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Netflix acts to block proxy servers

January 15, 2016

By Colin Mann

Hot on the heels of announcing a global launch and the addition of 130 countries to its operations, streaming giant Netfllix is taking steps to reduce the usage of proxies that enable ‘subscribers’ to access content only available outside their licensed territory.

Writing in the company blog, David Fullagar, Vice President of Content Delivery Architecture, notes that if all of Netflixx’s content were globally available, there wouldn’t be a reason for members to use proxies or ‘unblockers’ to fool our systems into thinking they’re in a different country than they’re actually in. “We are making progress in licensing content across the world and, as of last week, now offer the Netflix service in 190 countries, but we have a way to go before we can offer people the same films and TV series everywhere,” he notes.

“Over time, we anticipate being able to do so. For now, given the historic practice of licensing content by geographic territories, the TV shows and movies we offer differ, to varying degrees, by territory. In the meantime, we will continue to respect and enforce content licensing by geographic location,” he confirms.

“Some members use proxies or ‘unblockers’ to access titles available outside their territory. To address this, we employ the same or similar measures other firms do. This technology continues to evolve and we are evolving with it. That means in coming weeks, those using proxies and unblockers will only be able to access the service in the country where they currently are. We are confident this change won’t impact members not using proxies,” he states.

“We look forward to offering all of our content everywhere and to consumers being able to enjoy all of Netflix without using a proxy. That’s the goal we will keep pushing towards,” he concludes.

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