Slashdot Mirror
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.
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 because it's a US title doesn't mean the rights holder sold the US distribution rights to Netflix
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Then Netflix shouldn't put it on my list. Or rather they should dish out for the rights, they've continued to increase prices while dropping more than half their content.
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*
Then Netflix shouldn't put it on my list. Or rather they should dish out for the rights, they've continued to increase prices while dropping more than half their content.
You should just stop paying them.
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?
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"
You read what you wanted to read -- that's not a real error message. "Not not available right now" --- that's a thing. But it never says the country. P.s. you get that message when your internet sucks or when the implementation sucks (e.g. that black friday blu-ray player)...
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.