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After nearly a year of warnings and testing, Netflix has finally launched its password-sharing crackdown in the United States.
Anyone sharing their Netflix account login with family members or friends who don't live at the same address will be asked to pay an extra $7.99 a month for each additional person. The company started sending out emails Tuesday to people it determined are breaking the rules, and will continue to roll them out to primary account holders in the coming days. The people borrowing the login will get an update when they try to log in that tells them how to start their own account.
People who are using an account on the go will need to login from the primarily address once every 31 days to avoid being flagged.
[...] Netflix has said that 100 million people around the world use its subscription streaming service without paying for their own accounts. It started testing this crackdown on password sharing last year in other countries, but has long said it would eventually come to the U.S., where the company was founded in 1997.
[...] While the company policies have always said accounts were meant to be shared by households, it publicly embraced the practice in the past. In 2017, the official Netflix account tweeted "Love is sharing a password." And at CES in 2016, Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings said the company "loved" that people share Netflix accounts and described it as "a positive thing, not a negative thing," according to CNET.
Streaming companies have been tweaking their businesses over the past year as they struggle with increasing competition and the reality that people can only afford so many monthly subscription fees. Many have raised prices, including Prime Video, Netflix and Apple TV Plus, but no other company has gone after account sharing in the same way.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Thursday May 25 2023, @07:52PM (2 children)
As long as legitimate people don't get caught. If I'm away for work I might watch netflix and I'll be on a 4G or hotel wifi signal somewhere in the world. Meanwhile my S.O is watching netflix (maybe the same time, maybe a different time) at home. I tend not to use my phone or laptop with netflix when I'm at home, as I'll watch it on the TV.
Now that works fine now, the risk is while they try to sweep up people who don't live together but share accounts, they will also catch people like me and drive away genuine customers who aren't trying to cheat the system.
(Score: 2) by DadaDoofy on Thursday May 25 2023, @10:48PM (1 child)
We have a similar situation in that we have two houses in different states. One or both of use might be viewing Netflix from one location or the other. The information I've seen so far says as long as you access the service from your billing address once a month, you are good to go.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Friday May 26 2023, @03:01PM
how would that stop me sharing my password with other people assuming I still use it at home.
Unless its your *device* has to connect from your billing address once a month. Which I wouldn't do as I don't watch netflix on my laptop at home, but do when away.