Slashdot Mirror
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."
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
One step forward, two steps back.
Back to ThePirateBay.
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.
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
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)
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.
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. :)
IP rights are extremely complicated in the entertainment industry -- especially for older works where all parties didn't decide up-front what residuals would be from "streaming media" which didn't exist at the time of filming. Writers guilds, actor's guilds, and each and every person listed in the credits can get involved with how much they should get paid for what region, how, and when the film or tv show is aired. A lot of actors, writers, and directors want a cut of residuals as well as a paycheck up front. I have friends that are extras in lots of tv shows and movies and occasionally get paid bit parts. They get nothing when someone airs something they were in as an extra, but the bit parts -- if they're in the credits, they get a check every single time some network plays a movie they were in. They're called "residuals" and you better believe they're a complicated mess when 10 years down the line the production company wants to change the rules on distribution to include Netflix an/or a new country. How many phone calls are made to find each and every person in the credits for a work -- including "local jerk #3" to renegotiate his contract 10 years later? Have you seen how many names scroll by at the end of movies?!?!? Sure, for new works it's easier b/c they try to include future tech in the contracts, but it's crazy to expect a lot of entertainment producers to do the work to get the rights to distribute their own works through a different distribution channel than their contract allows.
I'm astonished Netflix even bothered going with so many countries for programming when just the USA and Canada was a nightmare to work out. They've probably been in talks for years to get approvals for other countries. The VPN/proxy ban was probably part of that discussion.
Netfix is not to blame, but the content providers themselves may not be to blame either -- they're bound by a lot of contracts, too. Follow the money if you want to know where this comes from. Lots of actors get X up front, a percent of domestic, and a percent of global through DVD, Bluray, theaters, syndication on TV networks, and many also have Netflix/Hulu/streaming percentages as well. The US Tax code is probably less complicated.
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.
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.