COMMENT: Netflix crackdown will hurt law-abiding, fee-paying Australian TV viewers
OPINION: A crackdown on Aussies with US Netflix accounts will hurt law-abiding TV viewers, and could result in piracy, Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson writes.
COMMENT: STEALING entertainment is bad.
As the IT Crowd reminds us, illegally downloading a film is akin to stealing a policeman’s hat, going to the toilet in it, and returning it to his widow.
It robs creators of money they can use to make more and better content.
But today we’re being told paying for entertainment can be bad too, if that entertainment is designed for American eyes only.
CRACKDOWN BEGINS: Netflix announces Australian user crackdown
GEOBLOCK SILENCE: Netflix refused to discuss geo-blocking users last year
Netflix announced it will crackdown on Australians paying for US Netflix accounts, using technology to pretend they live in the United States.
The multibillion-dollar company’s content delivery architecture vice-president David Fullager said Australians masking their location to get access to the bigger TV and film libraries overseas will be stopped.
“In coming weeks, those using proxies and unblockers will only be able to access the service in the country where they currently are,” he wrote.
It’s hoped that will not affect Australians paying for the local Netflix service that launched in March last year.
But what does it really mean for Australians with US Netflix accounts?
No more Parks and Recreation. No more Breaking Bad.
No Twin Peaks, Sherlock, Revenge, White Collar, Peep Show, Sons of Anarchy, The Walking Dead, United States of Tara, or Bob’s Burgers. There are more examples here.
The American version of Netflix has an estimated 5,659 titles on offer.
The Australian version offers less than half that number this month, according to Filmefy.
Furthermore, Netflix services is the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, and Canada all offer more TV shows and films than the Australian version, even though they call cost the same amount.
Faced with that statistic, can you blame tech-savvy Aussies for technologically faking an American accent for greater entertainment?
Dividing the world into entertainment zones is not a problem unique to Netflix, nor is it one the company created.
DVDs have long been programmed to work in certain regions only, TV shows screen at different times in different countries, and some films don’t make it to Australia for months past their US release date.
It’s a practice film studios and TV makers have embraced for a long time for financial reasons. They often sell Region 4 DVDs for higher prices, sell TV shows to the highest bidding networks, and schedule films for country-specific holidays.
But it’s a practice that should have disappeared a long time ago. It’s like film studios do no know the internet reaches all the way to Australia.
We can see when you’re launching your new shows in the States. We know we’re being left out. And the spoilers don’t miss our eyes either.
Was any Australian actually surprised when Jon Snow appeared to meet his end? Or when Ted actually met the mother of his children? Maybe they could have been if this had been sorted out already.
And it’s not just hurting viewers. The lack of true worldwide distribution is hurting content creators through piracy. The sooner we can synchronise our watches and stream, tune in, or buy a ticket to entertainment simultaneously, the better it will be for everyone.
Netflix appears to be bowing to content makers with the decision. Avoiding geographical boundaries with a VPN (virtual private network) has long been against the company’s terms of service (which no one really reads) but this crackdown may be about timing.
At the Consumer Electronics Show, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced the company would launch its service in more than 130 new countries. That sort of worldwide scope likely comes with pressure from content creators.
And even Fullager addresses the issue in his announcement, admitting “if all 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”.
The most frustrating, aggravating and downright infuriating part of this crackdown is that it will punish Australians paying for content.
Australians with US Netflix accounts are actually shelling out money for them, and they’re paying for them at a punishing exchange rate.
On top of that, they’re paying for access to a VPN to hide their location.
These Australians are demonstrating they will pay for entertainment and they’re not stealing it.
They are not outlaws. They’re savvy, law-abiding consumers who want access to the latest entertainment.
They don’t want to steal a policeman’s helmet, and we should all hope this crackdown doesn’t encourage them to do so.
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