Netflix Logo (Photo : Reuters/Mike Blake)
In the next weeks, Netflix declared in a blog post that it is working to ban "unblockers" and proxies that users utilize to retrieve content that they don't have rights to see. What this means that if you are a Netflix viewer in Singapore, you can no longer utilize the VPN to retrieve content meant for American viewers only.
The company may foresee a day being able to stream any content for all users, but it has a way to go before they can offer users the same TV series and films anywhere. So until that day, the existing practice of authorizing content according to countries is still stricken down. Netflix will pursue implementing such limitations.
This is not exactly an unexpected news that Netflix's big announcement is launching in 130 countries all at the same time.
So how well can Netflix implement this?
Currently, Netflix is closing an eye towards proxies. After all, viewers can sign up with the company especially if they can use the VPN to access all its content. If they take that away, viewers will be pondering why they are paying for such services.
So this Internet streaming media has been informing a desire to block proxies, however one can ponder why they need to do this as mere duty to its content partners.
This can unexpectedly leave ambiguities for viewers to exploit. Perhaps it will allow VPN providers to find ways around the blockages, and be free from the exploit.
So to antagonize such abilities by content partners, they need to implement an agreement. It's the only way to please content providers and be clean especially on fears of sabotaging future dialogues.
After all, it is not only Netflix that is the key player in space. In the U.S., there's Hulu, and in Asia, iFlix and Hooq. There are also sites catering to certain niches like Crunchyroll for anime.
(Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of Yibada.)
