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Netflix May Soon Crack Down on Password Sharing
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What video rental store did you use that was $15-20? Blockbuster was like twice what the little independent rental place near my house growing up and even they werent even close to that...
Agree that that is the definition of a household. But then it directly follows that if your friends or extended family come over and watch your Netflix, or if you show them any content on your mobile device, you are violating the terms of your subscription:
”4.2 The Netflix service and any content...may not be shared with individuals beyond your household.”
If that’s the hill you want to die on, go for it...
That's my number one question too... Got my first one going off to college this fall. Other than that, I travel a lot for business. We travel a lot as a family/ or did before all this pandemic craziness. So we're often watching outside our home or in a different state. Don't see how Netflix could even begin to account for situations like that, which are all within their usage guidelines. My guess is they're just going to go with a nag feature that intermittently makes people verify their account or access with an email or mobile device registered to the account. While annoying, I guess I'd be OK with that because I don't share my passwords/ access to stuff. And they already have a simultaneous device/ stream limit, so I don't see where they really can crack down any more than that or would need to.
So funny to see so many struggle with the definition of a household. The word really has nothing to do with “family”. It is for people (related or not) that live in the same home/house. If you have 2 children, and you host a foreign exchange student in your home - and they all live under the one roof, they are your household. Your parents, or your 22 year old daughter, or your 40 year old sister living on the other side of the country (or town) but that live in different homes, are not your household. The multiple streams in your tier are not for giving out to different households. The stream allowance simply recognizes that everyone under the one roof doesn’t sit around and watch one TV together, like some scene from the 70s. It simply allows the members of the household to simultaneously watch different content. But this isn’t the first agreement or contract that many members felt need not be followed.
We share our Netflix password with our kids only. They are away at college or live out of town. We never share our logon with folks outside of the family. I always thought the notion of a "household" applied to our immediate family, since we pay for the top tier that allows up to 4 live streams. I guess I was wrong.
You really think if every household had their own subscription they wouldn’t increase the price?
Not necessarily. There are divorced parents who pay for their kids’ subscription services when the kids are staying with the other parent when the kids alternate houses each week or every two weeks or whatever their arrangements are. The parent who owns the account still considers his or her kids part of their household regardless of whether the kids are actually under the same roof all the time.
Edit: ah, I just got to the later explanations of the legal definition of household, so you’re correct. But that definition...How quaint.
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Wait... do if you have a vacation home, are traveling or otherwise? Then Netflix is now becoming the same as cable TV and could lose a lot of subscribers.
Yeah, it's weird. Here's the full section.
So yeah, having a friend over to watch seems against the ToS. Surely it's more about public performances, sharing the password, or copying the video, so maybe it's just a blanket clause. Anyway, go Bears!
Come on, give me a reason to cancel. The only reason why i keep paying is that my parents living in another country can also use it. I am paying for the highest tier, so 4 screens can use it simultaneously, mess with status quo and I'll gladly stop paying altogether.
I don't even care about this. I would be ok with them cracking down on multiple users sometimes. My thing is there just isn’t enough content to justify subscribing every month. Most of the stuff they have. I have seen a million times. Not much original content that I’m interested in either.
Probably it’s more of a deterrent and a play on guilty and morals trips, plus the annoying back and forth also.
Also, when I was in high school the amount of things I would download was overdone, I started paying for software/music/services/etc as soon as I had enough money just to save all the time wasted battling the torrents, broken incomplete files, the movie that wasn’t the movie, malware, etc... I wish I could have all that time back. So maybe they will find ways to make people lose a lot of time with this.
On a separate note, I hope apple doesn’t do the same, I’m the owner sharing with other 5 immediate family members, but we are quite spread apart and not in the same household.
I don't understand differentiating by video quality. Shouldn't Netflix want people to see the best version of its content? I can't pay $5 to watch Netflix in black and white.
It would make more sense to me if cheaper subscriptions lacked access to certain shows and movies. (Not that I'm saying that would be a good idea either, just that it seems better than charging extra for higher resolutions.)
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I guess I thought I was paying for screen access and up to 4 live streams when I bought the top tier plan. Netflix Apps work on mobile devices, so I could literally be anywhere streaming their service. The idea that this subscription was somehow tied to a physical location (i.e. my residence) seems antithetical to the entire notion of buying streaming service that can be used anywhere (vacation, coffee shop, train, visiting friends & family) on mobile devices.
During the pandemic, those of you with college age and young working adult children understand that they moved around a lot. My daughter works remote right now, so she left DC to stay with us for a number of months, then went back to her apartment in DC, then took off with friends to stay near national parks (works remote early in the day and hike/bike late afternoon). In a few months, she is going to start grad school and move again. Seriously, she suppose to change Netflix streaming "households" every time she moves.
Netflix should just offer a family plan that allows up to 4 live streams regardless of location. If they need to adjust the price, so be it. Then, I have a decision to make. If it is too expensive, I'll drop Netflix. If the price is fair, I'll keep it.
During the pandemic, those of you with college age and young working adult children understand that they moved around a lot. My daughter works remote right now, so she left DC to stay with us for a number of months, then went back to her apartment in DC, then took off with friends to stay near national parks (works remote early in the day and hike/bike late afternoon). In a few months, she is going to start grad school and move again. Seriously, she suppose to change Netflix streaming "households" every time she moves.
Netflix should just offer a family plan that allows up to 4 live streams regardless of location. If they need to adjust the price, so be it. Then, I have a decision to make. If it is too expensive, I'll drop Netflix. If the price is fair, I'll keep it.
funny, i finally got us our own netflix last month)) good timing, i guess. but that's a dumb move, like stop carpooling and get your own damn car.
The funny thing is that the mobile devices themselves are often operating on “family plans” that offer more lines at higher prices, and the carriers do not prevent you from sharing lines across multiple households. So Netflix has managed to be more customer-hostile than the mobile carriers...which most consumers already have a pretty dim view of.
Netflix subscription is the one thing I never purchased and just borrowed a friends account for Stranger Things, Disney Plus on the other hand was worth it in comparison.
Netflix even canned Mind Hunter, like seriously? What else is there to watch now.
Netflix even canned Mind Hunter, like seriously? What else is there to watch now.