Netflix Reveals New Measures to Fight Password Sharing in Canada, Other Countries; U.S. Plans Still Under Wraps
Netflix is at it again! After causing a furor last week when it accidentally posted rules to prevent password sharing currently in effect in select Latin American countries on its North American Help Center page, Netflix is officially unveiling new rules to prevent account sharing in a selection of new territories around the world.
The new rules are in effect now for users in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain. They are very similar to the errantly-posted guidelines that drew substantially negative feedback from users in the United States on Jan. 31, with a few notable exceptions.
The first glaring omission from the new rules is any mention of device blocking. The rules that mistakenly appeared on the domestic Help Center page stated that users would have to log into Netflix with devices on their home Wi-Fi every 31 days, or risk their devices being blocked from accessing the service.
The new rules, which have been posted by Netflix as a blog to avoid creating the chaos that enveloped the company last week, still state that Netflix users will have to set a primary location. To do this, users will have to connect to their home Wi-Fi with their device, then request a verification email from Netflix that will be sent to the address associated with the account purchaser. Netflix will still require users to access its service on their home Wi-Fi every 31 days to be considered a primary location, but devices are not at risk of being blocked according to the newly posted guidelines.
There will also be allowances made for Netflix users who are traveling, one of the concerns that many users stated last week. The service says that its rules will allow members to “still easily watch Netflix on their personal devices or log into a new TV, like at a hotel or holiday rental.” Netflix did not provide complete details on how this will be accomplished, but a verification email system similar to the process for registering a primary location appears to be part of the process.
On the Canadian Help Center page, Netflix states, “For members with second homes or who travel frequently, open the Netflix app on your mobile device(s) while connected to the Wi-Fi network at your primary location once a month and then when you arrive at the second location.”
This could present a bit of a problem for certain people who spend part of their year in the north, but migrate south during the winter. The streamer also did not disclose how it will account for service members or students at college living away from their home.
The biggest new rule in the announcement is the process through which account owners can pay an extra monthly fee to add a new user to their account. The new user would have their own distinct login information, but their service would be paid for by the original account holder at a discounted rate from the standard subscription price. This feature is only available to users of the Standard or Premium plans. A Canadian subscription to the Standard plan costs CAD $16.49 per month, and adding an extra user costs $7.99.
This is substantially cheaper than requiring the extra user to sign up for a Standard plan, but still costs the account holder more than signing up the extra user for a Basic with Ads plan (CAD $5.99 per month) would. This was part of earlier tests in Latin America, and the process might help customers feel like they’re getting a deal, though it may cause additional friction between account owners and those currently sharing a password.
No new announcements came from Netflix regarding when anti-password sharing measures will roll out in the United States, but the fact that these new rules are now in effect in Canada is a big hint that American customers can expect similar measures soon. Netflix lumps Canadian and American users together when it reports its new subscriber numbers every quarter, suggesting that the company sees lots of similarities between the two markets.
Whenever the U.S. rules are announced, a new wave of outrage is sure to follow from Netflix customers. But the company has been warning for some time that it would be cracking down on password sharing this quarter, and outrage likely isn’t enough to stay Netflix’s hand.
Netflix
Netflix is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 3,000+ movies, 2,000+ TV Shows, and Netflix Originals like Stranger Things, Squid Game, The Crown, Tiger King, and Bridgerton. They are constantly adding new shows and movies. Some of their Academy Award-winning exclusives include Roma, Marriage Story, Mank, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.