Revealed: How Netflix plans to stop you sharing your password

Published

1 year ago

February 1, 2023

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Netflix’s impending crackdown on password sharing includes plans to force users to regularly connect via their home Wi-Fi.

An update to the streaming giant’s help page reveals details of how the company will finally take a tougher stance against the practice, which millions of people in the UK are estimated to partake in.

While logins will still be shareable within a single home, Netflix has outlined new measures to ensure that any device which uses the account is associated with the account holder’s primary location.

Who will I be able to share my account with?

People within your home can still use your account – so if mum or dad are paying, but the kids are still at home, they can have their own profiles and watch Netflix on their own devices as they do now.

But if the kids have gone to university or moved out, maintaining access to their parents’ Netflix will get trickier.

That’s because by using information such as IP addresses, device IDs, and account activity, the company can detect where users are logging in from and may choose to intervene if they suspect a case of freeloading.

How is this going to be enforced?

Netflix will treat devices which use your account as trusted if they are connected to your home Wi-Fi regularly.

So don’t worry, you can of course still take your Netflix account with you on your phone when you go out, assuming that you bring it back home with you and log in there at least once every 31 days.

But if a device from outside your household signs in or is used persistently, Netflix says it may ask you to verify that device before it can be used to watch anything.

What sort of verification?

Netflix says it will send a link to the email address or phone number associated with the primary account holder, containing a four-digit code that will need to be entered on the untrusted device within 15 minutes.

This “may be required periodically”.

And this will also be needed of you if you are away from your home for an extended period of time, for example if you take your phone travelling and plan to keep using Netflix.

So I can still share my account?

Technically, yes, it’s just becoming a lot more inconvenient, riskier, and could end up costing you.

Firstly, don’t forget Netflix limits how many devices can be using one account simultaneously depending on which pricing tier you’re on, and it maxes out at four at £15.99 per month.

Even if the prospect of constant verification code messages or someone swinging by to use your Wi-Fi isn’t inconvenient enough, Netflix may still act if it suspects blatant password sharing is going on.

Those who are logging in from outside the household will either have to pay up for their own account, or the original account holder will need to spend a little extra.

Netflix has been trialling a feature to let people add subaccounts for up to two people they don’t live with. It’s been testing in parts of South America since last year and costs the equivalent of an extra £2-£3 a month.

Why is Netflix doing this?

Netflix started talking tough on a potential password sharing crackdown during a lull in subscriber numbers.

With more competition from the likes of Disney+ and Amazon Prime, and the cost of living crisis, the company was looking for ways to reverse the trend and boost revenue.

It started trying to tempt account sharers to make the move of their own accord last year, by letting people transfer profiles from one account to another.

The Intellectual Property Office has since ruled that password sharers are breaking copyright law – it’s just down to the streaming services themselves to enforce it.

Entertainment

Baby Reindeer: Writer Richard Gadd tells fans to stop speculating about characters

Published

8 hours ago

April 24, 2024

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Baby Reindeer: Writer Richard Gadd tells fans to stop speculating about characters

Richard Gadd has urged fans of his hit show Baby Reindeer to stop speculating about who the characters in his show are based on in real life.

The Netflix series is based on the real-life story of its writer Gadd, who also plays the lead character, and his warped relationship with a female stalker.

Fans have been speculating online about the identity of the stalker played by Jessica Gunning in real life (spoiler warning), as well as who another character, seen sexually assaulting Gadd in the series, is based on.

The character, played by Tom Goodman-Hill, is a TV writer who repeatedly sexually assaults Gadd’s character and supplies him with drugs.

Gadd addressed his fans on his Instagram story on Tuesday, saying: “People I love, have worked with, and admire… are unfairly getting caught up in speculation.

“Please don’t speculate on who any of the real-life people could be. That’s not the point of our show. Lots of love, Richard.”

The show is based on the hit Edinburgh Fringe one-man stage play Gadd performed in 2019.

Gadd, who plays Donny Dunn, a character based on himself, said he didn’t expect the show to “blow up” in the way it has since its release on 11 April.

“I’m super proud of it. I really believed in this show, but the fact it’s gone so stratospheric so quickly, for such a cult, quite niche story… it’s kind of amazing. It’s clearly struck a chord,” he said on This Morning.

The writer, actor and comedian is also an ambassador for We Are Survivors, a charity which supports male survivors of sexual abuse.

Entertainment

Orpheus Pledger: Australian police launch manhunt for Home and Away star accused of assault

Published

11 hours ago

April 24, 2024

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Orpheus Pledger: Australian police launch manhunt for Home and Away star accused of assault

Police in Australia have launched a manhunt for former soap opera star Orpheus Pledger after he failed to appear in court to face charges of assault.

Pledger, 30, was due to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday accused of assaulting a woman, Sky News Australia said.

The actor had been granted bail on Tuesday for a court-ordered hospital assessment and had been ordered to return to court the following day, but didn’t show up.

On Wednesday Victoria Police issued a warrant for his arrest and asked the public to help find him.

The force said in a statement he was wanted over an “assault-related matter” and hoped “someone may be able to provide information on his current whereabouts”.

Described as “approximately 170cm [5ft, 6in] tall with brown hair and tanned complexion”, police said he was known to frequent the north Melbourne suburb of Northcote and surrounding areas.

Pledger’s manager, Craig McMahon told the Sydney Morning Herald he had not been in contact with his client this week but that he had been shocked by the assault allegations.

Mr McMahon told the paper his client had suffered from mental health issues for a long time.

Pledger starred in Neighbours, another Australian soap, in 2011 before joining the cast of Home and Away in 2016 where he played Mason Morgan for three years.

Earlier in his career, he appeared in other TV shows, Silversun and CrashBurn.

Entertainment

John Lennon’s lost guitar found in loft after 50 years to go up for auction

Published

14 hours ago

April 24, 2024

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John Lennon's lost guitar found in loft after 50 years to go up for auction

A guitar used by John Lennon in the recording of The Beatles album and film Help! is going up for auction after being found in a loft.

Believed to have been lost, the 12-string acoustic guitar had not been seen or played for more than 50 years before it was rediscovered in the home of a British couple.

It is now going up for auction where it is estimated to fetch between £485,000 to £647,000.

Auctioneers believe it could set a “new world record for the highest-selling Beatles guitar”.

The Hootenanny model, made by German firm Framus, was used by the Liverpool band in the 1965 Help! film, specifically in the scene when the group perform You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away.

It was also used during the recording sessions for It’s Only Love and I’ve Just Seen A Face and Girl along with the rhythm track for Norwegian Wood played by George Harrison.

“Finding this remarkable instrument is like finding a lost Rembrandt or Picasso, and it still looks and plays like a dream after having been preserved in an attic for more than 50 years,” said Darren Julien, co-founder and executive director at auction house Julien’s Auctions.

“To awaken this sleeping beauty is a sacred honour and is a great moment for music, Julien’s, Beatles and auction history.”

It is believed the guitar came to be in the possession of Scottish guitarist Gordon Waller, known for being one half of the pop duo Peter & Gordon, who later gave it to his band’s road managers in the 1970s.

It is not the first piece of Beatles memorabilia to be rediscovered.

In February, Sir Paul McCartney was reunited with his 1961 Hofner bass guitar, which he used on songs such as Twist And Shout and She Loves You.

Julien’s Auctions has previously sold another Lennon acoustic guitar for $2.4m (£1.93m), Ringo Starr’s Ludwig drum kit was purchased for $2.2m (£1.77m) and a Ludwig drumhead bass used on The Ed Sullivan Show was auctioned at $2.1m (£1.64m).

The Hootenanny guitar will go up for auction along with the guitar’s Maton Australian-made case as part of Julien’s Music Icons two-day auction on 29 and 30 May.

Also being sold at the auction is an Adam Clayton stage-played and owned rose sparkle Fender bass guitar, used at the U2 Las Vegas Sphere shows, which has an estimate of $50,000 to 70,000 (£40,199 to £56,279).

Tina Turner’s Versace dress, worn during her 1996 to 1997 Wildest Dreams Tour, and Amy Winehouse’s Black Fendi gown made for the opening of the clothes shop during Paris Fashion Week, are also up for auction.