Chances are that you and your friends are sharing your Netflix password and that might soon stop. The video streaming company is looking at ways to curb password sharing for its over 200 million users. The service cites both business and security reasons as its reason for this measure.
According to GammaWire, the feature prevents those without authorisation to use an account from accessing it. “This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so,” a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement.
If you’re trying to use the account without being an account owner, Netflix will ask you to verify later or verify being an account owner through an email code or text code.
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If you’re then unable to verify owning the account within a certain timeframe, Netflix won’t allow them to stream any content. The service will instead ask them to sign up for their own account.
The loophole is that people can still share passwords as long as they have their friends on standby to provide them with the authentication code. However, it could potentially stop some sharing.
From a Netflix standpoint, its terms of service state that streaming content on the platform is “for your personal and non-commercial use only and may not be shared with individuals beyond your household”.
However, this raises questions for subscribers as to how the service classifies a household. Several households would usually not be in the same physical location or share one device and this would prove problematic.
In 2016, Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings specifically addressed the potential bottleneck of password sharing. “Password sharing is something you have to learn to live with. There’s so much legitimate password sharing, like you sharing with your spouse, with your kids, so there’s no bright line, and we’re doing fine as is,” Hastings said.
It seems Netflix is no longer content with that standpoint. Now it’s taking on the difficult task of trying to impose tighter restrictions around password sharing.
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