Netflix tests clampdown on password sharing

I can see a few problems with basing this on IP address tracking. My Netflix account allows me to watch on two devices at the same time. Let's say I'm watching from home but my wife wants to watch while she's at work (during lunch, of course). Or perhaps I go on vacation and want to watch Netflix while falling asleep on the beach? How about students who go to college and log in via their parents' account? They are in the same family and should be able to use the same account, but the IP addresses would be vastly different. Hopefully Netflix does some pretty thorough testing before rolling this out to the masses.

zeus423 said:

I can see a few problems with basing this on IP address tracking. My Netflix account allows me to watch on two devices at the same time. Let's say I'm watching from home but my wife wants to watch while she's at work (during lunch, of course). Or perhaps I go on vacation and want to watch Netflix while falling asleep on the beach? How about students who go to college and log in via their parents' account? They are in the same family and should be able to use the same account, but the IP addresses would be vastly different. Hopefully Netflix does some pretty thorough testing before rolling this out to the masses.

Right now, none of those are issues. 

For one, a Netflix account is for a household, not its family members. So any family member not living in your household is not entitled to use your account in their household. This is not like a family account for streaming music. So using an IP address would work here. 

Plus, as mentioned in another article about this, for now, this IP sharing crackdown only applies to TV boxes, Smart TV's and maybe smart Bluray players and game consoles. So far it doesn't apply too mobile devices like phones and tablets. So unless you and your wife travel with your flat screen TV, TV box, Bluray player or game console, it doesn't matter what IP address you're using if watching your Netflix account while traveling with a phone or tablet. So theoretically, a kid in college could log into their parents Netflix account with an iPad or iPhone and stream it to a TV with AirPlay, and not be affected. For now anyways.  (But I do remember a while back an issue with Netflix not supporting AirPlay unless they were given info about the TV that was being used. Maybe related?) 

One of the way Netflix can make this work is to monitor how often you're using a different iP address to log in with a TV, TV box, Blurry player or game console. If only occasionally, then its not a problem. As you might be just be visiting another household and want to watch a movie there, using your Netflix account. Just be sure to log out when you leave.

Though I do know a few friends that would bring their Apple TV to another friends home so they can use it there to rent a movie on iTunes or use an app to watch some sport game that they subscribe to. But they don't leave the Apple TV there when they leave and this way, they don't have to log into any of their accounts on someone else's TV.

I have purchased many used Bluray players and Wii game consoles from Goodwill, where when I get them home to test, they still had someone Netflix account on it and was able to log in once connected to my WiFi. Many people just don't remember that they have to make sure to log out of their Netflix (and others) account, before giving their Wii or BluRay player away. Devices like these remember your account log ins, so you don't have to log in every time.  

If they wanted it to be this way they should have enforced it from the very beginning. The practice is now common and likely has helped Netflix’s penetration. When advertising by the number of screens it’s not unreasonable for the consumer to assume this means their second screen is for another personal contact who is not necessarily in the same household.

If they are just using an IP address, this becomes problematic with the use of a VPN connection. There are couple VPN services that play nice with Netflix. However, during my research of doing whole home VPN using a router verses individual device, you need to make sure any service you use works through the VPN you have an account with, like Netflix. The problem comes in when the VPN may randomly reassign your public IP address as well as the server location you might be using,  If Netflix check the IP location against you home address it could cut you off of the two do not line up.

I looked into getting router that allows selective routing to the VPN and there is only one on the market and it has privacy issues of reporting your traffic to third parties including your VPN activity which negate the reason for having a VPN.

 You may not think this is an issue, however, more and more people are using VPN because ISP’s are selling user data.

zeus423 said:

I can see a few problems with basing this on IP address tracking. My Netflix account allows me to watch on two devices at the same time. Let's say I'm watching from home but my wife wants to watch while she's at work (during lunch, of course). Or perhaps I go on vacation and want to watch Netflix while falling asleep on the beach? How about students who go to college and log in via their parents' account? They are in the same family and should be able to use the same account, but the IP addresses would be vastly different. Hopefully Netflix does some pretty thorough testing before rolling this out to the masses.

Hulu currently does this kind of thing on some devices-or has in the past.
I work weekends out of town in a hospital - part of it call - and have been locked out of live streaming on my iPad Pro. Strangely enough I could log in on my MBA and watch.