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.

Comments

I killed my service

[future assassin]

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.

Re:Small and inconsequential

[Austerity Empowers]

it's small and inconsequential

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.

I don't know a single person who was actually stopped by this, but there was a lot of chuckling when it went down.

Geolocking shakedown

[geekpowa]

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?

He's lying

[jnork]

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.