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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

#111

"The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It's by giving those people a service that's better than what they're receiving from the pirates." - Gaben

This is the same Gaben who runs a store with a bunch of DRM on it that has a variety of mechanisms to prevent account sharing yeah? It's a nice soundbite, but even he doesn't believe it.

DRM on its own isn't always necessarily bad.

Gaben's quote on piracy was about 2 1/2 years after the big Spore DRM debacle [0], which affected legitimate customers. I've been using Steam for who knows how long and have never had the DRM be an issue, even after several computer upgrades and motherboard replacements. I just have to log in and I can redownload all my games with no issue at all.

Yes, Steam is DRM, but it's sane DRM.

> has a variety of mechanisms to prevent account sharing yeah?

Well...yeah. You aren't supposed to share accounts.

> It's a nice soundbite, but even he doesn't believe it.

It's not just about DRM. When he talks about it being a "service problem", it's not just about the ability to simply play games. When you buy from Steam, you get automatic updates, cloud saves, community integration (such as the Workshop for installing mods and other user-made content), built-in screenshot management features, and more. If you pirate the game, you get none of that.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spore_(2008_video_game)#DRM_co...

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

#112

I don’t own a TV; I have an iPad. Wonder if that’s going to cause problems if I ever get to travel again?

Assuming you never log out, I wouldn't think so. Your iPad may move around, but the login session on your iPad is still the same session.

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

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

What exactly is Netflix pissed about ? Their stock is over $500 a share. In 2020 Netflix has positive cashflow of $1.9 billion. What are they pissed about ?

They have to grow.

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

#114
post #3

This just gives piracy yet another advantage. The article clearly mentions that credentials sharing is currently used as a mitigation to the balkanization of streaming services, allowing the cost of all major subscriptions to be spread across several people, essentially bringing down the per-person cost to a reasonable, single subscription's cost. Cracking down on this doesn't mean people will start paying, they will…

In my case, I'll stop watching Netflix at all. Hey, probably not a bad thing after all.

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

#115
post #72
post #3

This just gives piracy yet another advantage. The article clearly mentions that credentials sharing is currently used as a mitigation to the balkanization of streaming services, allowing the cost of all major subscriptions to be spread across several people, essentially bringing down the per-person cost to a reasonable, single subscription's cost. Cracking down on this doesn't mean people will start paying, they will…

How is using someone else’s account not piracy?

Netflix has separate profiles under each account. That means they intend it to be used by different people.

That those are geographically distributed should really not factor into anything in 2021.

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

#116
post #105

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

Netflix doesn't seem to be cutting anyone off here.

They're just forcing 2FA on accounts that meet some kind of threshold of "suspicious" behaviour. There's likely a lot of metrics being used to identify that.

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

#117
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

> Is it because public companies can more easily put up corporate ownership as collateral for the loan?

It's because junk debt bonds are much cheaper interest rate wise for rapidly growing public companies as the growth means they are less risky.

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

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

But this was in response to:

> Should my grandma pay $240 per year, to watch two movies I recommend to her (and are ONLY watchable on Netflix)?

So that's $10. Or sign up for just a month and then cancel. I know people who have Netflix for a few months, and then another service for a few months and so on.

I still remember having to rent movies/TV or buying on DVD as my main way of watching... at 4-6 movies a month and ~$20-30 per season of TV, you'd have to have quite a few streaming services to match that. It's all about convenience vs cost.

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

#119
post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What? No. If I travel I might be watching netflix on my laptop while on the move but on the smart TV at home

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

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I think this reflects the reality that for a product with low marginal costs, bundling provides better value for the consumer. If a company is going make the investment to build and operate a video streaming service and acquire you as a customer, it only costs them a few dollars more to let you watch the whole catalogue on demand (the effort to amass this catalog is largely amortized across the customer base). Competing for each individual pay per view purchase is a much worse business to be in, and that’s reflected in the poorer value proposition offered to customers. There’s also some price discrimination occurring (selling to people who really want to watch this specific movie that isn’t offered in their favorite streaming service, or who don’t watch enough movies to subscribe).

The same can be observed in some other industries: museum membership, ski pass.

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