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Netflix Says No To Unlocked Android Smartphones (androidpolice.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Last week Netflix app started showing up as "incompatible" on the Play Store for rooted and unlocked Android devices. However, the app itself continued to work fine, leading some to think it could have been an accident. However, Netflix has now confirmed to blog AndroidPolice that blocking modified devices from downloading the app was intentional. This is the full statement: "With our latest 5.0 release, we now fully rely on the Widevine DRM provided by Google; therefore, many devices that are not Google-certified or have been altered will no longer work with our latest app and those users will no longer see the Netflix app in the Play Store."
While I imagine there will be a bunch of Netflix hate here, I'd assume this is at least partly to conform to licensing standards insisted on by content creators. Obviously Netflix is becoming a major content creator, so they have self-interest here too, but the less "locked down" their service, the harder it will likely be for them to get 3rd-party licensed content.
It's security theatre, for the benefit of copyright holders who don't understand computers but were told by a DRM salesman they needed it to stop everyone watching for free.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC