Netflix cracks down on proxy/VPN users.
- Thread starter heisenberg
- Start date
Don't see how they can stop it unless they create a desktop client which is required.
heisenberg
Earl Grey
Hulu does this.
It's quite sad they are doing this but my guess is that they are getting pressure from content creators/licence owners and/or they just want to gouge more money from people. Local broadcasters own a lot of the licence for a lot of the movies and tv shows and hold a monopoly across several countries and that's probably why they want to do this.
Someone needs to invent an internet that doesn't give this bullshit Geoblocking crap or give your physical location. It's frustrating to watch shows on youtube and get that annoying message saying that sorry this video is not available in your country :\. Sorry about that.
I can't watch vice or John Oliver's new show. Not after a several months after.
There are ALWAYS ways around anything on any network.
But for the average user, they will feel cheated and rightly so. A desktop client for Netflix would most likely put simple hacks out of reach for most people, including IT people. I am no programmer. And I see how Steam and Battle.net (gaming servers) have designed their game clients to lock to a specific machine. Couple that with two-factor authentication or email authentication (which also contains location information), it will be highly difficult to hack past it. 
Bluce Ree
Tech Admin / Council Member
Nope. My family is watching Hulu from Montreal as I'm typing this. A real VPN cannot be detected as such. The only way to know a VPN is a VPN is if the IP address is reported as being as one.
What they block are proxies. They cannot block true VPNs.
heisenberg
Earl Grey
See, I like the tech behind vpn but it's an un-necessary cost and burden on people that want to watch it through legitimate channels. I shouldn't have to go to such lengths to watch something that is and was available for people in the USA or Britain or the world to see. This geoblocking bullshit was just placed in cause the licence owners starting crying. Fact is that these local industries are worried that they are becoming obsolete very quickly and are just delaying the inevitable when they should be embracing this. Even more so they go to such great lengths to get VPNs and websites blocked. Mostly done by Rich/Old executives that want to drag down everyone with them because it makes them feel proud.
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If they use a locked client model like Steam uses, they will be able to do this against most users using the two-step verification method. I just used Google to find my phone just by signing into my Google account and typing "find my phone" in the browser. Within seconds, I was looking at a map accurate to within 15 meters of my phone (it was in my car in the garage). Anyone can do this if they have an Android phone. They just do not connect that capability with the two step verification method. If you are using a VPN in the EU and your phone is in Colorado....
They will have to change their business models. It IS possible to give something away to make money on it during the use of the free service (aka in-app purchases and upgrades). Microsoft is even allowing pirated Windows 7 machines to get Windows 10 for free. And rumor has it that Microsoft may NEVER charge for Windows 10 after the initial free upgrade program expires. They push ads to the start menu tiles in home versions, and they have their store and the appalling telemetry being collected when people use default settings. Netflix has a winner model that works even with the small number of VPN users. Why mess with it?
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heisenberg
Earl Grey
I haven't bothered to upgrade to windows 10 because I don't see the point. It's just another waste of space and bandwidth of pretty much the same OS but just with a prettier package. I also don't see the appeal of netflix either. All the so called "original" content is mildly interesting and not worth wasting 10-12 dollars per month for. Most of it is OLD content that is just being recycled so content creators can make MORE money from idiots who think it's okay to spend money on. There is far better original content on youtube than netflix and given that they don't have Jeremy Clarkson, I am good.
RIGHT ON. Please promise me you will never go to Windows 10. Once you have, you are stuck. OTOH, if you are ever temped by a Windows phone, then Windows 10 mobile gives both Android and IOS a run for the money. On any home system like a desktop computer, forget it.
Also interesting were your comments on Netflix. I decided to take a break from them starting November of 2015, because I realized that nothing on there was worth watching (cause I saw all the good stuff). I "turned them off" for all of Nov, Dec and this month. When Sense8 comes back, I MAY start it up again, but with eztv, I really don't have to do that either if I don't want to. Hulu Commercial Free is tempting even at $11.00/month. Newer content, more movies, no commercials? I could go for that. But still, not right now. Yeah, Im good too bro.
heisenberg
Earl Grey
My interest in tech is dying slowly because it's now no longer about practical application but about money money. Technology is suppose to help solve problems. Unless they force me to upgrade to windows 10, I won't bother.
The service has reached saturation and now they are just going for world domination because they know that being "connected" is the future and that's why they are going worldwide until other follow. Hulu at present doesn't have the infrastructure to go worldwide so I can't watch it unless I pay for a VPN(fuck that!) and they force you to watch ads from what I've heard even if you are a subscriber.Also interesting were your comments on Netflix. I decided to take a break from them starting November of 2015, because I realized that nothing on there was worth watching (cause I saw all the good stuff). I "turned them off" for all of Nov, Dec and this month. When Sense8 comes back, I MAY start it up again, but with eztv, I really don't have to do that either if I don't want to. Hulu Commercial Free is tempting even at $11.00/month. Newer content, more movies, no commercials? I could go for that. But still, not right now. Yeah, Im good too bro.
They just introduced the commercial free version. It's actually commercial free, like Netflix! But it costs $11.99/month as opposed to $7.99 for Netflix. Considering that Hulu has more of what I want to see, but less content overall, I still see it as a deal for that price:
heisenberg
Earl Grey
It won't be that cheap for long...Look at what's happening over at netflix even though they are making record profits and their shareholders are happy, they still want to gouge more money from people because it's all about how much the market can bare. Mark my words, that these prices will creep up slowly and steadily and they'll turn into village and other greedy organization because netflix will have such a dominance and because every studio out there will be out for their fair share and they'll be ruthless on how they acquire their money. Ideas like Netflix and everything in life all has great intentions but in the end everything is about money and becomes corrupt and it's no longer about delivering a quality service but after your wallet.
http://www.techspot.com/news/63527-netflix-subscribers-now-top-75-million-price-hike.html
I agree. I also think that they will eventually force subscribers to agree to a length of contract and not allow us to turn it off and on from month to month. Like you and I are doing right now, we just activate it when we want it. They might even add exit fees.
I think they are increasing costs not just because of greed, but because advertisers are being booted from media delivery models. People HATE commercials (who knew? ) The message is clear: people WILL pay more to eliminate commercials from their media service, and if they can't they will leave said service. So, we now have commercials being played in theaters, and we have those hated auto-play video ads which appear in the middle of paragraphs on websites which ad blockers cannot block.
They are probably laying their groundwork before announcing the changes.
TIP: If you run Netflix within a VM, you can watch it and use the VPN to do other stuff.
You really should install Kodi and the add-ons I talked about here:
http://www.gatefans.net/gforums/thr...c-enjoy-awesome-premium-media-for-free.28249/
There is almost as much stuff on there as Netflix, and it's all free.
Tripler
Well Known GateFan
Sounds like its cancelation time of good ole netflicks me the bird ...
I'll have to ask the family though . My wife will be watching House of Cards soon . I stopped watching it . Got tired of there kah kniving ...
Of course we are catching up on dr Who so we may stay a bit longer .
I'll have to ask the family though . My wife will be watching House of Cards soon . I stopped watching it . Got tired of there kah kniving ...
Of course we are catching up on dr Who so we may stay a bit longer .
Sounds like its cancelation time of good ole netflicks me the bird ...
I'll have to ask the family though . My wife will be watching House of Cards soon . I stopped watching it . Got tired of there kah kniving ...
Of course we are catching up on dr Who so we may stay a bit longer .
I canceled them in November of last year. It's okay when you have not seen all the good stuff, but the rest of it is crap IMO. I have tons of stuff in my personal collection, and my new Kodi Media center has all the rest, streaming. PLUS it has music and live events and sports. I tried Hulu Plus, and was totally not impressed.
Tripler
Well Known GateFan
TIP: If you run Netflix within a VM, you can watch it and use the VPN to do other stuff.
You really should install Kodi and the add-ons I talked about here:
http://www.gatefans.net/gforums/thr...c-enjoy-awesome-premium-media-for-free.28249/
There is almost as much stuff on there as Netflix, and it's all free.
Thanks OM1 . I bookmarked that page . Awesome . Only one problem . I have not been on Linux for a month or two . I seem to becoming addicted to a Racing Sim and need stupid windows to run it . I'll post more info in the gaming section .
I am still in the process of building an all Intel system and then once thats built I can go back to Linux on my AMD machine .