For a long time I have talked about the total lack of logic in distributors that insist on implementing geographic restrictions for their content. Unfortunately, Netflix did not escape those restrictions, but users managed to access catalogs from other countries using proxies and VPN services… until today. Netflix confirmed through a simple announcement that it will block the use of proxies and VPNs, while working on acquiring more licenses.
Netflix's popularity is directly associated with its versatility. In summary, each user watches what they want and pays a coherent price per month. In comparison, the canned offering of cable companies belongs to prehistory. With this, a new generation of "cord cutters" has emerged that rejects the lack of flexibility in traditional providers, favoring solutions like Netflix. However, in most cases we are trading one problem for another. If Netflix has a big padlock hanging from its neck, it is the geographic restrictions imposed by the companies that license their content to the service.
For example, many users in Australia, Europe and Latin America access the US and UK catalogs of Netflix using either a VPN service or proxies, with the aim of virtually changing their location. Until recently, Netflix allowed users to carry out this trick, but the pressure from the hawks became too great. They even began using a special term, "VPN pirates", something quite hard to digest when talking about users who pay for access to a service. In the face of these complaints, Netflix confirmed that it will finally begin applying certain measures in the coming weeks, aimed at blocking the use of VPNs and proxies, keeping users on their local catalogs.
The best Netflix can hope for is to enter an arms race. Netflix's own CPO, Neil Hunt, admitted that it is "a game of cat and mouse", since VPN services will do everything possible to evade restrictions. In essence, it is a decision that harms everyone. Users who travel abroad and want to access the content they are entitled to will not be able to do so, Netflix will have to invest a considerable amount of resources in the blocking process, and to this we add the users who will probably decide to cancel their Netflix accounts and return to BitTorrent for "you know what".
