Funny old world, isn't it.
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It doesn't seem that long ago that the libertine tech wunderkinds that effectively monopolised the internet in the early millennium were raving about their 'move fast and break things' ethos.
In the world of Web 2.0, nothing was sacred.
Facebook changed the way we communicate (and subsequently stoked a generational "post-truth" garbage fire where our relationship with reality used to be).
Google effectively put the world in our pockets and went out of their way to remind us of our exact place in it, down to the GPS coordinate (while managing to ask some pretty interesting questions about data privacy and security).
Twitter democratised the notion of a public life and public opinion (and consequently made an absolutely wild website where a venerated expert in just about any field has to contend with the apparently equally valuable opinion of some bloke called Gary who did a Google and has some thoughts about how the economy should be handled).
And Instagram made avocado toast a meme (while making a thriving little cottage industry out of making teenagers feel bad about their appearance).
It's not that any of these things were inherently or essentially evil on the surface; I'm sure even Mark Zucker-droid didn't wake up one morning and think "Gee, can't wait to ruin the world today". It's just that the youthful arrogance of these guys honestly believing that they were "making the world a better place" inevitably soaked into their creations with surprising and unexpectedly Frankenstein-ish consequences.
There's no doubt that the internet, and most stuff that's on it, has made our lives indescribably better and more convenient. It has created jobs and entire industries that never existed, it revolutionised the way we communicate and experience the world, and in a kind of wildly unregulated way it democratised an entire age. On the internet, everyone has a voice - even the absolute maniacs.
And in the early days, we were told over and over by these big tech giants that this wasn't just "not necessarily bad", it was, in fact, inherently a good thing. The information world needed a shake-up - these old dinosaurs of the previous age (like newspapers and libraries and bookshops) needed to be brought down a peg by a few scrappy kids working out of their parents' shed.
So, perhaps that's where that little flicker of righteous comeuppance comes from as, in the adolescence of Web 2.0, we're seeing one after another of these giants suddenly throw a giant tantrum when we start using the toys they foisted on us in ways they didn't expect.
Netflix is the latest to pitch a fit, sending its Australian users an email on Wednesday chastising us for sharing our passwords with friends and family.
"A Netflix account is for use by one household," the streaming giant scolded in a statement as it announced it would start charging users an extra $8 a month to share their password with someone outside their home Wi-Fi range, "Your Netflix account is for you and the people you live with."
It's a sharp turnaround from just a few years ago, in March 2017, when a snippy wit tweeted under the streaming service's account "Love is sharing a password".
Love is sharing a password ...
- Netflix, March 10 2017
But I suppose that was a different time. For one thing, Netflix's stock ticker was going nowhere but up (and fast) in 2017. Then COVID happened and the price skyrocketed to a peak in October 2021 before all the "moving fast" gave way to the inevitable "breaking things" and the market plummeted. Since then it's been plugging along, but nowhere near its heyday.
Netflix has since said that sharing our passwords undermines its ability to invest in new shows for its platform. So, I guess it's all fun and games until a production executive loses a bonus.
In any case, the streaming service has announced a few new rules taking effect from this week. Here's what you need to know:
WHAT ARE THE NEW RULES?
Basically, Netflix doesn't want you sharing your password with anyone outside your home. If you want to share, it's going to cost you an extra $7.99 a month for what they're calling an "extra member", or transfer a shared profile onto an entirely new paid account.
WHEN WILL THE CHANGES START?
Netflix announced the move a couple of months ago to some fervent schadenfreude online, but the rollout has been slow going. The company started emailing users on Wednesday, May 24.
HOW DOES NETFLIX KNOW I'M SHARING?
Netflix said it uses information linked to your account, including IP addresses, device IDs and account activity statements to see who is on, and how they're using, your account.
When it comes across an issue - like a device ID regularly logging on from somewhere other than your home address - users will be notified.
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?
Netflix said in their last earnings report of 2022 that more than 100 million households are sharing passwords with people they don't live with, despite it technically breaching their terms of service. It said the loophole undermined its "long-term ability to invest in" its platform.
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