No, you’re safe sharing your Netflix password
How media hype things and creates “distortion of reality” storm.
The role of traditional media has changed dramatically in the age of the internet-driven, 24-hour news cycle and the proliferation of social media.
Today, the term “media” is used and abused, and it can mean different things to different people.
It turns out that media can be the message, the medium, or the messenger; and to complicate things, in this digital age, the lines between them are becoming very blurry.
You may have crossed your path with something similar as this “newsflash” given below :
Following the trail, we get a lot of articles, as this one from theverge :
Seems scary, right? James Vincent put it this way,
A password for Netflix or HBO Go can be a precious thing that’s offered to a romantic partner or gifted from a family member (and saved for future use). But for UK company Synamedia, a password like that is a password to be hunted down. At CES this year, the firm unveiled a new service that uses machine learning to spot shared passwords.
Looks promising.
So, no more sharing of Netflix passwords, huh?
By the way, I love CES, truly. Who doesn’t ?
I always keep an eye on CES briefings.
And in click of a moment, I remembered something.
There was a keynote addressed in CES 2016 by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.
In 2016, a court ruling asserted that password-sharing is a federal crime, and the judge who wrote the majority opinion admitted it might make “password sharing among friends and family” illegal.
That ruling sent the internet into a tizzy, as people freaked out that they might get busted for sharing passwords for things like HBO and Netflix, which has become a common practice for many.
In a statement to Business Insider, Netflix said the following:
“As long as they aren’t selling them, members can use their passwords however they please.”
So as long as we’re aren’t selling access to your Netflix account on Craigslist, we can breathe a sigh of relief.
Netflix doesn’t care.
Internet is a confusing place, isn’t it?
Other than this, I looked at Synamedia’s announcements. Here’s a snippet from their official document :
Using behavioral analytics, Synamedia’s “Credentials Sharing Insight” tool analyzes OTT usage data and uses machine learning to detect and classify credential sharing accounts. Knowing the accounts that are most likely to share their credentials, the service provider can respond appropriately, turning casual password sharing into incremental revenues or enforcing authorization.
As a developer, this really pissed me off.
As they’ve not published any papers or any technical know-how, we can’t comment on the process neither can we point fingers on them as they’re essentially a business and it’s completely fine to black-box their algorithm.
What I got angry on, was a typical question which may arise when you think about the problem logically, and the question which came up, was,
Why will I use a third party solution to tackle this simple-simple problem?
A single google search and you get a stackoverflow link which says,
It clearly depicts if Netflix, Hulu or any other streaming service wanted to, they implemented it. (which caused initiation of a cat-mouse game between bug-hunters and respective companies)
I’m not saying their solution is bad but,
Understanding our users can help us deliver good products.
And, we should be able to differentiate between —
what is what? Good research project or Good consumer product.
Conclusion
First, a fact, Internet is a confusing place. Second, we should always keep our eyes open and fingers scrolling. Third, Everything’s not a startup.
About the Author
Piyush Raj, Hardware Junkie, Software Monster, Google Code In Contribution Winner, Independent Security Researcher, have hacked @Motorola @OnePlus @Sony @Oppo along with many others.
Clap if you liked the exploration. 🎉
