Netflix tests policy to discourage password sharing


Netflix is testing a way to get people to stop sharing their passwords to let other people use their accounts without paying. The streaming video service is posting an on-screen notification when some people try logging on with the credentials outside their household, asking, "Is this your account?" The message then informs the would-be viewer that they need their own account if they don't live with the account's owner. The non-subscriber can then create their own account, with a 30-day trial in some areas.
"This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so," a company spokesperson said in a statement. The Streamable, which first reported the policy, said only connected-TV subscribers have run into the paywall notification so far.
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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
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