Q&A: Shared Netflix
Shared Netflix
Question
With a Netflix account you can watch many movies and series on a TV or computer.
The subscription price is determined by how many screens can be active at the same time.
Officially, as far as I know, you’re not allowed to share the account details with friends/family; each “household” is supposed to buy its own. But it is understood and accepted that a family with children at home all watches on the same account.
The thing is that everyoooone shares.
Every so often Netflix makes noises that this time they’re going to fight it—for example, they’ll notice that there’s regularly one active screen in Tel Aviv and one active screen in Holon, and then they’ll realize people are taking advantage of them.
Now clearly this is built into the subscription price.
If nobody were trying to be clever, the value/price of the account would go down and I too would pay less.
So it comes out that I’m paying more, and Netflix knows it’s easy to steal, and they don’t prevent it because they don’t enjoy fighting with customers, but it’s still forbidden. So am I allowed or not?
Answer
I am inclined to think that sharing the account details is forbidden. If you have five authorizations, then there are five screens that can use it.
I can’t say anything definitive here, because one could argue that the actual situation is different, and that has significance. Also, after all, you can always show a friend a movie at your place, or on his computer. So why shouldn’t he show it to himself without you being present? It isn’t really well-defined.