Netflix Moochers Beware
I'm sure a lot of us college students know what it's like to be a Netflix moocher, or a Hulu moocher. We come to be one in different ways - a friend forgets to log out of their account when they used your laptop or a boyfriend/girlfriend wanted to show you how much they love you. However you came about it, you've got access to your shows even though you don't have your own account. It makes sense as a poor college student; these services are expensive if you have no money, especially now that Netflix is raising their subscription prices. Plus, TV is essential, right? Sadly, our days of digital hitchhiking may be coming to an end.
A company called Synamedia has created an AI that will determine whether or not users are sharing passwords/accounts. It does this by analyzing patterns in usage data for each user, and it then gives a score based on how likely it is that a certain user is sharing a password. If you look like you're password sharing, the service provider has the right to do something about it, like cancel your subscription or require you to upgrade to premium. But why? It's not bad to share Netflix among poor college friends, right? I'd say so, but others may not have as good intentions. Sometimes people sell their passwords for profit and end up making more than their paying. Piracy is real and companies want to avoid it like the plague, so anything that vaguely looks like it can and will be subject to review and destruction. While that's a noble goal of these providers, saving the internet from pirates, they also want to make more money, and they want the moochers money as much as they want the mooch-ee's (I don't think that's a word but, hopefully, you understand).
But I'm safe from all this as a Netflix user, right? I've never even heard of Synamedia and it doesn't look like they have anything to do with Netflix. Well, that's possibly correct. Synamedia won't say which companies are currently looking into this new AI, but they have some big clients like AT&T and Disney. Maybe this AI will be an unfortunate feature of Disney's new streaming service, and if Disney is trying it, won't everyone want to? All I'm saying - maybe keep a tighter reign on that password.
A company called Synamedia has created an AI that will determine whether or not users are sharing passwords/accounts. It does this by analyzing patterns in usage data for each user, and it then gives a score based on how likely it is that a certain user is sharing a password. If you look like you're password sharing, the service provider has the right to do something about it, like cancel your subscription or require you to upgrade to premium. But why? It's not bad to share Netflix among poor college friends, right? I'd say so, but others may not have as good intentions. Sometimes people sell their passwords for profit and end up making more than their paying. Piracy is real and companies want to avoid it like the plague, so anything that vaguely looks like it can and will be subject to review and destruction. While that's a noble goal of these providers, saving the internet from pirates, they also want to make more money, and they want the moochers money as much as they want the mooch-ee's (I don't think that's a word but, hopefully, you understand).
But I'm safe from all this as a Netflix user, right? I've never even heard of Synamedia and it doesn't look like they have anything to do with Netflix. Well, that's possibly correct. Synamedia won't say which companies are currently looking into this new AI, but they have some big clients like AT&T and Disney. Maybe this AI will be an unfortunate feature of Disney's new streaming service, and if Disney is trying it, won't everyone want to? All I'm saying - maybe keep a tighter reign on that password.
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