Netflix testing a new feature to curtail password sharing

[Fla Dem]

Netflix is testing a new feature that could prevent non-subscribers from piggybacking off of a friend's or family member's account and effectively stop people from sharing passwords for the streaming service.

The new feature is being tested among a small, random sample of customers worldwide. Selected users are being asked to confirm they either are — or live with — the account holder when they enter credentials to log in to the video streaming platform. A code is sent to the subscriber, which the user is then asked to provide. Test subjects also have the option to move past the prompt and verify the account later in order to continue streaming, or to create a new account.

"This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so," a Netflix spokesperson told CBS MoneyWatch.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/netflix-password-sharing-crackdown-feature/

[soothsayer]

1. Seems reasonable

[jimfields33]

2. Actually they charge for additional users

I purchase the 4 person plan so I can let three others use nextflix. It’s not free.

[pidge]

4. According to the article they have to live with each other....same household.

[jimfields33]

5. What a rip off.

I knew with everyone cutting the cord, the companies with streaming were going to get greedy.

[MoonchildCA]

3. Why can't the subscriber give the user the code?

My daughter shares mine, and I have had the same account since she was a teen. She now lives across the country, but still, it seems like her account too.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. She lives across the counry.

Seems like she could get her own account.

[MoonchildCA]

8. She works non profit. Money is tight these days.

[TexasBushwhacker]

12. Then why don't you pay for a basic Netflix account for her? N/t

[Indykatie]

7. Multiple Plans on an Account are so Members in the Same Household Can Watch at Same Time

I'm sure Netflix is losing billions in revenue because of accounts historically being shared with friends and family that don't live with subscriber that aren't kids away at college.

[hunter]

9. My parents didn't know I had girlfriends in college...

... and I never told them what sorts of movies I was watching either.

I have wonderful parents but I don't think I'd have shared a Netflix account with them.

My children never did. They had their own streaming subscriptions before my wife and I did. One of our kids, a huge fan of small budget cinema, set us up with Netflix in the first place.

My wife and I have a basic Netflix account for $8.99 a month that is limited to a single stream. We watch television together mostly, but not always. I can't really picture us watching separate movies simultaneously in separate rooms.

Sometimes I'll watch movies my wife wouldn't be interested in while she is at work. Sometimes she'll watch movies I wouldn't be interested in while I'm asleep. (Alas, our work and sleep schedules are sometimes out of synch.) We have one television in the family room. That's all. If we were watching movies in separate rooms one of us would be watching on a laptop. Not worth it.

[Coventina]

10. What if the account owner isn't at home?

[Fla Dem]

11. There's no problem with someone in the same household using the account.

It's people sharing account access codes with individuals not part of their households. They live somewhere else. I have a friend who uses their sister's access. They live in different parts of the state. Both can afford their own subscription, but as there wasn't and still is no way to restrict shared use, they figured "why not".

[TexasBushwhacker]

13. Yup, the old "I won't get caught, so why not steal?" N/t

[Ms. Toad]

14. That misses the point of the question.

The mechanism to catch non-residents seems to assume that at the time the challenge is issued, the parties will be in the same household so the code sent to the owner can be given immediately to the party trying to use Netflix.

There are 3 of us in our household. My daughter works overnight - and on days when she is not working she is hanging with her buddy until 3-4 AM. Her email is the one on the account, for some reason, even though we pay the bills. I'm often at work (often running Netflix in the background) until sometime between midnight and 2 AM. My spouse is home most of the time.

So at the times they are likely to issue the challenge, their assumption that we are in the same household to share the code when the challenge is issued, is unlikely to be an accurate assumption. In that case, we will need to verify later . . . which, in terms of catching cheaters, would look identical to us living in separate households.

[Fla Dem]

15. OK, I didn't set up the process, just shared what I had read.

However, you raise a good question, and it's probably why "The new feature is being tested among a small, random sample of customers worldwide". They'll work out the kinks before they go full throttle with the process.

I'm sure scenarios similar to the one you offered (The person using Netflix at the time, doesn't have access to the subscriber's mail/text) came up in one of their brainstorming sessions.