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"If you don't live with the owner of this account, you'll need your own account to continue viewing it." This message has unleashed alarms, since everything indicates that Netflix will prohibit non-residents from sharing accounts Several users of the streaming television service have come across this warning when access their profiles. In order to continue, Netflix sends a verification code via email or SMS to prevent passwords from being shared among multiple people who do not reside at the same address.It also allows the option to create a new account, with the consequent free trial period of 30 days.
As reported by The Streamable , this test is being carried out only with a small group of users on television devices for now, so it does not affect computers, mobile phones or tablets. A company spokesperson assured that "this test was created to make sure that people who use Netflix accounts are authorized to do so." At the moment it has not been specified if it is required to share the same IP or be at the same address.
Or not. Netflix doing the purge?!? pic.twitter.com/XXlHtfgfsy
The policy of sharing passwords with friends and acquaintances to distribute the monthly cost of this type of platform is quite common, not only with Netflix, but also with others such as Disney+ or Amazon Prime Video.So far, companies have not been particularly stricts to try to limit these situations, but the large number of competitors that are joining this market niche This may lead to the reinforcement of measures to avoid this phenomenon.
Although Netflix's terms of use already indicate that the service is aimed at members of the same household, there is no specific specification that prevents sharing it with people outside it: « You can create profiles for members of your household, so they can enjoy their own personalized Netflix experience. Your account can have up to five individual profiles, and you can set an age rating level for each of them", can be read in their Help Center.
In 2016, the company's CEO, Reed Hastings, accepted the fact that passwords were shared with acquaintances ("it's something you have to learn to live with," he said at the time), but in 2019, Greg Peters (product manager), already showed that the situation was beginning to be analyzed, without going into more detail.
Shared passwords, a drag on companies
A study carried out by Parks Associates estimated the total losses of streaming companies at more than 7.6 billion euros due to of shared passwords, so Netflix has decided to start leading the way in trying to stop this trend, which is expected to become even more acute in the coming years.
According to its latest earnings report, Netflix has more than 200 million subscribers worldwide, and its popularity has soared last year during the start of the pandemic, in which it raised 26 million in the first two quarters. Despite these numbers, in the last year the number of competitors has increased significantly, which could have motivated this test that has set off alarm bells in the US and the rest of the world.
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