv isn't available. Customers instead share their accounts with family members PPV is available for most movies, you can rent them from iTunes or amazon for $3-5 for a single watch in my experience. Ultimately the best delivery model for the customer would be $0 for unlimited free streaming of movies and mus…

> PPV is available for most movies, you can rent them from iTunes or amazon for $3-5 for a single watch in my experience.

Which is insanely expensive. $5 buys a month of Apple TV+, almost 2 weeks of Netflix, or 2 hours of PPV.

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