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posted by martyb on Monday June 08 2020, @10:38PM   Printer-friendly
from the Do-unto-others dept.

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?


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @03:49PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 09 2020, @03:49PM (#1005217)

    Netflix isn't quite a monopoly, but they are close, so it's hard to use the "Dump 'em and get another" option.

    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.

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