By Abhisha Sakthievel
Despite the iconic tweet Netflix made in 2017, “Love is sharing a password,” on February 8, the streaming platform announced its new anti-password sharing policy in Canada.
According to Netflix's Help Center, you can only share your Netflix account with people “who live together in a single household."
This causes many problems for divorced families and families with relatives in post-secondary institutions, the army, abroad, etc. and has caused an outrage, with people saying that it is discriminatory toward split households.
One user called and asked Netflix if he was going to have to pay double for two accounts because his family is divorced and lives in separate homes. According to a New Zealand news outlet, Stuff, Netflix responded, “Unfortunately if the system detects a persistent use of Netflix outside the primary location [it] will be blocked.”
“The whole point of the account is that you are allowed to have multiple accounts… I go to university next year and won’t be able to access my family’s account… I’m [not going to] buy my own [account],” says Alexandra Blake, a Harbord student.
I recently read an article on big media companies and their view on the term ‘family’ by The Atlantic, and the main theme is if your family doesn’t fit in their ‘standard’ definition, “Computer says no.” This piece expands on how these companies pay more attention to getting more subscribers than improving their service. “If you were a child, [switching houses weekly because of your parents’ divorce], you would have to keep calling up a media company to get your TV access unblocked.”
“People have consistently complained about Netflix having many other issues like cancelling/getting rid of shows, … [this] rule is going to be a tipping point for a lot of people and they’ll most likely just take their money elsewhere. Password sharing is also sort of embedded in Netflix’s brand in a way. …When you take that away, you’re also taking away the identity of the brand in a sense,” says Harbord student Celine Tran.
Many students agree with Celine. In a small poll, 76% think that this new policy isn’t a good idea either. 78% share or know someone who currently shares their account and 30% of people know someone who has already cancelled their account.
But one respondent asked, “Why do you want to share your [account] with someone else in the first place?”
This opens the perspective of the other 24% of people who think this policy is a good idea.
“...Netflix loses lots of money every month from people not paying for their own accounts,” Maddy Horner explains, as to why it’s a good idea.
Netflix has 250 million customers and of those users, 100 million share their password with someone else. This results in the streaming platform losing more than 9 billion dollars a year and it reduces their, “ability to invest in great new TV and films,” Netflix says.
“[But] some households may be struggling financially and sometimes borrowing a friend or family member's account would be a cheaper way for [them] to watch movies or shows,” Vailea Huynh argues.
Regardless, this new rule is a little confusing, so let me try and break it down.
Since early last year, Netflix has been testing their new “pay-per-user” system in Latin America. Recently they have planned on adding Canada, Spain, Portugal, and New Zealand to their system.
Currently, Canadian Netflix users have until February 21 to add a primary location, preferably a TV to their account. If you haven’t by the deadline, Netflix said they will do it for you using your account activity and device IDs.
How you may ask? Netflix has stated that by using your IP address, they can determine if another person is using your account “outside of its associated household,” as the Globe and Mail says. They will start verifying accounts by making users enter a four-digit code sent to the account owner’s email address which has to be entered within 15 minutes after the prompt pops up.
There was a previous version which causes people to connect to their principal device’s wifi every 31 days, but it is only currently enabled in Peru and Costa Rica.
Another thing Netflix has thought of were 7-day codes for unlimited use while you’re out of town.
Of course, even after this announcement, people are still going to want to share their passwords, so here’s how it will soon work.
Netflix has made it so users who want to continue sharing their accounts may do so, this new addition is only for users who have either the Standard plan, who can add an extra user (one device) or the Premium plan users, who can add two users (two devices) for an extra 8 dollars a month per user.
You get the same benefits as the person you share with (either standard or premium) and only pay a discounted price.
“Netflix is a million-dollar company that already overcharges people. They don't need tighter restrictions so then more people buy more subscriptions. If anything it's off-putting,” Isabella Keats explains.
On the other hand, many users have found a potential loophole. Yes, this new policy prevents you from using accounts from people you barely talk to, but people have been questioning whether they can share their accounts with friends and family. All they have to do is enter the verification codes before the fifteen-minute timer ends. But, they may not sign in on their TVs.
Do you think that these rules will reduce the amount of password-sharing?