Netflix May Have Bad News For Teachers.
This may not be the classroom of the future.
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If you’re a teacher who uses your Netflix account to post materials in your classroom, Netflix has accidentally given you a glimpse of a possible future, and that’s not good news.
The streaming giant is putting in place rules to end password sharing for unique accounts. Netflix estimated that 100 million users worldwide are sneaking into someone else’s account, and they hope to convert these free passengers into paying customers.
They do this by limiting sharing to “people who live together in the same household”. The Netflix Help Center now has a full page of rules governing account sharing.
How does the service know that you all belong to the same household? The websites state that the use of “IP addresses, device identifiers and account activity from devices”. Concretely, “in the same household” means “using the same Wi-Fi”. If you’re away from your “home” Wi-Fi, for example, in your classroom at school, you may have extra hoops to jump through.
Currently, the rules state that using a device away from home can result in a device verification request with a four-digit code sent to the primary account holder’s email address.
But Netflix is testing tougher rules in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru, and earlier this week they accidentally gave American audiences a taste of those rules. The Streamable’s David Satin reviewed the new restrictions.
A person using a device outside the home would receive a message encouraging them to create their own account and blocking their access. Travelers would have to request a special seven-day code or be blocked.
In short, teachers would not be able to access their own Netflix account in their classroom. There is, of course, no reason for teachers to watch Bullet Train at school, but Netflix has a massive library of educationally valuable material, giving students access to art, music and the history of the whole world.
I asked a Netflix customer service representative how this would affect teachers who wanted to stream material on Netflix for classroom use. The representative told me that some selected documentaries are available for one-time educational viewing. Beyond this small sample, teachers would need an “at school” account (or perhaps the school itself could be considered a “household”).
Netflix said it would not roll out this plan without sufficient notice and explanation for customers. I asked the service representative how soon the rules tested in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru would roll out to the United States, and they said they couldn’t have that information. I asked to be directed to someone who could answer the question, and the rep replied, “No one has that information.”