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."

Comments

So pirate?

[borcharc]

Netflix works because it is easier than piracy. Ejecting the very small number of rooted android users won't stop people ripping Netflix content when you can still watch the movies on a computer...

Re:So pirate?

[AthanasiusKircher]

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.

Re:So pirate?

[sl3xd]

Ejecting the very small number of rooted android users won't stop people ripping Netflix content when you can still watch the movies on a computer...

There's a lot to be said that they probably don't care about the very small number of users who have rooted their phones; it will negatively affect a small number of users, but the impact to their bottom line is almost certainly lower than if they had to license (or develop) a different DRM system that would accommodate rooted phones.

Re:So pirate?

[green1]

There's always the other option.
DON'T DEVELOP A DRM SYSTEM AT ALL!

There are many advantages to this approach:
1) you don't piss off your rooted users (even if a small number)
2) it's much cheaper to implement
3) it has EXACTLY the same effect on piracy as a full blown billion dollar DRM scheme.

Re:So pirate?

[AmiMoJo]

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.

Re:So pirate?

[Grishnakh]

The problem here is that the companies they license content from won't allow them to simply not use DRM. Netflix could go this route, and then they wouldn't have any 3rd-party content at all.

Personally, I have two thoughts about this:

1) Who watches TV shows on their *phone*??? Honestly, I can't even imagine.

2) Why does the phone need to be non-rooted? I use Netflix just fine on my Linux system, by using Google Chrome (it's the only thing I use that browser for in fact). I don't have to have a corporate-controlled OS, only a corporate-controlled DRMed browser for that one purpose. So why can't Netflix do things that way on phones for those weirdos who want to watch Netflix on a phone?

Re:So pirate?

[darkain]

Android isn't just phones, it is also set top TV boxes now. Many of those devices come pre-rooted, making the entire market for those devices totally fucked in terms of Netflix now.

Re:So pirate?

[TheRaven64]

What's in it for them? We didn't get away from DRM on music because the big four woke up one day and realised that DRM was anti-consumer. We got away from DRM on music because the big four woke up one day and realised that their insistence on DRM had given Apple a huge amount of control over their distribution channel and the only way to regain this control was to allow other distributors (and, eventually, Apple) to sell music without DRM. Netflix wants to have the same control over movie and TV show distribution that Apple had over music distribution at the height of iPod and iTunes Music Store popularity and the studios seem not to have realised that DRM helps Netflix, not them and so are making it a requirement for distribution. It doesn't do anything to prevent piracy, but it sure adds to be barrier to entry for anyone wanting to start up a Netflix competitor (want to support all of the mutually incompatible set-top boxes that all have Netflix clients? You'll need to develop a load of client apps. Of course, almost all of them can already play back DRM-free H.264...).

Re:So pirate?

[spire3661]

Everyone here knows that this is the beginning of having no control over your device at all. As time goes on, ONLY certified devices will be able to use popular services. Ads will become completely unblockable. Having root will eventually arouse as much suspicion as owning lockpicks.

Re:Unlocking?

[MightyMartian]

If Netflix wants to stay in good with the content providers, it needs to make these shows of strength. This affects such a small group that it's worth a few grumpy rooted phone owners just to show Hollywood they mean business.

Bah!

[therealspacebug]

Bye bye Netflix. Welcome back torrents.

Re:But it's rooted...

[green1]

You'd think,

But for all the brilliant developers out there, nobody has ever created any way of bypassing root detection on phones.

You'd think it would be a no brainer, sandbox the app, and feed it the inputs it wants so it thinks it's on a stock device, but somehow nobody has ever done that.

Instead there have been hundreds of different services that pretend to hide the fact that your phone is rooted, but not one of them ever works.

Why can't someone develop an app sandbox? a virtual machine of some form? sure it may slow the app down a bit, but with the power of today's phones, I can't imagine it would be enough to matter.

Re:Idiocy

[green1]

This is a common theme. Many programs won't run on a rooted phone, but happily run on a computer with admin rights. Unfortunately the most likely "solution" to this obvious double standard isn't for them to start working on rooted phones, it's for users to stop having admin rights on their computers.

Not good for security

[Tukz]

The only thing this does is forcing rooted android users to install Netflix from unofficial installers.

If you can root your phone, you know how to install .apk packages without Google Play Store. They won't be able to find a verified package.

Kodi boxes

[Comboman]

I don't think this is targeting the small number of people with rooted Android phones; it's targeting the large (and growing) number of people who use Android-OS-based TV boxes running Kodi with unauthorized streaming plug-ins (a.k.a. "Kodi Boxes").