Netflix confirms plans to shut off proxy access

Netflix is a decent enough service but due to geographic content restrictions and licensing issues, the US tends to have the best overall library of content, causing many subscribers across the world to use VPNs or proxy services to spoof their location. In the past, Netflix hasn't really done much to stop people from doing this and had publicly spoken against geographic content restrictions but unfortunately despite all of that, it looks like the streaming service is finally going to implement technology to detect and block access to those using Proxies.

This is the first time Netflix has formally announced such action despite plenty of rumors that it would go down this road in the past. This means that those using DNS services or Chrome extensions/proxy services will be blocked from accessing content outside of their region.

In a post on the Media.Netflix website, the company said: “If all of our content were globally available, there wouldn’t be a reason for members to use proxies or “unblockers” to fool our systems into thinking they’re in a different country than they’re actually in. We are making progress in licensing content across the world”, the post reads. “but we have a ways to go before we can offer people the same films and TV series everywhere.”

While Netflix does expect to eventually be able to do away with geographic content restrictions, in the meantime it will “respect and enforce content licensing by geographic location”. It is not yet known how effective this new system will be or what impact it will have on subscriber numbers.

KitGuru Says: The post does attempt to let customers know that Netflix is actively working to get worldwide licensing put in place for movies and TV shows, we don't know how soon we will see real progress on that front, which is a shame. Do you guys think this will affect the amount of subscribers Netflix has? 

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