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Netflix cracks down (cough, cough)


Ivor Tossell

Special to The Globe and Mail


Published Wednesday, Jan. 07 2015, 3:00 AM EST

Last updated Wednesday, Jan. 07 2015, 11:53 AM EST

Netflix would like you to know that Canadians tapping into the company’s American catalogue is a very definite no-no. Maybe not a crime. Maybe not a big no-no, even. But definitely in finger-wagging territory.

“Virtually crossing borders to use Netflix is a violation of our terms of use because of content licensing restrictions,” the service said in a statement to news outlets, crossing its arms and shaking its head gravely.

Then Netflix sat down on its recliner and conspicuously went back to reading its newspaper, coughing loudly and raising the paper up so that it couldn’t see you.

The statement, which has been reprinted in various media outlets, came after reports that users who were accessing American Netflix from abroad were encountering error messages, telling them that such behaviour was now being blocked.

The reports were sporadic, and for now, it doesn’t seem like there’s any large-scale blocking effort under way. But the mere suggestion that such a move was afoot was enough to send Canadian Netflix users into a tizzy.

Let’s acknowledge something that many users cheerfully admit in the comfort of their living rooms: Canadian Netflix is essentially a grey-market service. It’s a false storefront, a post-office box we use as a tool to access the far superior American catalogue without resorting to out-and-out piracy. In this case, the tool at hand is the Virtual Private Network: a kind of encrypted tunnel that lets you burrow through the Internet and virtually pop up in a different location, as if emerging from a portal in Ohio to scoop up American content.

Is this illegal? Not exactly. Canadian lawyers have called it a grey area. The practice is against Netflix’s terms and conditions, but a breach of contract is not a crime.

Nor is it ethically compromising the way pirating content can be. If you torrent a piece of video, nobody is getting paid at all (except perhaps the pirates). Netflix, on the other hand, rents the rights to its videos on a time basis, not on a per-view basis. So a Canadian streaming a show from American Netflix isn’t depriving creators of anything: Netflix has paid the creator and the user has paid Netflix; the money’s down.

Netflix catalogues are different in different countries because licensing deals are split between different countries. A media owner might have sold the rights to broadcast a piece of video to a Canadian media company. If Canadians watch that content on Netflix instead of through the channel that paid for the Canadian rights, that channel loses out on the putative revenue it would have generated – say, from advertising on its own site.

Canadian consumers, however, don’t seem too concerned with these nuances. Taking the backdoor into Netflix’s American store meets a standard of legitimacy that many feel comfortable with. And perhaps the most legitimizing factor is Netflix’s apparent complicity in the scheme.

Computers are capable of a great deal of sophisticated analysis, including computing orbital trajectories, decoding the human genome and noticing that my Netflix account has logged in from Toronto one minute and Boise, Idaho, the next – the moment I turn on my VPN.

The company’s tut-tutting statement is more significant for what it doesn’t say than for what it does. There is no threat of sanctions to users, no hint of sabre-rattling about cancelled accounts, let alone legal action or damages. Nor is there any suggestion that its experiments in geoblocking are going to turn into anything more substantial.

We can guess why: Any hint that Netflix was about to shut down the American buffet would be met with Canadian subscribers stampeding to the exits. Canadians have a particular sore spot about being treated like second-class citizens in the global media market. Netflix knows this, and it’s no longer the only game in town when it comes to video streaming, especially as Canadian media companies get their acts together with offerings like Crave TV, which offers existing subscribers to cable packages unlimited streaming for $4 a month. Canadian dollars, no less.

There is a reason Netflix has calibrated its response to the question of geoblocking to “not mad, just disappointed.” The slightly dodgy status quo seems to be satisfying many parties, and any attempt to upend it would be taken as the company changing the rules of the tacit agreement it’s made with Canadian users – even if that tacit agreement contradicts the written agreement those users signed.

Consumer expectations, once established, are hard to revise. It’s a grey market, and Netflix and its Canadian subscribers are in it together.

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Nor is it ethically compromising the way pirating content can be. If you torrent a piece of video, nobody is getting paid at all (except perhaps the pirates). Netflix, on the other hand, rents the rights to its videos on a time basis, not on a per-view basis. So a Canadian streaming a show from American Netflix isn’t depriving creators of anything: Netflix has paid the creator and the user has paid Netflix; the money’s down.

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Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - Friday, March 6, 2015
From creators Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, this half-hour single-camera comedy series stars Ellie Kemper as Kimmy, who escapes a doomsday cult and decides to reclaim her life and start over in New York City. Armed with just a backpack, light-up sneakers, and a couple of way-past-due library books, Kimmy’s ready to take on a world she didn’t even think existed anymore. Wide-eyed but resilient, nothing is going to stand in her way. The 13-episode series, produced by Universal Television, also stars Jane Krakowski, Tituss Burgess, Carol Kane and more. Fey and Carlock serve as executive producers, along with David Miner and Jeff Richmond.

Bloodline - Friday, March 20, 2015
When the eldest brother and black sheep of the Rayburn family returns home, he exposes the emotional demons that lie at the core of the family, threatening to tear them apart. With a stellar cast headlined by Kyle Chandler, Ben Mendelsohn, Linda Cardellini, Norbert Leo Butz, Jacinda Barrett, Jamie McShane, Enrique Murciano, Sissy Spacek, and Sam Shepard, the 13-episode series is from executive producers Todd A. Kessler, Daniel Zelman and Glenn Kessler (Damages), and produced by Sony Pictures Television.

Marvel’s Daredevil - Friday, April 10, 2015
Blinded as a young boy but imbued with extraordinary senses, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) fights against injustice by day as a lawyer, and by night as the Super Hero “Daredevil” in modern day Hell's Kitchen, New York City. Produced by Marvel Television and ABC Studios, with executive producers Steven S. DeKnight (Spartacus), Jeph Loeb (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and Drew Goddard (Cabin In The Woods), the series also stars Rosario Dawson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson.

Grace and Frankie - Friday, May 8, 2015
In this irreverent and touching series, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin star as Grace and Frankie, a pair of frenemies whose lives are turned upside down - and permanently intertwined - when their husbands leave them for each other. Together, they must face starting over in their 70s in a 21st century world. The series also stars Martin Sheen, Sam Waterston, Brooklyn Decker, Ethan Embry, June Diane Raphael and Baron Vaughn. Created by Marta Kauffman (Friends) and Howard J. Morris (Home Improvement), the 13-episode series is produced by Skydance Productions and executive producers Kauffman, Morris, Fonda, Tomlin, Paula Weinstein, David Ellison, David Goldberg and Marcy Ross.

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Netflix is about to stop streaming Luther, Doctor Who, most BBC shows
By Alex McCown@alexm247 Jan 13, 2015 12:42 PM

If anyone has a spare TARDIS laying around, it sure would come in handy right about now as Netflix will reportedly be eliminating almost all of its BBC programming as of January 31.

Due to the expiration of Netflix’s contract with the BBC, the streaming service will no longer carry a number of U.K. imports, including Doctor Who, Luther, Fawlty Towers, Black Adder, the original British version of House Of Cards, Wallander, Coupling, Top Gear, and more. This is potentially a huge blow for the people who depend on the online subscription service to provide them with across-the-pond entertainment. Plus, some of us might be a little late to the game on Black Mirror, and need a bit more time to get through all the episodes. There is no word yet on whether any negotiations are taking place between the two companies.

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