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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.
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
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.
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.
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
What good do regions do to any business strategy? Users pay to watch content and the content provider gets payed.
The content providers are not getting paid. When content is produced, different regions buy rights to distribute that content; to sell it. As an ironic example, Hulu bought the Japanese rights to House of Cards, a Netflix Original production. Why did Netflix sell it? Because at the time they didn't do business in Japan. Now they do. So if you subscribe to Netflix Japan, you won't find House of Cards.
So Hulu is understandably miffed if a Japanese consumer VPNs into the U.S. Netflix to watch House of Cards. Netflix is getting payed for content owned by Hulu.
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. :)
If you aren't using VPN, this doesn't affect you at all.
Absolutely incorrect. What Netflix is talking about, is cross referencing the payment methods bill-to address, and using that to determine what country the customer lives in. The result will be, that when you log in, *your account* determines what content you get access to, not your IP address. Spoofing a bill-to address for payment is a great deal harder to do. Banks do not allow incorrect bill-to address' easily. Most people don't have the wherewithal to get an american billing address, and even if they could, it will cost them more in time and money than it is worth.
I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
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.
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.
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.
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Yes but the sub titling and translations of all that US content doesn't come for free!
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