A new Netflix prompt, just in test mode for now, is attempting to crack down on shared passwords, saying that if you “don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching,” according to a report from The Streamable.
After that, the recipient is asked to verify their password via email or a text code, or prompted to create a new account with the streaming site.
The initiative is intended to help ensure that only those authorized to use a Netflix account are allowed to do so. Netflix terms say that only people in the same household can share the account.
“The Netflix service and any content viewed through our service are for your personal and non-commercial use only and may not be shared with individuals beyond your household,” the rules say.
“We continue to monitor it. So we’re looking at the situation (and look into) consumer-friendly ways to push on the edges,” said Greg Peters, Netflix chief product officer, in October 2019 according to The Streamable.
It’s never been strictly enforced when the rules have been broken. The company allows a basic plan for $8.99 for streaming on just one device. Then there’s a $13.99 plan for up to two devices and a $17.99 plan on up to four devices. There’s also no limit on the number of devices an account can be logged in on.
The report says it’s not clear whether the users in the test will all need to be on the same IP address.
Peters’ Oct. 2019 statement added that there was no plans to do things differently, but that could change — a report from research firm Magrid once found that 35 percent of millennials share passwords for streaming.
Netflix has surpassed 200 million members, it announced in its fourth quarter earnings, with 8.5 million paid net additions at that time.
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