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Opinion: Netflix VPN Ban Will Be Bad For Netflix And Everyone Else

Opinion: Netflix VPN Ban Will Be Bad For Netflix And Everyone Else

Netflix in South Africa isn’t exactly Netflix in the U.S.

Even customers of the newly expanded video streaming company in U.K., Ireland, or Canada get significantly fewer choices than in the U.S., Wired reported. Netflix has long known that growing its global audience isn’t just about being available in a country. It also needs to offer the content people want to watch in that country.

Until now, this wasn’t a problem, Wired reported. International users happily paid for Netflix and used proxy servers or virtual private networks (VPNs) to mask their locations while getting access to Netflix content in the U.S. Some proxy service providers blatantly advertise that their service is for watching Netflix’s U.S. version.

Not anymore. Shortly after making its video streaming service available in 130 new countries for a total of 190 — almost everywhere on Earth except China — Netflix shocked international users by announcing plans to crack down on the millions of people who access Netflix via VPNs.

That prompted tweets like this one: “I guess Netflix don’t want my money then. Lots of other ways to watch movies and shows for free. Goodbye Netflix.”

Netflix said it will begin blocking VPN proxies to show film studios and TV networks that it will respect its licensing deals and protect their content, Wired reported.

Netflix will likely be able to restrict some access, providers say, but motivated users may still find ways around the ban. For Netflix, it might not be worth fighting that hard, Wired reported.

But Netflix may have no choice. If it wants its global launch to be a success, Netflix has to move to block subscribers from using proxy technologies to access its service, according to Steven Ambrose, CEO of South African tech research firm Strategy Worx.

Netflix may have the power to go global and deliver content everywhere, but it also has to find a balance between expanding content everywhere and respecting its partners in order to stay in business, Ambrose said in an interview with Fin24.

“There’s a lot of pressure on Netflix to clean this up, especially now,” Ambrose said. “If they disrespect the entire industry, they could go out of business tomorrow.”

The real question isn’t whether Netflix is available in 190 countries, Wired reported. It’s when all 190 countries will get the same Netflix.

Even if Netflix says it will be blocking VPN users, there’s questions about whether it can succeed or enforce it.

In 2014, U.S. online streaming company Hulu tried to block VPNs and proxies to people outside the U.S. “They did not succeed because many VPN providers found other ways to bypass the restrictions,” said Faraz Ali, digital marketing manager for PureVPN, Wired reported

Karl Kathuria is CEO of Psiphon Inc, which runs proxy technologies for users in countries like Iran and China that censor the Internet. “If it’s a standard VPN with one or 10 servers, then it can be pretty easy for (Netflix) to see what the IP addresses are and block them,”  Kathuria said.

Netflix could also track individual users to see if they’re regularly logging in from different locations, signaling they’re using a VPN.

“But once you get past the standard VPN, the ones that have a limited infrastructure, after that, it’s going to start to get a bit more difficult,” he told Wired.

It could become a cat-and-mouse game between Netflix and proxies like TorGuard, Ambrose told Fin24.

A popular anonymous proxy service, TorGuard wrote in a blog post, “For those of you who rely on TorGuard VPN service to unblock Netflix content unrestricted, you don’t have to worry.

“Netflix will be pushing this plan forward soon, and when that happens, TorGuard will immediately deploy new server IP (Internet protocol) addresses so users can still bypass blocks.”

Meanwhile Netflix said in a blog post that these technologies continue “to evolve and we are evolving with it.”