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Netflix Decides To Crack Down On VPN Users (netflix.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Netflix have announced they'll be taking further steps to ensure users are not circumventing geo-restrictions. David Fullagar, Vice President of Content Delivery and Architecture at Netflix says "Some members use proxies or "unblockers" to access titles available outside their territory. To address this, we employ the same or similar measures other firms do. This technology continues to evolve and we are evolving with it. That means in coming weeks, those using proxies and unblockers will only be able to access the service in the country where they currently are. This announcement comes just days after Netflix Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt said that a VPN blocking policy might be impossible to enforce."
This reminds me of the poor Tor users who are met with Cloudflare pages for a large part of the net.
You're starting to make your users hate you even more.
I doubt Netflix cares about geo restrictions at all. They're probably being pressured hard by the content providers. "Do something about this or we won't let you show our products."
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." Col. Jeff Cooper
Netflix will play cat and mouse with the unblocking services for 3 months, then give up and point to their initial statement - it is not possible to enforce.
---- Sig. gone.
I, for one, welcome our VPN-blocking overlor... wait... no I don't!
One step forward, two steps back.
Back to ThePirateBay.
They teach this strategy in business school. You build a good product and build a large customer base then reduce quality to increase profits while leeching off of your old reputation. It's what happened to Newegg. They were a great company with great prices, and now their new Republican ruler is driving them out of business.
This is not a Netflix decision. It's about content providers making Netflix comply with stiffer regional content distribution agreements. The content providers finally saw too many of these users viewing content that the providers did not agree to provide to their region by way of a proxy access. Can't blame Netflix they were probably told do something to block it or lose content completely.
It's likely that it's the content providers that thinks that they will profit more from the content if it's made scarce in some areas - at the cost of annoying the consumers.
But the other side of the coin is that it may be seen as discrimination depending on your current location.
Just because this is crappy I have given up TV, it's just depressing.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
I doubt Netflix cares about geo restrictions at all. They're probably being pressured hard by the content providers. "Do something about this or we won't let you show our products."
It tends to go against the very definition of provider when the asshats act like that in order to "provide".
And as a consumer, it gets irritating watching a broken legal system strangle capitalism. The end result is nothing but a handful of monopolies controlling all content, because you have to be monopoly-big to afford the legal wrapper around all of it.
Exactly. It is very profitable to lock customers into long term contracts then stop providing the service.
This "crackdown" continues exactly as long as either is required to make Hollywood studios happy, or as long as Netflix bottom line can take it.
Expect mass unsubscriptions from users in overseas areas that have abysmally poor selection in their local Netflix site, so I predict this will continue for a month or two, tops.
It's easier to decrease costs than to increase revenue. That's why those Republicans always lay off people rather trying to make better products or services.
They're absolutely being lobbied by content providers. It was in the news not that long ago when they leaked emails from Sony on Wikileaks.
https://wikileaks.org/sony/emails/emailid/3124
1. Geofiltering
Netflix do not closely monitor where some of their subscribers are registering from and don’t take steps to counter circumvention websites that allow people in, for example, Australia, to sign up to the US or the UK Netflix service and subscribe illegally (Netflix don’t as of now have a service in Australia, nor do they have Australian rights for our content).
We have asked Netflix to take steps to more closely monitor circumvention websites, and to restrict methods of payment to more clearly weed out subscribers signing up for the service illegally. This is in effect another form of piracy – one semi-sanctioned by Netflix, since they are getting paid by subscribers in territories where Netflix does not have the rights to sell our content.
Netflix are heavily resistant to enforcing stricter financial geofiltering controls, as they claim this would present a too high bar to entry from legitimate subscribers. For example, they want people to be able to use various methods of payment (e.g. PayPal) where it is harder to determine where the subscriber is based. They recognize that this may cause illegal subscribers but they (of course) would rather err that way than create barriers to legitimate subscribers to sign up.
We have expressed our deep dissatisfaction with their approach and attitude. I’m sure other studios feel the same way, especially as we are now hearing from clients in Australia, South Africa and Iceland (to name a few) where significant numbers of people are able to subscribe to Netflix. Netflix of course get to collect sub revenues and inflate their sub count which in turn boosts their stock on Wall St., so they have every motivation to continue, even if it is illegal.
This issue is almost certainly going to get more heated, since our goal and Netflix’s are in direct opposition.
And they hate Hollywood, and by not allowing people to purchase content they are harming Hollywood.
There was a blog-post from Netflix last year where they specifically said they are being pressured by content-providers to do this and they don't know how long they can hold out -- guess the point came where they couldn't hold out any longer. I don't blame Netflix for this, it doesn't matter to them what country you watch stuff from as long as you pay your monthly fee, but those greedy content-providers are at fault here.
It's likely that it's the content providers that thinks that they will profit more from the content if it's made scarce in some areas - at the cost of annoying the consumers.
No I honestly think its because Hollywood is too fucking lazy to re-write its standard industry contracts. It's a well established fact by now that the ONLY thing restricting content from a region does is boost piracy of that content in the "scarce" region. Hollywood idiots need to learn that the world has changed and they can't afford to turn away a customer with money in his hand EVER.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Or maybe not so smart, because then they pay nothing. This way the pay for the content. Partitioning the world for the purpose of selling content separately is just artificial scarcity and, at best, an anti-capitalist thing to do.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
And block access to rated R movies! Those people hate them.
Exactly. The GOPper elite hate the Internet, and this is an attack on it.
The fact that we haven't them claim this as a win is strong evidence that they ordered it.
What good do regions do to any business strategy?
Users pay to watch content and the content provider gets payed. Why would any outfit make it harder for customers to purchase their products by introducing regions? This discussion is not limited to Netflix but also holds for DVDs, Blue Rays, Amazon Prime, etc...
(I'm well aware that providers have licensed rights to representatives abroad and that that is a limiting factor. The question remains why content providers implement such ridiculous schemes.)
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
Where I go online is none of my ISP's business. That's why I use a VPN. If Netflix cuts me off, I simply cancel Netflix and get 100% of my content through bittorrent. No skin off my ass.
This is part of the Republican grand strategy
My idea as well. From what I see, they are pushing their own content almost at the same time worldwide.
Where at this moment it is not yet 100%, I can see them doing it all at once for all countries easily.
They do whole seasons in one go, so why not? It will take away one reason to torrent for them.
Making it available worldwide will bring a little more money. It is also easier not to block things than to block things.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Netflix launched themselves in 3000 (or 300? or 150?) more countries.
I tried the 30 day trial in Romania and the content is shit, nothing I'm interested in watching.
I've also discovered that it's impossible to get a full list of the available content, and that they take out content regularly. WTF? Why do they take the content out?
Needless to say, they won't get any billing cycles from me, VPN or no VPN.
Their business model is so screwed up. I mean, no other industry responds to potential customers abroad willing to buy their stuff by making it extra hard for them to do so.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
This is part of the Republican war on human thought.
Once again the world is safe from people trying to pay for content they want to watch!
This. Religion drives everything they do.
It is a direct attack on Hollywood.
Given the story a few days back, did anyone not see this coming?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
"Some members take the effort to find VPNs so that they can use our service even more, and we obviously don't care very much for that." If it is indeed the content providers, why can't Netflix stand up to them?
It would pretty obviously be impossible to enforce 100%, but I would think it would be pretty easy to block the users of the major proxy services. Someone with their own private VPN woyuld probably never be detected, but 90% of the users would just give up
You know businesses are dying when they start pushing long term contracts.
if they actually enforce this, for me netflx is useless, region switching is necessary to get a decent content selection from netflix ...obviously they are under pressure from content distributors to do this...and i have no interest in supporting local distribution channels that are behind the times in content delivery...
People are willing to pay what they find acceptable for content. Annoying people and don't letting them access what they're paying will only make them move to other services that provide it for free and without annoyances...
For those who complain about content geo-restrictions, look at it from the other side of the coin. If you are a TV network that has just paid up big for the rights to a new show, the last thing you want is for people to be able to get it via Netflix USA and kill your revenue (ad dollars, subscription fees, whatever)
They're not doing this because it's easy. They're doing it because there racists and only think Americans are entitled to content.
Thanks for that jonwil. The distribution model is seriously outdated. I'm not sure who to blame for that but it certainly isn't Netflix.
No you are ridiculous. I am a paying Netflix customer. I access Netflix US via a VPN because I live outside the US. I will cancel my Netflix subscription if I find myself blocked. Hollywood has already been paid by Netflix for the rights to distribute the content. When I cancel my sub Hollywood will not lose one penny this quarter. The rub is, I will not be subscribing again. So Netflix is the one that is going to suffer. Hollywood is still going to want their money next quarter, and Netflix will have lost subs. How is this an attack on Hollywood? If anything, it's suicide by Netflix. Online content is just another item in the Hollywood revenue budget, whereas it is almost all of Netflix's revenue (apart from the couple shows they make themselves). Hollywood cannot be attacked by Netflix. Netflix is very much Hollywood's pet, and must do as it's told.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
If you are a TV network that has just paid up big for the rights to a new show, the last thing you want is for people to be able to get it via Netflix USA and kill your revenue
No you do this thing called "work" and you figure out how to adapt to a changed world and a changed economy, and you build that into your price. There is no fucking reason I need to pay another monthly fee to get through Netflix exactly the same shit I already get through my cable company. I don't feel sorry for the TV network who wants to make money a) through advertising AND b) through monthly subscription AND c) through online distribution FOR THE SAME FUCKING CONTENT. I'm not against a guy earning a living. But this is dishonest. At one point I just read a book.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Hollywood is not giving shows and movies to Netflix for free.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
No. It is the Reoublicans that hate people in other countries. That is why they are doing this. Bernie addressed that.
As always, it is the corporations against the people. But some morons are too stupid to understand that corporations are not human. They're so stupid.
They should make the policy say, "The content you will be able to access via a VPN will be only what is available to your IP Addresses Originating Country."
Then they just make all the VPN IP Addresses originate from North Korea. Problem solved.
Everyday you would just get a new episode of "Best Korea: Our Lovely Leader (In Technicolor)"
Have you ever fallen asleep at the keybhanusdiog?
And as a consumer, it gets irritating watching a broken legal system strangle capitalism.
So... This is the result of to much government interference?
in any unregulated economic system, The parties will move towards consolidation, and eventually, monopolies and oligopolies. The end result is no more capitalism. In an unrestricted manner, capitalism will actively destroy itself, as a free market economy is not in the interests of the owners of the biggest companies, and they have the means to do something about it.
Pure capitalism cannot exist any more than pure communism can. At the end of the day, the only thing the masses have to protect themselves from the tyranny of the "capitalists" is the point of a gun, and the rule of law backed up by the point of a gun...
I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
It's legacy code. It made perfect sense until a few years ago, but it now needs to be refactored. Suppose you produce a show and CBS (USA) buys the rights to air it. Obviously CBS doesn't want their competitors, such as NBC, to have the same show. So you give CBS an -exclusive- contract.
So your show is on CBS and then the TV station in France wants to air it. CBS isn't competing in France, so they don't much care if the station in France has the same show. CBS only really cares that they have it exclusive in the United States. So that's the way contracts are written, TV networks buy exclusive rights in their country. That goes along fine for 90 years.
After 90 years of that approach working pretty well, Netflix comes along and they want to buy the same TV shows the networks do. The production company either already has sold exclusive rights in different countries or assumes they will (they always have before). The standard model of selling rights to networks in different countries doesn't work well with Netflix, which is available from almost any country (via vpn or otherwise). Hollywood will have to adjust and right contracts differently. Probably, Netflix will have to buy WORLDWIDE rights to the shows, which will be more expensive than buying rights only in a particular service area. They'll adjust, it just takes time to overcome a century of inertia.
Heck, the production companies are still doing something else they've done since the earliest days of TV - casting Betty White. :)
Thanks for that jonwil. The distribution model is seriously outdated. I'm not sure who to blame for that but it certainly isn't Netflix.
Blames those stupid consumers who insinst on being able to follow the dialogue. If it weren't for them, dubbing or subtitling would not be necessary, and content providers would not need local distribution partners to localise their content.
Shame on you, consumers!
Shame on you!
I doubt if the content providers particularly care as long as they get paid. I suspect it's more the governments in certain regions want to censer what content their citizens can see.
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
Going after customers who jump to hoops, just to buy your product, is a great business idea.
I just hope they have 80% of their customers on VPN.
Great point. Which is why I download and have shared many Terabytes of movies and music. Fuck them.
Oh no! people care about our content enough that they are willing to pay Netflix (and use a proxy) to watch it! Why, we can't have that many fans of our products! BAN THEM!
If they haven't done this already, they can just make Squid identify itself as a Chrome browser. Right?
One day you will wake up - hopefully - and realize that "power" doesn't meant "speed-typing on a keyboard" but "I can take a dump on anyone anytime and get away with it".
No, you see, because I don't have to play their game. They are powerless because I access through a VPN, and they are powerless if they go after Netflix because I switch to torrenting what I want (like I did before). And if they are willing to spend their power trying to convince the entire world's courts and lawyers and cops that downloaders of a "Game of Thrones" or "Gotham" episode need to be thrown in jail then I wish them every success, because at that point I won't be interested in their "content" anymore. There are other things I can do with my free time. Back in the day there was only TV and they were God. Now there are a lot of things someone can do to keep entertained. And to be honest the quality of the "content" they provide is disturbingly poor nowadays.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
How much do overseas Netflix subscriptions cost? If they are significantly less than a US subscription, Netflix has a large reason to crack down on VPNs. Don't want people paying $3 a month to get access to content that should be $11 a month.
This issue is almost certainly going to get more heated, since our goal and Netflix are in direct opposition.
Netflix's Goal: To Increase media revenue for everyone by making it easy and inexpensive for consumers to pay for the media.
Hollywood's Goal: To get rid of Netflix, and have their own service which is overpriced, cumbersome and difficult for consumers to use, thus driving them all back to illegal downloading.
You've given the people a viable alternative to torrenting. Don't be a dick and take it away from them.
Isn't it great how Greedy Holywood and other content creators is these stupid geographical restrictions? If you are paying for content shouldn't you have the right to see from anywhere in the world? No wonder why some folks don't have a problem ripping off content.
They should better spend the effort to provide the same content everywhere so the people wouldn't need to use VPNs in the first place.
Here in Germany we pay the same monthly fee as in the US but we only get a fraction of the content. Nobody wants to use a VPN, it's an extra complication and cost but it's needed if you want to get the same content.
Hello The Pirate Bay... I'm back! ;)
Will $CURRENT_YEAR be the year of the Linux Desktop?
Here in Europe it is 8Eur/month for basic package, 10 Eur/month for standard package with HD and 2 devices used to watch simultaneously, 12Eur/month for premium package with 4k content on 4 devices at the same time. All that for a small fraction of content available in USA. Roughly 200 series and 550 movies available in countries around here, for example.
If you use VPN, you can watch 1157 shows and 4593 movies available in USA. See http://www.finder.com/global-n... for more numbers and http://www.finder.com.au/inter... for complete lists. The links are from summary of article about Netflix published here yesterday.
Mind you, even some programs produced by Netflix are missing, such as House of cards, because our local TV stations have recently purchased broadcasting rights
I am surprised that VPN and DNS tricks are used only by a small fraction of customers.
If they don't they will lose so much money they will kill themselves entirely. Be funny since they just spread world-wide. I know I'll cancel my service immediately.
The way I see I pay for a service and if I travel and my provider can't fullfill there end of the bargain it's time to find a new one.
Same for VPN my provider (Netflix) sells a service and should not f**k-ing care where I connect from as long as I pay money.
They don't want my money? Maybesomeone else will?
Any suggestions for vendors that doesn't block VPN?
Ex-Netflix customer
I don't see how this is a Netflix problem. This is all a content provider issue of not understanding how the world works now, and wishing to put people in boxes according to where they live.
Just sayin'.
so the content providers would rather I full-out pirate rather than semi-pirate when I am out of the country? lol ok have it your way. I haven't pirated in a few years but it's looking like 'tis the season.
We use Netflix in Canada and a VPN to pick and choose from other countries' Netflix. If they make Netflix useless for the family, I simply drop the subscription. The base price plus the extra CA$5 to access Netflix from around the world is worth it for us. Canadian Netflix isn't worth it at the base price.
I still keep the torrent seedbox and usenet subscriptions and get a lot those ways to feed the media streamers (PopcornHour and new AppleTV with Infuse & VLC). It's no skin off my ass to go back to 100% downloading.
There is plenty of content in other countries, that I can't watch in the US. Misfits and The Shield are two I'm currently watching. I've also noticed that some things that are Amazon, Hulu, or Yahoo exclusives in the US are on Netflix in other countries, for example, Under the Dome and Community.
For some reason, Canada seems to get new movies afew weeks sooner then the US. Maybe that has something to do with the RedBox kerfuffle from afew years ago.
Cheap storage VM.
It's a side effect of media companies still clinging desperately to 20th century business models, with a hopelessly complex web of international agreements and licensing rights that are becoming increasingly archaic in a world with media streaming on one unified internet.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
This sounds like an excellent way to prepare to get a license to distribute in other locations.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Contracts work both ways (or they should). If the consumer has to pay for service for a minimum period, then the provider must continue to provide the service paid for. If they stop providing the service then they must compensate the consumer, either by releasing the consumer from having to continue to pay or paying compensation for loss of service.
Why isn't your catalog of video choices based upon your billing address, instead of your IP? They certainly know where the CC # is based out of and tie that to the video selection and boom, they don't have to care if you VPN/Proxy in.
IMarv
Trusting software vendors is no smarter than trus
It's seems telling that they mention Australia in that email, one of the few markets where they actually charge more for distribution of content than in the US. It boils down to: "We still have Australia by the balls in terms of content distribution and pricing, but Netflix is allowing Austalians to pay American prices for our content. American prices! We'll go bankrupt at this rate!"
Honestly, if people are willing to pay for a US netflix account, i.e. the price to consume content in the country where 99% of that content was created, isn't it pretty greedy to try and strong-arm people into paying more?
Oh no! people care about our content enough that they are willing to pay Netflix (and use a proxy) to watch it!
I don't blame them one bit, they want to watch content and are willing to pay a reasonable amount to watch it. Not the price gouging that mainstream content providers want to charge simply because it is Australia. Everything costs more in Australia, primarily because of shipping costs, but companies continue to charge more for digital services (no shipping) simply because they can. The whole point of region coding DVD's was based on greed, this is no different. Why should someone pay twice as much to watch a movie simply because of the country they live in? I can understand government sponsored censorship against certain movies (North Korea), but just charging more is greed.
Media companies get revenue from Netflix via licensing agreements, maybe the Aussies just need to go back to pirating their content instead of paying for it.
Well you have to figure, as far as Netflix is concerned, the best thing is to have all content available to all people all the time. Ignoring licensing costs and storage costs for a second, it would be to their benefit to just store every video ever made and make it available to any subscriber that wants to watch it, since that would increase the utility to the subscriber, thereby increasing the likelihood of keeping the subscription.
Anything contrary to that is probably going to be a cost-saving measure or a restriction demanded by the IP owner. I very much doubt that their region-based limitations are a cost-saving measure.
They're working hard to make sure minorities aren't allowed to us Netflix.
Some day the world population will exceed 600 million and Americans will no longer be a global majority.
(makes as much sense as what you said)
How is it technically possible to know the origin of traffic through a VPN? Or are they just going to restrict to the country of credit card?
"We wont let you show this B movie from 1970!!!!"
Netflix has such a poor selection of movies. TV shows are a little better, but not by much. It's not like they're hosting blockbuster flicks like they used to do when they started up.
Hollywood idiots need to learn that the world has changed and they can't afford to turn away a customer with money in his hand EVER.
I think you should take another look at the box office... Hollywood has no reason to change anything, except make copyright indefinite.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
1. Teach people to use VPN so they can watch any show/film they like on Netflix. 2. Cut off the VPN users. 3. People discover they can download any show/film they like anonymously using VPN. 4. ???? 5. Profit!
Your argument is a well known straw man. Stop insisting communism and capitalism share the same fate - it's stated by those who hate capitalism and idealize communism to discourage honest discussion, since it is well established that communism *will* actually fail, and their own cognitive dissonance makes them project that knowledge onto the "other" side to make them feel better about their incompatible worldview.
To wit: An unregulated economic system isn't capitalism, it's anarchy. Even Adam Smith said there was a need for proof marks on silver, registration of mortgages, usury laws to prevent unfair advantages over unsuspecting (and at the time uneducated) borrowers, export taxes, public works, banking regulations...the list goes on. This is the core of "pure" capitalism: free markets with minimum, but necessary, regulatory checks.
Because Hollywoid isn't getting paid licensing fees from Netflix. This is an attack on Hollywood.
Hollywood isn't even a thing to attack. It's just a place where movie makers haven't had an original idea in decades and instead try to find the safest way to recycle old stuff. Usually by filling it with CG and casting the latest hot young actors whose acting ability is bottom of their list of skills.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
No, you see, because I don't have to play their game. They are powerless because I access through a VPN, and they are powerless if they go after Netflix because I switch to torrenting what I want (like I did before).
That's their problem. We were all torrenting because trying to buy the stuff was a nightmare. Give us an easy way to buy it and we will, we said. So they did, for a while, and all was well. Until they wanted the control back of how, where and who can watch what and when. So we start to say fuck you again and go back to piratebay and their ilk.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
This is an attack on Hollywood. Please stop your victim blaming.
LOL thank you. I needed that.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
Contracts work both ways (or they should). If the consumer has to pay for service for a minimum period, then the provider must continue to provide the service paid for. If they stop providing the service then they must compensate the consumer, either by releasing the consumer from having to continue to pay or paying compensation for loss of service.
*We reserve the right to stop or change any service at any time with no notice.
You'll usually find a line like that somewhere.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
I know quite a few people here in Canada who use US Netflix by simply manually specifying a specific DNS server.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Netflix has to tread a bit lightly here I think.
The majority of their user-base came to be after getting fed up with the shenanigans from Satellite and Cable companies. The entire customer base is pretty much comprised of folks who have already demonstrated their willingness to "cut the cable" as it were when they finally had enough. It will not take much for these same folks to cut Netflix off should their business decisions start to emulate the aforementioned companies.
In this day and age, there really shouldn't be any Regional / Geo restrictions on content. Continuing to try and enforce them is merely a waste of time and detrimental to your business core.
Yes but the sub titling and translations of all that US content doesn't come for free!
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
Netflix has a history under accounts of what you watched or currently watching and you are telling me they can't figure out with a few SQL logical statements if someone is violating their service? If John Doe from U.S is currently watching Rambo which is only available in the U.K does it not signal any red flag regardless of vpn?
For those who complain about content geo-restrictions, look at it from the other side of the coin. If you are a TV network that has just paid up big for the rights to a new show, the last thing you want is for people to be able to get it via Netflix USA and kill your revenue (ad dollars, subscription fees, whatever)
The problem is that conflates that paying for exclusive broadcast (and/or streaming) rights, also grants exclusive rights to the audience as well.
Or from a different point of view, you can't have globalization only when it benefits yourself (or said TV broadcaster in this example).
Netflix pays for the right to broadcast certain content to certain regions, and to the people who are physically located in those regions. The same would hold true to cable companies. If I lived near the US border, I could pay to have a cable hook up in the US, and I could run a wire across the border to my house. The cable company then would be breaking the rules by broadcasting across the region and if thousands of people started doing this they would be told they have to find a way to stop it. Now blaming Netflix for this is not "sticking it to the man". They have had the ability to prevent VPN for around two years at least. They haven't done it because they do not want to do it. They are doing it because they will lose content or perhaps even the ability to operate in certain regions if they do not comply. It is not just Hollywood it is the big cable companies and the government organizations like the CRTC in Canada that is keeping this system. I will continue to support Netflix because they are going to change the paradigm by increasing the amount of their own Original Content to be broadcast world wide at the same time and show producers will go to companies like them instead of the traditional route.
When we relocated from NYC to Toronto this April I had a USA based iTunes account.
At one point trying to rent a movie, I was asked to confirm my billing information. Apple would not accept any of the following forms of payment for my USA based iTunes account: (1) US Credit Card with Canadian billing Address.(2) Canadian Credit card with Canadian billing address.
Apple basically told me I had to "convert" my account to a Canadian iTunes account. Ok so I did that. And lost 95% of my "owned" content. Movies, music etc just vanished into this air. I don't even remember if they warned me about it. I was pretty pissed off, but didn't have that much stuff on there that I cared about. I understand there are different distribution rights, and licensing schemes between the two countries, but I do wonder if I moved back to the USA, if I would be able to retrieve the stuff that was previously mine. I mean - where did my rights to those items go? Why can't Apple negotiate some kind of "transfer" procedure.
My wife on the other hand has hundreds of movies on her iTunes, and doesn't want to lose them, so she has to maintain a USA based credit card with her mother's address as the billing address, just to keep the content we've already paid for. And that works - there doesn't appear to be any regional restriction on using our Apple TV to view US owned content, so long as you have a IS billing address you can use.
It's just another form of punishment for those of us trying to doing things the legal way, and my answer is to torrent anything I would have previously been willing to rent or purchase from iTunes.
In some ways the digital delivery system sucks compared to physical media. Nobody had any concerns about the hundreds of DVDs, CDs, books etc we brought over the border. As an aside - we ran into no such problems with my Steam account which retained everything. At least not yet.
Why not make content available to the entire world, and adjust prices accordingly?
Undoubtedly it's the content providers doing this, and then they wonder why so many people are still pirating their content.
I'd rather stream legally off Netflix but it's mighty frustrating when you're halfway through a series and it just vanishes from Netflix (but is still available on some other country's Netflix). If they successfully block VPNs, I'm probably going to cancel my subscription.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
Next time you post this, point out that the reason these minimum regulatory checks are needed because free markets require everyone to have access to the same information as much as possible. Hiding information for gain is certainly human nature but it is anti-market behavior.
Don't hate the game; hate the misbehaving player.
srsly fuck cloudflare
There was a blog-post from Netflix last year where they specifically said they are being pressured by content-providers to do this and they don't know how long they can hold out -- guess the point came where they couldn't hold out any longer. I don't blame Netflix for this, it doesn't matter to them what country you watch stuff from as long as you pay your monthly fee, but those greedy content-providers are at fault here.
I think that what Netflix want to do is to send their customers back to pirating and torrents then they'll show the dumbass rights holders the statistics and say "See, if you opened up the content to all the regions they'd be paying you instead of pirating and you'd actually make some money from them."
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
What the networks don't seem to comprehend is customers will do without or resort to piracy.
There simply will not be users switching from netflix back to cable, like they seem to believe is going to happen.
How hard would it be for a VPN service to have the US IP changing daily?
How hard would it be to compile a list of VNP services that NETFLIX does not track?
Can we create an AWS elastic bandwidth session to get a legit usproxy to watch Neflix?
Same argument as taxi medallion holders vs Uber. Clearly, customers have spoken, and they prefer Netflix. If the CableCos want customers back, they should actually be competitive rather than anticompetitive things such as exclusive contracts.
Holy shit, I never thought I would meet someone who actually seeds. Hats off to you, kind sir.
You can use a US iTunes card to charge a US account. When we moved, we made a new-country account, and kept the old. And we buy US cards from the US to charge the US account when we need. No restrictions on using the US account outside the US. Just restrictions on buying.
Learn to love Alaska
That's not entirely true; they are capable of bringing book adaptations to the screen that have never been made into movies before. ;)
It is not a creative act in the same sense that writing the book was, but it is original as compared to "recycle[d] old stuff."
but those greedy content-providers are at fault here.
From where I sit, everybody involved is equally at fault, from the content providers to netflix to the subscribers.
If you perceive what they're doing as being bad, the moral thing to do is to not give them money to enable and reward the behavior. It isn't like we're talking about food and shelter here; we're talking about entertainment that less than half the population regularly participates in, even here in the US.
If they are morally bad, why do you covet their non-essential product? Are you so easily drawn to support the things that you offend your moral compass that all it takes is a couple hours of sensory stimulation and you're joining the dark side? There are other ways to achieve sensory stimulation, from books to parks, or even independent films.
I doubt treating the gatekeepers like delinquent children will improve the conditions of their irreplaceable content licenses.
If they were that principled, they could just close up shop and hurt the gatekeepers even more. ;) But they're actually on the same team, even if they agree to use an adversarial negotiation process to work out the contracts.
It seems to me that once they're fully using the Hollywood region system for licensed content, and their own international system for their own content, that will finally give a comparison to Hollywood and have the potential to start a conversation with them about the specific effects on profit of the traditional system.
Unrestricted capitalism... With the necessary restrictions. Do you read your own sentences? Capitalism being in charge causes this nonsense as in the end the most successful 'Capitalists' write regulations for themselves to prosper while the dull witted continue to chant capitalism at the top of their lungs.
Australian translation is particularly difficult. Translating an American movie into any other language just involves either subtitles, or an alternative audio track. The Australian translation requires extensive CGI work to replace any depiction of American beer with something drinkable.
Also, if animals appear in the movie, at least half of them must be venomous.
Redundancy is good And also good.
+1
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
Sure, because Australians can't understand Americanese.
Is X available for streaming? Nope
Is Y available for streaming? Nope
Is Z available for streaming? Nope
And they wonder why people still prefer outright downloading.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
If you perceive what they're doing as being bad, the moral thing to do is to not give them money to enable and reward the behavior.
And what if I perceive what Netflix is trying to do as a positive thing and wish to reward them for it? Netflix is just the proxy here, unsubscribing from Netflix is going to hurt them more than the content-providers -- can't both reward Netflix and punish content-providers that way. Netflix is one of the few companies that want to provide high-quality streaming-service everywhere for everyone and they provide excellent customer-support, both being things that I would like to support.
There are other ways to achieve sensory stimulation, from books to parks, or even independent films.
Yes, you can stab yourself with a knife to achieve sensory stimulation -- I do not see how that is relevant.
Does IPv6 make it harder to block VPN users?
I'm in the U.S. and use a well known VPN service. It's already blocked from many sites for streaming (e.g., Disney).
Maybe if Netflix/USA didn't treat other countries like scum, and only allows me (Netherlands) to watch 10 or so series, whereas the entire USA gets to see *everything*, maybe then would I not be using a VPN. As it stands now, when this goes live, they can kiss my money good-bye. For ever. Morons.
True enough, but the point most commenters are missing is that for all it's convenience, streaming is NOT where Hollywood/Movie/TV industry make most (or even a significant fraction) of their money.
They allow streaming as an attempt of future proofing their business, and besides it's free money to them, so why not ?
But realise that streamning really is chump change to them
Yes, that clearly explains why Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.K have such stellar Netflix versions! (not)
Also subtitling is much cheaper than dubbing, yet Netflix in countries that only use subtitles (except for childrens show) such as Denmark/Norway/Sweden are no better than countries that like Germany and France that insist on dubbing, just the opposite in fact.