Netflix has had enough of people sharing passwords

Netflix has a lot of subscribers, but it has even more users. It is very common for one member of a family or one friend in a group to pay for the streaming service and to share the login details with other people.

Understandably, Netflix is a little tired of people freeloading rather than paying for a subscription. Now the company is testing a feature that could make sharing Netflix passwords a thing of the past.

Although not currently very widespread, some users are reporting seeing a message asking for confirmation that the person watching lives in the same household as the paying subscriber. Confirmation can be provided by entering a verification code that is then sent out to the registered account holder.

The message users are seeing reads:

If you don't live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching.

Clearly this new system is not infallible. Just as it is possible to share login details with several people, so it is easy for the account holder to share the confirmation code requested by Netflix; it is just a bit of a pain.

Although Netflix's terms of service state that login details should "not be shared with individuals beyond your household", the company has also turned a blind eye to the practice, and has even gone as far as saying it had no plans to stop people doing so.

But it looks as though this could be about to change. Clearly the company will never be able to stop people from accessing its streaming shows and movies for free, but it could well start to put more obstacles in the way that will start to discourage some people from doing so. A spokesperson for Netflix said: "This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorised to do so".

Whether it does remains to be seen.

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