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Since the beginning of 2020 Netflix has been waging a war against its own users to prevent them from using proxy, VPN and unblocker technology to access Netflix content even though this action is legal in many countries. In Australia Netflix has reported "connection errors" to paying customers, advising them to "check their network" including to "restart their router" in order to "fix" a problem accessing Netflix. The issue is that there was no such problem. It was Netflix deliberately blocking paying customers from accessing the service they paid for. As of June 2020 Netflix shows a proper error message and redirects users to a page stating that using a proxy or VPN is disallowed. While Netflix can set the terms of service it can't deceive customers or act fraudulently. Netflix did not post information to its customers that it was blocking VPN, for example, it just cut the connection. This deceptive behaviour could see Netflix run afoul of the ACCC Non-delivery of products & services which states that It is illegal for a business to accept payment for products or services they do not intend to supply.
What would you do if you were paying for a service and the vendor refused to provide the service and did not tell you why?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday June 09 2020, @02:10AM (3 children)
Netflix isn't quite a monopoly, but they are close, so it's hard to use the "Dump 'em and get another" option.
Back "in the day" of dialup, one service I used started to struggle with too many subscribers, bandwidth plummeted. I was a newsfeed downloader, so between 3 and 7am I saturated the old 38.4kbps modem which I'm sure pushed up my data transfer totals into the "rare" category. This ISP cancelled my account citing "TOS violations" - I read the TOS front to back, nothing in there forbid downloading newsgroups or using all the available bandwidth, called them out on it, they refused to specify what in the TOS I violated. No big deal, had another, much better, ISP within hours. My coworker who had just signed up for the "buy 10 months, get 2 free" deal wasn't so lucky... he suffered sub 100 baud download rates from then on, they never did manage to fix their bandwidth issues, eventually folded the business.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday June 09 2020, @03:10PM (1 child)
No it's not. Prime, Hulu, Disney+, HBONow, etc., etc. Netflix has enjoyed market leadership for a time because they got there first, and got it mostly right. However, there is an entire legacy TV industry that is desperate to survive the death of cable, so it's likely Netflix will face well-funded rivals for quite a while. I personally think Netflix's greatest weapon in that fight is the fine-grained data they have collected on viewer habits over the past 15 years, but eventually Netflix alumni will get stolen away by sweeter offers from the rivals, and they will take the know-how with them. Netflix, for its part, will choose to hire PHBs that will screw up the gravy train. It's the usual story.
But for now, there are still signs that Netflix is experimenting and trying to outrun their own success. Blocking VPNs is a rear-guard action while they try to figure out the successful formula for its next iteration (perhaps interactive programming like Bandersnatch or You vs. Wild...?).
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday June 09 2020, @05:29PM
Anytime I consider a Netflix competitor, I see similar pricing for dramatically inferior product selection...
They haven't pissed me off much, lately, so I'm not really looking to change, but if I were, I'd consider any competition I've evaluated to be a major step down in value for money.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @03:49PM
Netflix operates numerous monopolies, because copyrighted works are not fungible. This make it impossible to "dump 'em and get another" (legally). If you want to watch a Netflix original series, you can only go to Netflix - no other competitor can offer Netflix's content because Netflix refuses to license that content to other streaming services.
This is an entirely legal use of the government-granted monopoly created by copyright law, of course, but nevertheless it is using a monopoly on content to skew competition in a different market (the market for content delivery), such that providing the best experience for the user becomes a secondary consideration to accumulating more exclusive content.