International Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) supplier Netflix has announced it will implement new measures to block users whom use VPN’s to access the service in countries other than where they are located.
Last week Netflix dramatically increased its global footprint when it launched in an additional 120 countries. However the quality of the Netflix library dramatically varies between countries. One subscriber in Kenya recently joked it would be possible to view every movie on that countries Netflix service during the 14 day free trial.
It had been reported up to 400,000 Australians were using a form of VPN or Proxy service to access an International version of Netflix prior to the Australian launch last year, its impossible to know how many of these people continue to use these services, but the differences between the local and overseas libraries are significant.
It’s unclear how Netflix will implement the new security measures but its likely they will begin targeting the popular IP addresses used by VPN providers.
Netflix is no-doubt feeling the pressure to crackdown on VPN’s from the studios and distributors whom are desperate to hold onto their traditional business model.
The move comes ahead of the release of Star Wars The Force Awakens on Netflix Canada later this year. The movie release had been expected to drive a huge boom in VPN usage.
David Fullagar, the Vice President of Content Delivery and Architecture at Netflix announced the change this morning in a blog post.
If all of our content were globally available, there wouldn’t be a reason for members to use proxies or “unblockers” to fool our systems into thinking they’re in a different country than they’re actually in. We are making progress in licensing content across the world and, as of last week, now offer the Netflix service in 190 countries, but we have a ways to go before we can offer people the same films and TV series everywhere.
Over time, we anticipate being able to do so. For now, given the historic practice of licensing content by geographic territories, the TV shows and movies we offer differ, to varying degrees, by territory. In the meantime, we will continue to respect and enforce content licensing by geographic location.
Some members use proxies or “unblockers” to access titles available outside their territory. To address this, we employ the same or similar measures other firms do. This technology continues to evolve and we are evolving with it. That means in coming weeks, those using proxies and unblockers will only be able to access the service in the country where they currently are. We are confident this change won’t impact members not using proxies.
We look forward to offering all of our content everywhere and to consumers being able to enjoy all of Netflix without using a proxy. That’s the goal we will keep pushing towards.
