Netflix is starting to make it even more difficult for users of VPN or proxy services to access content that is not in their markets, bypassing geo-restrictions using these tools.
The downside of Netflix’s intensified fight is that from now on it is also starting to block residential IP addresses, which is also affecting legitimate users, who are finding it impossible to view certain content in the catalog legally.
Netflix’s fight began six years ago in the face of protests from copyright holders through complaints stating that “pirates” were circumventing geo-restrictions.
As a solution to this, some VPN services found that by using residential IP addresses from elsewhere, they could pass off their users as legitimate subscribers to their Internet access services.
At the moment Netflix has not made public the blocked residential IP addresses, nor is it known the extent of such a ban, although many affected users are sharing on social networks the fact of not being able to see all the content of the company’s catalog, being also users who do not use VPN services.
Some VPN services are already looking for alternative solutions that allow users to access content available in other markets, and which seem to be working for the moment, although they have not explained, for logical reasons, the type of solutions they are implementing to allow users to bypass the geographic restrictions.
Netflix is aware of the situation but has not yet made any moves to give legitimate subscribers full access to the catalog to which they are subscribed.
It will be a matter of the company looking for a solution that seeks to protect copyrighted content with geographic restrictions without affecting users who religiously pay their monthly fee to access the company’s catalog.
