Netflix password sharing

[vols4sure]

If your password is being used with your permission to stream outside of your household, then you are stealing. If any member of the “household” is allowing the password to be used by people that are not members of the household, then the household is stealing. It isn’t in the user agreement that any relative is considered a member of the household. It’s not that complicated.

While technically you are correct, it is Netflix's fault that people do not understand that sharing passwords with family members that do not live at your home is stealing. They knew it was common and did not care for so long now I would go so far now as saying Netflix made it permissible even though it is technically against their terms of service.

 

[vols4sure]

How am I stealing whilst paying out money? Your words don’t make sense.

Paying for one at a buffet but sharing food with a second person is ___?

 

[butchna]

That is fine if your daughters are living under your roof. If they live somewhere else, then they are stealing from Netflix when using your account.

The service is being paid for. I pay for multiple users. Doesn’t matter where they’re using it. They micromanage me and they lose the money I’m paying. Then THEY’RE “stealing” from themselves.

 

[butchna]

While technically you are correct, it is Netflix's fault that people do not understand that sharing passwords with family members that do not live at your home is stealing. They knew it was common and did not care for so long now I would go so far now as saying Netflix made it permissible even though it is technically against their terms of service.

It’s common sense and it’s made them billions. Kill the golden goose and let technicalities keep them warm.

 

[butchna]

Paying for one at a buffet but sharing food with a second person is ___?

What are going to do with the food without the customer? Letting my daughters have a few tomatoes from the salad bar gonna cost you?

 

[ButchPlz]

The service is being paid for. I pay for multiple users. Doesn’t matter where they’re using it. They micromanage me and they lose the money I’m paying. Then THEY’RE “stealing” from themselves.

Exactly this. You pay for the product, it's yours to use as you see fit.

If they want to put a one-profile limit on there, tell people each account is for one user, and had started cracking down from the beginning it's one thing. Instead, they openly encouraged people to have multiple profiles and let this "theft" go for years. Clearly they did not see it this way, so it's rich that people are trying to go to bat for a billion-dollar-plus corporation that's never had a problem with it until they start going bust for contributing to the cultural ruination of their own markets.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

They were fat and happy. It exposes the laziness in their leaders.

They knew what they were doing. Allowing the theft was okay as long as the subscriber count continued to grow. The stock valuation has been positively correlated to the sub count. They really don’t make much money because they have to spend a fortune on content and to a lesser (relative) extent infrastructure. As a maturing company the stock price will transition to the traditional method of valuation - profitability rather than growth. With sub growth stagnant they can save on CapEx for infrastructure by weeding out the thieves. The subscriber revenue shouldn’t fall much by removing the cheaters. They might even start growing their subscriber base when some of the thieves are cut off and have to get their own accounts to view their shows.

 

[vols4sure]

What are going to do with the food without the customer? Letting my daughters have a few tomatoes from the salad bar gonna cost you?

Where is the line? Pizza buffet and you give two pieces to your daughters instead of paying child price. Then tell your friends and next week they do the same. They tell there friends and now every adult brings their children to eat free. What does the pizza place do to offset?

 

[golfballs]

Investors in Netflix stock have lost $50 billion today.

Because they announced a crack down on password sharing?

 

[ButchPlz]

They knew what they were doing. Allowing the theft was okay as long as the subscriber count continued to grow. The stock valuation has been positively correlated to the sub count. They really don’t make much money because they have to spend a fortune on content and to a lesser (relative) extent infrastructure. As a maturing company the stock price will transition to the traditional method of valuation - profitability rather than growth. With sub growth stagnant they can save on CapEx for infrastructure by weeding out the thieves. The subscriber revenue shouldn’t fall much by removing the cheaters. They might even start growing their subscriber base when some of the thieves are cut off and have to get their own accounts to view their shows.

They're hemorrhaging subscribers without cracking down, so I'm not sure this is going to happen.

Good riddance to them either way.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

How am I stealing whilst paying out money? Your words don’t make sense.

By receiving services that aren’t being paid for. You don’t understand.

 

[ButchPlz]

Where is the line? Pizza buffet and you give two pieces to your daughters instead of paying child price. Then tell your friends and next week they do the same. They tell there friends and now every adult brings their children to eat free. What does the pizza place do to offset?

Depends, did they allow this to go on for a decade? If so, they've got themselves to blame. Trying to lobby for individual responsibility on one side and not on the other is goofy as hell.

 

[dobre_shunka]

If your password is being used with your permission to stream outside of your household, then you are stealing. If any member of the “household” is allowing the password to be used by people that are not members of the household, then the household is stealing. It isn’t in the user agreement that any relative is considered a member of the household. It’s not that complicated.

What if someone identifies as being part of my household? What gives Netflix the right to decide who is in my household?

Isn't each person's self-declared reality what others should accept and follow?

 

[vols4sure]

Depends, did they allow this to go on for a decade? If so, they've got themselves to blame. Trying to lobby for individual responsibility on one side and not on the other is goofy as hell.

See my earlier post. I agree with you here. Netflix made it permissible by not enforcing. In the past, Netflix was rewarded in the stock market for growing subscribers. They are now losing subscribers and market is punishing them. Thus, they are going to have to try to crackdown on a problem that they have long known is there.

 

[WestTennesseeVol]

What if someone identifies as being part of my household? What gives Netflix the right to decide who is in my household?

Isn't each person's self-declared reality what others should accept and follow?

Netflix obviously needs users to fax in their tax records to make sure all the users on the account claim the same address.

 

[ButchPlz]

Netflix obviously needs users to fax in their tax records to make sure all the users on the account claim the same address.

And what happens when they do this crackdown, ban me or charge me more, and all I was doing was using my account while on a business trip in the hotel room?

 

[butchna]

By receiving services that aren’t being paid for. You don’t understand.

They’re paid for…by me.

 

[golfballs]

Say you travel or have a family member that travels frequently and logs on to the same account from different IPs. Or have a kid away at college or something. How is that going to work? PlayStation Vue was awful about this. They’d lock your account almost instantly and would be a PIA to get it unlocked. Now they’re dead

 

[ButchPlz]

They’re paid for…by me.

And like I said- if they didn't want this stuff, they should not have the multiple user profiles option even present. Their own structure did this to them.

The truth is most of what is on the service now is absolute trash, and the stuff they're putting together now is absolute trash, and when people don't have the income to spend on this trash they get rid of it. Pissing everyone off is a stupid strategy.

 

[WestTennesseeVol]

And what happens when they do this crackdown, ban me or charge me more, and all I was doing was using my account while on a business trip in the hotel room?

That’s exactly why we cancelled our Hulu Live. We were on vacation and the condo didn’t have cable so we brought our Roku, tried to log on and were blocked and told to call customer service because we weren’t home.

 

[Pepe_Silvia]

Newsflash: I don't give a crap if you stream Netflix. In fact, if you're not paying for it, then I PREFER that you don't stream Netflix. You're adding to their costs while giving zero revenue. Then, Netflix has to increase the monthly fee to people that actually don't steal their service, like me. I'm sick of subsidizing everybody else.

Who is forcing you to pay for netflix?

 

[vols4sure]

Say you travel or have a family member that travels frequently and logs on to the same account from different IPs. Or have a kid away at college or something. How is that going to work? PlayStation Vue was awful about this. They’d lock your account almost instantly and would be a PIA to get it unlocked. Now they’re dead

Going to be very interesting to watch this unfold. I am sure Apple, Amazon, and Disney have just been waiting for this and our going to pounce when bidding for streaming content. Netflix put Blockbuster out of business and now Netflix could suffer same fate...

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Because they announced a crack down on password sharing?

Part of it. They are also nearing full penetration and they are also facing stronger competition in the streaming universe. Time Warner just split from AT&T and combined with Discovery. The over-the-air networks are also emerging with their streaming platforms (and Disney/ABC has a formidable content library). Plus YouTube. MicroSoft. Amazon. Netflix continued their trajectory when Apple TV wasn’t successful with their subscription based business model a few years back.

 

[ButchPlz]

Who is forcing you to pay for netflix?

Seems like the fact that the shared accounts thing gives us a more realistic picture of the market anyway.

Maybe if they did things like lower the price for their crap instead of doing just the opposite they'd have less of a problem. As the ever-famous tax example shows, people aren't unwilling to pay; they're unwilling to be ripped off. Maybe if Netflix was straight $5/month many of those people that are sharing would just get their own accounts for convenience.

 

[butchna]

Going to be very interesting to watch this unfold. I am sure Apple, Amazon, and Disney have just been waiting for this and our going to pounce when bidding for streaming content. Netflix put Blockbuster out of business and now Netflix could suffer same fate...

And Blockbuster saved them from themselves because they tried to sell the entire schmabob and Blockbuster declined.