How will Netflix password sharing affect us?

A piece from a Journalism Internship student:

“Netflix has laid out its plans to crack down on password sharing. But what exactly is password sharing? It’s a very modern term that has only come about over the past decade with the rise of streaming platforms. When you allow more than one person, including someone who doesn’t live in your home, to log onto the same Netflix account and use it. In 2023 Netflix are planning on new schemes to make this obsolete so that they can make more money.

So, how will this password sharing crackdown affect the general public?

In my opinion I believe that this ban on password sharing will be detrimental to Netflix and its subscribers. For example, what about families that are divorced and live in multiple homes? This would really affect them. Another example would be families that have kids at university or parents that are away with their job for a large portion of time. I think this kind of inconvenience will result in a large amount of negative backlash for streaming giant.

Is password sharing ethical?

I believe that password sharing is a very new and complex topic that is constantly developing. Ethically, perhaps only one household should have an account between them. But in this day and age, a regular nuclear family is becoming less and less common as now families come in loads of different forms.

So is Netflix being ethical about the situation? The world is experiencing a financial crisis and the UK especially has a cost of living crisis – this must be affecting Netflix meaning they have to crack down. But is now the best time?

Overall, I believe this is a new, constantly changing dilemma that Netflix have tried their hardest to combat. It had to happen at some point. I believe many more new technological issues with streaming will arise over time and Netflix have taken the initiative to make a change and set the precedent.”