Netflix to start blocking users with unauthorised passwords

SAN FRANSISCO: Streaming giant Netflix will soon start blocking users with unauthorised passwords. On Tuesday, Netflix said it is launching its crackdown on illicit password sharing to its biggest market, the U.S., angling to squeeze a bigger chunk of change from customers who share their logins with friends and family outside their household, Variety reported.

"Your Netflix account is for you and the people you live with your household," Netflix said in an email to U.S. customers. To share Netflix with someone outside of your household, you can transfer a profile to a new membership that someone else pays for, or you can buy an extra member for USD 7.99/month in addition the cost of the main subscription.

According to Netflix, paid sharing is widely available at this point but isn't available in all countries yet. As part of Netflix's crackdown on customers sharing passwords with people outside their household, the company has said it will start blocking devices (after a certain period of time) that attempt to access a Netflix account without properly paying. However, Netflix members can continue to access the service while traveling via their personal devices or by logging in to new TV (like at a hotel or vacation rental).

Netflix last month announced plans for the broad rollout of paid-sharing plans in the second quarter of 2023, postponing that from its original Q1 schedule. "A Netflix account is meant to be shared in one household (people who live in the same location with the account owner)," the streamer says on its customer-support site -- noting that anyone else must have a separate paid account or be added as a paid "extra member."