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Netflix Password Sharing May Soon Be Impossible Due To New AI Tracking (independent.co.uk)

Posted by BeauHD on from the good-things-coming-to-an-end dept.

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.

19 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Simple solution: Charge per stream by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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. ?

    1. Re:Simple solution: Charge per stream by Drethon · · Score: 2

      Why do they "need" AI to solve First. World. Problems. ?

      Because it makes better news for the stocks?

    2. Re:Simple solution: Charge per stream by phantomfive · · Score: 3, Informative

      They want to stop you from sharing your password with your brother who lives on the opposite coast and watches TV at a different time than you. There would only be one stream, but at different times.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    3. Re:Simple solution: Charge per stream by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Which is bullshit. WHY does the location even matter if you are paying per stream???

      i.e.
      If I travel outside the country I get hit by their bullshit geo-IP blocking. I'm *paying* for the fucking service but can't use it -- all because I'm out of the country??? WTF! (Yes, I know its because of the greed of the Content Creators who license their IP and not technically Netflix's fault but this is still bullshit.)

      All these shenanigans do is just drive people to use proxies.

    4. Re:Simple solution: Charge per stream by scamper_22 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well let's go through all the business problems.

      One of the biggest benefits of Netflix is it's simplicity. I never have to check the billing. It's the same price every month. I don't have to watch the usage like I do on other services or worry about a crazy number of packages.

      So even if charging by stream would be rare, it's still that thing in the back of your mind. Like watching your internet usage cap. You also have to have more support with people calling in wondering when they used their 6th stream and disputing bills...

      You also want to be careful about cutting people off just for streams. Maybe they really are on vacation and are watching netflix. Maybe you actually want some leeway for some general sharing. Like a kid going off to university using his 'home' parents account. You don't want to antoganize customers whose perception is they are legitimate.

      AI is probably just a buzzword :P but if you can really get the data to determine those mass shared accounts where its beyond one household's or one family's general usage and then pursue those... more power to them.

  2. Let my ex take her profile with her by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Let my ex take her profile with her by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > She can't take her watching history, and her list of bookmarked titles to her new account.
      > Come on dudes, your devs could easily add account merges and splits

      Agreed! That would be REALLY nice Quality of Life improvement. You are spot on about watching history being "locked" to an account. This isn't fucking rocket science -- just some basic computer science.

      Even worse is when old content gets pulled. How am I supposed to add it to my "Want to watch again list". I can't because the page no longer exists.

      The Netflix UI is a complete clusterfuck at times. When you search for content that they don't have rights / license to they instead show "other related" shows. NO! I want to go to the entity I _searched_ for AND I want give you FEEDBACK that I'm interested in by pressing "Notify me when this becomes available". Kind of like a "Wish List". Gee, apparently this is too fucking hard to figure out!

      HBO Go has a really nice feature "Leaving soon..." Content that will be going away at the end of the month. THAT's how you keep engagement high. INFORM people what they can't soon watch so they are more likely to watch it.

      That thumbs up/down rating system is also shit. The 5 star system allows me to grade something as "Great!", "Good", "Meh", "Bad", "Total crap". Lacking fine granularity is NOT helpful.

      Do they even USE their product???

    2. Re:Let my ex take her profile with her by mjwx · · Score: 4, Informative

      I still share my Netflix with my ex.

      I don't really think this is there problem.

      I spend a bit of time in developing nations, there are a fair few people reselling Nexflix logins. You can easily resell a 4 screen account to 15-20 people by sharing the password. They change the password each month to ensure that people still pay. I think these are the people Netflix is looking for.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  3. Works for me! by SirAstral · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  4. don't need AI for that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.

  5. Slow Down! by Barny · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    --
    ...
    /me sighs
    1. Re:Slow Down! by j-beda · · Score: 4, Informative

      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.

      Further, while Netflix might someday stop this type of activity, they already monetize it by charging subscribers higher prices if they want to be able to view multiple streams simultaneously.

  6. Re:Not sure why netflix would implement this by Kyogreex · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah, and if people start getting messages that they need to spend more because they're on a business trip and their kid in another state is watching at the same time (and similar scenarios) when they're already paying for the two-stream service, I would imagine they'll start getting pissed.

  7. Why not use the AI to find VPN users? by AHuxley · · Score: 2

    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"
  8. For all of the hype by edi_guy · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.

  9. That's not AI by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

    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/
  10. Then I'm done by fluffernutter · · Score: 2

    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.
  11. Clickbait article. by atrex · · Score: 4, Informative

    TFA is about a UK-based Synamedia firm that has developed this "AI software" to combat password sharing by geolocating account activity.

    "The company said it is already carrying out trials with a number of pay-TV operators but did not reveal which ones."

    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.

  12. Duplicate by phalse+phace · · Score: 2

    Duplicate from a week ago.

    Jan. 3, 2019: Video Services May Use AI To Crack Down on Password Sharing