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Netflix Password Sharing May Soon Be Impossible Due To New AI Tracking (independent.co.uk)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Independent: A video software firm has come up with a way to prevent people from sharing their account details for Netflix and other streaming services with friends and family members. UK-based Synamedia unveiled the artificial intelligence software at the CES 2019 technology trade show in Las Vegas, claiming it could save the streaming industry billions of dollars over the next few years. The AI system developed by Synamedia uses machine learning to analyze account activity and recognize unusual patterns, such as account details being used in two locations within similar time periods. The idea is to spot instances of customers sharing their account credentials illegally and offering them a premium shared account service that will authorize a limited level of password sharing. The company said it is already carrying out trials with a number of pay-TV operators but did not reveal which ones.
There is a real simple solution.
Just charge per stream.
Share your password with 50 people. You get billed at the Tier 50 level.
They could even have a family plan so the first 5 streams have a base rate, and charge for every X streams over that.
Why do they "need" AI to solve First. World. Problems. ?
I still share my Netflix with my ex. She's willing to pay for Netflix herself, but there is a problem. She can't take her watching history, ratings, and her list of bookmarked titles to her new account. When asked, Netflix say "meh, just start over".
Come on dudes, your devs could easily add account merges and splits (and while at it, give me an option to let me watch the end credits in full screen in peace). I'm not motivated enough to write a scraper/saver to copy her profile from my account to hers using Greasemonkey (the watch list is probably easy to get, but the entirely to watch progress and the simulation needed to bring every timestamp over might be harder on my end), and you guys don't seem either.
But hey, AI is cool. Decent profile handling is so meh. Don't forget the blockchain.
Netflix charges per simultaneous stream, sharing your password either means you cant use it or you need a bigger plan which earns them more money.
We live in a rural area where our only available internet connection is by way of satellite. One result is that no location service ever knows where we are. They will think we are in California one minute and Ohio the next. If I understand this new technology correctly, this might hamper our use of services such as Netflix.
I actually hate this service but everyone in the family wants it... so I pay for two of them.
I hope they come down on me so I can get rid of it entirely.
This will only lose them money in the long run likely because the rule of piracy is if you make content difficult to get a hold of, piracy become so easy that they go there instead of with your bullshit draconian DRM schemes for money.
Garbage hype. You don't need AI to recognize when a user is streaming from 2 different locations at near the same time. You need an algorithm. A very simple algorithm.
There is nothing in the source that hints that Netflix are at all interested in using this, and there is nothing at all that links them with Netflix.
This company and/or the various "news" outlets spreading this are piggybacking on Netflix's name to push a new tech with FUD.
...
I download movies and watch them at my leisure for free.
No way I am going to PAY for a "service" which does business like Netflix does.
Now, you could say I am violating copyright, but all I'm doing is watching video which is streamed from a server which is beyond the grasp of the MPAA. I'm not the person breaking the law, I am just availing myself of entertainment which is free for the watching.
I might pay Netflix for a service which was worth using, but since Netflix has become progressively less useful AND they are now going to start tracking users, they can take a long walk off a short pier.
Fuck 'em.
If the "AI" was so smart why did it not understand the problem and go for the VPN users too?
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Basically it just comes down to "... as account details being used in two locations within similar time periods." You don't need 'machine learning' for that. I suspect Netflix does this behind the scenes and lets it roll for the most common instances of household members watching separately. A while back Amazon clamped down on multiple accounts without AI. I doubt anyone will buy/invest in this firm.
I will continue to invest my own money in brick and mortar companies like Sears and Macy's.
Given the rapidly dwindling selection of movies and progressively limited interface, the first arbitrary AI lockout will be a great excuse to drop Netflix altogether.
pay per device or per steam at the same time?
Instead of trying to figure out how to make life harder for couples, how about making it easier for them to watch together. There's still no concept of shared viewing in Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and other services like there is with watch2gether. When my gf and I aren't near each other it'd be nice to sync up and watch things together. Right now we do that by saying "1 2 3 go" and hitting play. These jackasses are wasting time worrying about how to block their customer's enjoyment instead of enhancing it, competition is going to come around and knock you on reality's ass. The whole point of netflix and chill is to have quality time with someone, morons. People will go back to stealing using kodi, rabb.it, or plex if you block them. You aren't going to block anything but your own revenue source.
that's painfully obvious. Netflix can stop password sharing anytime they want. They don't do it because they're smart enough to know it means a loss of subscribers.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
When I signed up, It was for streaming to X amount of screens. There was no mention of "In a single geographical location". My family and I are all over the damn place- all the damn time, and we all have NF going with our own profiles during our downtime. It's actually easier and more convenient than just torrenting my media.
Listen Netflix. This is your best feature. It's why I signed up. If you add hoops, captchas, and other DRMish garbage, I'm cancelling my service. I don't care if you call it an AI feature. I don't care that you wan't more money. This is the service you sold me. It will simply be easier to spend the same money on VPN service, and teach the fam how to torrent instead.
Don't give me the tired copyright infringement is stealing bullshit either. We don't feel bad about not paying for the media, because your industry don't feel bad about collecting on it for 90 years after the authors death. We're happy to take it back, because the entertainment industry as a whole feels no shame stealing decades of media from the public every time you buy another copyright extension. There is no moral high ground.
You found the sweet spot, Netflix. Don't push it. Your competing with torrents. Every-single-thing selection, no ads, privacy respecting, locally stored, play on any device, in any location, as often as you like torrents.
You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
Take it away from me fine but I'll never pay.
This would be end game for me. I'd be done with Netflix. Being able to have one account for the family is the only way the subscription makes financial sense, especially here in Canada.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
So what, now couples and families always have to watch Netflix on their phone from their living room? They can't travel and use the Netflix app anymore? If you pay for 4 streams, you can't use 4 streams?
It's not out of the question for a single household to have more than one internet connection. Maybe the TV in the main room is hooked up to a fibre landline service but then little Johnny wants to watch on a mobile device in his room and he doesn't always connect to wifi and instead uses his cell service. That would show up as two IPs and unless this company is able to track physical locations of IPs across multiple services then it will red-flag with Netflix and they would unfairly cancel your service. Or someone sublets a part of their home that has it's own DSL service, but the person who sublets is actually a member of the family on their way to becoming independent. Might not be terribly common, but these things will happen. Plus there are the concerns that a company is out there aligning IPs with physical locations. Who gives them permission to do this and can you easily opt-out? Anyone with a bit of tech savvy can redirect through a VPN. What does the tracking service make of multiple logins that all use the same VPN? That would effectively cripple it and so anyone who wants to share their Netflix just has to make sure everyone is using the same VPN service. Even if they are not sharing illegitimately is still a perfectly sensible thing to do for privacy-minded folks.
Is this world imploding with AI this and AI that?
You just need to check the accounts logins against : is it possible this assclown was 500 miles apart within 10 minutes? Did the world go full r-tard?
I think Netflix is likely more concerned with shutting down those who abuse their subscription by sharing access with several persons. I personally share it only with an ex roommate who was in the same household(which is permissible) for several months before moving to live with his brother in another state. I never took away his access after he moved. He is on disability and has poor eyesight. He couldn't afford a luxury like this and I doubt he is doing heavy watching due to being almost legally blind. I pay for the highest streaming plan cause I love 4k streaming their original programs. Netflix is most likely turning a profit on me despite allowing one other to share especially since I only use it a few times a month.
Considering that they sell a tier of service SPECIFICALLY designed (and marketed) at sharing an account...
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
How does this save money?
I pay a higher tier because I share with my mom and we'd run out of screens. But then what's unusual? I travel once or twice a year across country and I watch netflix in my hotel room. That could be seen as unusual, but legitimate. I'm hoping they're looking at some extreme cases like dozens of people watching in a cooperative.
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
I just started watching netflix. They should pay me to watch that shit.
Really? You've forgotten you posted this already?
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/19/01/03/2141254/video-services-may-use-ai-to-crack-down-on-password-sharing
else's hands that is not fully encrypted by you before hand. Is monitored, reviewed, accessed and data mined by said company/anyone willing to pay said company for special access.
;)
The collecting and selling access to all said information is a revenue stream for all of these companies. That is why they are in business and what they do to make money, It is all about making money!
If you use these devices, these sites or their services you must just accept it.
If this bothers you, your only option that works is to not use their services/products, period!
Just my 2 cents
TFA is about a UK-based Synamedia firm that has developed this "AI software" to combat password sharing by geolocating account activity.
It says nothing about an actual partnership with Netflix or any other provider other than that single statement near the end of the article.
Netflix account tiers already have different levels of simultaneous stream allowances (1, 2, and 4). As long as your levels never go above what you're paying for, there's no reason for them to give a damn if your "family" is in different locations. The writer of this article just shoved Netflix in the title line for clickbait.
Duplicate from a week ago.
Jan. 3, 2019: Video Services May Use AI To Crack Down on Password Sharing
>The company said it is already carrying out trials with a number of pay-TV operators but did not reveal which ones.
Probably because 15 min later someone would find a way around it.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
This should be interesting. My kids watch from home or school, but I'd be watching from hotels while on business trips. I guess the devices will be consistent though and the number of users/streams.
... uses machine learning to analyze account activity and recognize unusual patterns, such as account details being used in two locations within similar time periods...
Wow, almost everything is machine learning now! Such a buzz word...
Another 'AI' fairy tale on SlashDot. Remember when technology was actually interesting?
I did the netflix trial.
I love their interface, and the possibility of using it in the devices in own, including a TV app/applet...
but, and big BUT:
the show and movies are....OLD. The only saving gracing is netflix own productions, which obviously are limited.
Come the TV series are what, 2 years behind?
When and if Holywood gets their act together, and allows them to sell new content....if hell freezes over, I will sign up the next day.
Why do you need AI to determine if someone is logging in from a different location?
People have built things like that ~10 years ago with good old if statements.
I built a system that analyzed login patterns to deter account sharing once. It was about 40 lines of Python composed of a tiny bit of logic and a database lookup. It literally took 30 minutes to create.
Netflix sucks. Why would you share it? They've stopped licensing good movies to pay for their misguided trysts with doing their own shows, which thus far have all been just terrible.
Honestly, who wants to see Kevin Spacey chasing after some skinny 20-something bimbo on screen when they can see him chasing after some skinny 20-something male model in real life?
People that weren't willing to pay for Netflix's service before AI tracking still won't be willing to pay for Netflix's services after AI tracking. Allowing people to circumvent payment of products and services like this have historically made businesses more profitable. Facebook, Google, YouTube, Spotify, and even FL Studio can track their large levels of success to the fact that customers tried their products and services for free before deciding to buy the product or service or the company found some other way to monetize the customer. Perhaps one could argue that the savings come from a reduced load on the servers?
Seeing AI mentioned, I thought the screen is going to see you to confirm it's you. I'm sure they can ask to turn on camera (yeah handle privacy someway) and ensure it's a live person and the account holder [i guess movie theaters using photo id to confirm reservation is similar]
What I watch at home in my spare time is different from what I watch on my lunch when I am at work, for obvious reasons. On my lunch I typically watch episodes of shows that fit into my lunch hour, family rated usually, at home I watch full length movies, most are rated R. I would get flagged for 2 different locations for 2 different types of history. And I'm not even sharing my password with anyone. Would be interested to see how many issues their money grab would cause. They would lose legit subscribers I imagine for hassling them
I don't know anyone named Al, so Netflix can track him all the want, so long as it doesn't affect my streams.
So glad I chose piracy instead. Everything works the way I want it to work.
"Machine learning to analyze account activity and recognize unusual patterns, such as account details being used in two locations within similar time periods"
You don't need machine learning to do this basic fisher price shit. Who do these people think they are? Kunta Kinte?
This does not make any sense at all
If anyone will re-translate their stuff via any online services that also can be protected via different password, than they cannot use any facilities, including AI to stop that.
Yep, nothing but a press release here. Bop over to techdirt to read the actual story. Both HBO and Netflix are fine with password sharing. So, why is this urgent solution even necessary?
It isn't.
https://www.techdirt.com/artic...