Rest of world reported that Netflix's pilot work to combat account sharing has confused some users In March this year, the streaming media giant started testing in Peru, Chile and Costa Rica to force customers who share subscriptions outside their family members to pay extra fees However, when talking with more than 12 Netflix subscribers in Peru, most users have not yet received official email notification, and even two months before Netflix's initial announcement.
In addition, rest of world found that Netflix has different restrictions on each subscriber. For example, some users of shared accounts report that they can ignore the relevant verification prompt without any punishment to the primary account holder.
Other users said that they had never been informed of policy changes and were able to continue to share their accounts without obstacles. Obviously, there is some confusion about the definition of "family" on the server side of Netflix. This ambiguity is likely to lead to differentiated policies.
Interestingly, a Netflix support representative, who asked not to be named, said in an interview that when a customer calls to report a problem, they can still tell that a family member has used a shared account in a different place by asking for a verification code, which means that members outside the family can still use the shared account for free through this vulnerability.
In an email statement to theverge, Netflix spokesman Kumiko Hidaka said:
Although we started to pay for sharing 18 months ago, we have been aware of this for five years - Netflix accounts are only applicable to family sharing.
Millions of members who actively share accounts in relevant market areas have been notified by email. However, in view of the excessive policy adjustment, we are introducing in product announcements at a slower pace.
Netflix is quite satisfied with the response of the vast number of subscribers so far.
TheVerge Point out: the cost of attaching to a shared sub account is much lower than that of registering a new Netflix account. However, for most users, the home sharing function is more like a cost-effective transaction than Netflix expected to attract more user growth.
In Chile, for example, the sub account attachment fee of Netflix is 2380 pesos (CLP), about US $2.89/19.33 RMB. Costa Rica is 2.99 US dollars (about 20 RMB), while Peru is 7.9 new sols (pen), about 2.13 US dollars / 14.43 RMB.