Netflix looking to tighten down on password sharing

WEST MICHIGAN - Streaming app Netflix is testing out a crackdown on password-sharing, which will force users who share a Netflix account but do not live in in the same household, to set up and pay for their own account.

As reported by Business Insider, "sharing passwords with people outside your household is already forbidden in Netflix's terms and conditions, but the streaming giant hasn't enforced the rule in the past. The company limits the number of devices on which you can simultaneously stream its content, which is dictated by your subscription tier." 

If an account is flagged by Netflix, the user will see a prompt asking the user to verify the account using a text or email security code. Otherwise, the use will be directed to sign up for a 30-day free trial and a new Netflix account.

Professor Andrew Rozema is the director at Grand Rapids Community College Center for cyber security studies. He says it's not necessarily new technology being used to track user activity, but he says the timing for Netflix is strange odd considering password-sharing on the streaming platform has been going on for years. 

"Now, you can imagine a scenario where if you have a really good relationship with everyone using your account, and you're willing to text back the code really quick,  you can do it, but I guess this 'verify later' thing lets you put it off for a while. How long? That's totally up to Netflix, Professor Rozema says. "It is kind of funny when you're sitting at home and you get a 'we got you.' 'we know you've been doing this.'

Experts agree that depending on user reaction to the Netflix password-sharing crackdown test, other popular platforms could soon follow.

"The speculation now is that other streamers like "YouTube TV" may 'test' ways to tighten password sharing," says streaming expert Dave DeJonge. "But overall, the companies seem to indicate they just want to tighten down situations where it’s gotten out-of-control, and not totally upset their loyal customers."

"I'm not advising people to go on social media with pitch forks and torches," says Professor Rozema. "But if Netflix doesn't get a lot of pushback on this then yeah, everybody else is going well we have metrics to say we've got seven subscribers who are getting on somebody else's account that we can go an get. And for every hundred subscribers those numbers start to add up real quick."

For now, the crackdown test is only for TV, no word on when it might move to devices.  But Netflix is watching and listening to how users react. And remember that for now, this is only a test. 

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