If you don’t have a Netflix account, you may be tempted to ask to borrow a friend or family member’s password.
But this could soon land you in some serious trouble, as Netflix has revealed plans to crack down on users who password-share.
Speaking at Netflix’s Q3 2019 earnings interview last week, chief product officer Greg Peters said that Netflix hopes to address password sharing without ‘alientaing a certain portion of [its] user base.’
He said: “We continue to monitor it so we’re looking at the situation. We’ll see those consumer-friendly ways to push on the edges of that.”
The news comes shortly after tech firm Synamedia revealed a new AI system designed to crack down on account sharing.
(Image: Getty)
The system uses machine learning to spot shared passwords on streaming services.
And worryingly, these services can choose how to deal with the culprits – whether it’s by making them upgrade to a premium service, or shutting down their account altogether.
Synamedia revealed the new technology at the CES tech conference in January.
Video Unavailable
Speaking at the event, Jean Marc Racine, Chief Product Officer at Synamedia, said: “Casual credentials sharing is becoming too expensive to ignore.
“Our new solution gives operators the ability to take action. Many casual users will be happy to pay an additional fee for a premium, shared service.
“It’s a great way to keep honest people honest while benefiting from an incremental revenue stream.”
Synamedia has now started trialling the system, and says that in future, it will offer access to streaming services like Netflix.