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VPN Blockade Backlash Doesn't Hurt Us, Says Netflix (torrentfreak.com)
Ernesto Van der Sar, writing for TorrentFreak: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings says that the recent crackdown on VPN and proxy users hasn't hurt the company's results. The VPN blockade only affects a small but vocal minority, according to Hastings, and there are no signs that hordes of subscribers are abandoning ship. Earlier this year Netflix announced that it would increase its efforts to block customers who circumvent geo-blockades. As a result, it has become harder to use VPN services and proxies to access Netflix content from other countries, something various movie studios have repeatedly called for. When asked about the impact of the VPN changes on the results, Hastings brushed the issue aside as a minor detail that doesn't impact the bigger picture in any way. "It's a very small but quite vocal minority. So it's really inconsequential to us, as you could see in the Q1 results." Earlier this year, Hastings also admitted that a VPN-blocking policy might be impossible to enforce.
I never once saw any sort of region block and just saw "This title isn't available in the US" yesterday... on a US title!
If it's small and inconsequential, why bother blocking it at all?
"Grab them by the pussy" -- President of the United States of America
just like I did from hulu and any other company who won't let me use vpn. I am sure they collect data and sell it to advertisers which is exactly why I use a vpn
for blocking Unotelly to access US from Canada. Back to torrents, pawn shops and my 800+ DVD collection. Personally we just watched nature and travel shows and pretty much watched them all by now but fuck em I'll take the $11 and buy weed with it.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
I'm a Netflix subscriber who hasn't left yet. If this affects me, I will. I am absolutely fed up with RIAA/MPAA lobbyists and their effect on the entire ecosystem. I'm pretty sure that if large services like Netflix allow themselves to get locked down by these types, people will start migrating. Bottom line, my money should be good wherever I am, and I am not your digital property. This policy offends me.
He's probably right. Outside of techie communities (like this one) virtually no one knows what a VPN is let alone how to use one. It doesn't occur to most people to work around region blocking. Netflix makes money from being simple and easy to use, their custom base probably just wants to sit and watch shows, not deal with network settings.
Seems like every time I look at this site there is an article about Netflix.
I use VPN on my home firewall in San Francisco to a gateway in Silicon Valley because I don't want my ISP spying on my web traffic. Netflix blocked my ability to stream as well, so I canceled my Netflix service. It's annoying when the privacy conscious get conflated with the pirates.
... someone I know configured their computer to get US netflix up here by apparently simply changing the IP addresses it used for DNS from dynamically received from the uplink DHCP server to certain static IP's. I'm pretty sure that's not using VPN.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
doesn't hurt me either.
Your move, Netflix.
Captcha: deigned
Step 1: try to acquire content via one of my PAYG preferred streaming services legally
Step 2 : torrent (or wait for physical distribution and borrow the discs off someone else)
I don't mind paying for content and 90% of content I do consume is paid for. I don't even mind too much if rights holders try and charge me significantly more than what they charge other regions as long as it is accessible and the price points are reasonable. What fkn shits me is having to deal with and enrich elusive rights digital arbitragers although they provide little value add in the supply chain. Also tracking down an old film that is 20+ years old, finding it is digitally accessible elsewhere but not where I live. I feel no ethical qualms about opening torrent under those circumstances.
Music is rarely geolocked. Why is film/TV treated differently?
I run a Tor relay, but that was enough for Netflix to block my IPv4 address. Having to choose between Tor and Netflix was easy.
Good riddance and f**k you very much, MPAA lackey!
Yotu is the best https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGCciJmLfFQ
Yes, Netflix stopped blocking US content from Australia via DNS spoofers; but the DNS services have already worked around the blockades.
Netflix gets to save face saying we implemented blocking plans (which they did).
Users still get to access other regions because of technical workarounds.
46137
Its nothing more than Netflix keeping Hollywood happy - "yes we have done something to stop these pesky VPN'ers, our media overlords"
I've worked in their customer care (recently quit). There is such a thing as false positives, little old ladies who don't know the difference between a proxy and a flux capacitor. And the company line for someone calling about a VPN error? Do **not** help or advise them in anyway except telling them to undo what they've done whatever that was, and call the ISP to help find what default settings should be. Next thing you know, you've got a rep from the ISP calling in because an entire IP block is getting flagged, and nobody can actually cite any particular instruction, marker, or standard for why it's getting flagged and what needs to be done about it. I can tell you this, the corporation looks to weigh the undue hardship of innocents in dollars, and that ought to be incompatible with some ethical systems.
They're not blocking people who use VPN to bypass geo-blockades. They're blocking VPN users, full stop. Without regard to why they're using VPN.
I was rather irritated to find that I could no longer use my VPN to access US content from the US using a US VPN IP address. Guys, I'm right here in Sacramento, and dammit, I'm using VPN for security, not to bypass your pathetic little attempts to screw your customers.
As a result I ended up finding other ways to bypass their restrictions. Which is something I would never have done if they hadn't blocked me in the first place! Morons.
Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
Canadian poster
I canceled my netflix subscription.
I've been able to torrent all the things netflix offered, but I used their service because it was convenient.
Now it isn't, so we go back to the time when there was no netflix.
I mostly use Netflix while traveling on business. I refuse to connect to hotel wifi w/o a VPN. So, as Netflix continues to block my business VPN (not one marketed as a Netflix work around by any means), I will be canceling my subscription, as will others here.
Netflix and rights holders demanding that I (and others) sacrifice *security* because a small number use the same tools to circumvent geo-blocks is ridiculous and short-sighted.
I think they are deluding themselves. What I read is that their VPN region block has been utterly ineffective, except for a small and inconsequential group of people who don't know how to get around their VPN blockade.
That inconsequential group of people numbers somewhere around 46 million.
The VPN is a geek thing --- an added layer of complexity and expense which may or may not work around the block. Simplicity is what sells streaming media, instant access to a broad range of programming, though not necessarily access to every title in the 800 page catalog of Moves Unlimited.
Something is seriously wrong when company artificially needs to create artificial scarcity of product. There is reason why that minority uses VPN to access the service. Im from Finland and here's Netflix movie library is quite limited compared to US offerings.
I bought every season of Game Of Thrones on Amazon Video because my girlfriend in Canada could watch it with me via VPN. It cost me hundreds of dollars I wouldn't have spent otherwise. They should rethink blocking VPNs. If customers are willing to pay then why prevent them from watching the shows they want to see? This is like shooting your own foot for the publishing industry. There is so much money to be made if they just unleash the beast and let all regions simply access the content legally.
The sooner they realize that it's not a good idea to segregate people on a geographical basis in a global market the better.
I'm not jumping ship, I never even got on, and I won't until all the content will be available globally. But I did cancel my spotify subscription when it refused to play the music I wanted.
They put all kinds of restrictions on subscribers, and they wonder why piracy is still a thing.
"Netflix doesn't hurt us" -My former cable provider