Heads Up, College Students: Netflix Password Sharing Crack Down Coming

New requirements rolled out in four countries including Canada. U.S. is still in the clear.

NBC Universal, Inc.

Netflix's anti-password-sharing strategy is taking shape. New rules have been rolled out for account holders in four other countries, including Canada, giving U.S. users a look at what may be soon hitting their subscriptions.

College students may want to monitor these requirements, especially those who may be watching shows and movies through their parents’ accounts.

“I love being able to watch movies and have access to different accounts, as well as educational ones that I use in class,” said San Diego State University student Mikhalia Byrd.

“It’s nice to have, like to have an escape, you know? If you just wanted to stay in and watch movies, like yesterday [when it rained] was a good day to have Netflix,” said Spencer Moore as we walked on the SDSU campus.

So here are the new things account holders in those countries have to do.

First, they need to set a primary location that will limit access to the people and devices identified as part of the household.

Then they have to manage which users have access. Their account type determines the number of users it can have. 

If they want more, they’ll have to pay for it by buying an extra member. This means pay for a sub-account for up to two people that don’t live in the primary location, like Spencer and Michalia who think Netflix should chill with these new requirements.

“It kind of seems unfair, especially if it’s a household family, you know, you have siblings, you should be able to share with them,” said Moore.

“I don’t need Netflix that bad, there are free movie websites,” said Byrd.

Netflix does have a way to let users take their profile with them by transferring it to a new account they set up and pay for. The company says that over 100 million households share accounts worldwide cutting into their bottom line.

It has not indicated how closely the new requirements in the U.S. will resemble the ones already in Canada.

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