Netflix is literally a household brand now, with the streaming service known well to fans, and non-fans alike. In the follow up to an earlier announcement that the streaming giant would be going through the process of proactively blocking VPN and proxy services, the team at Netflix has finally begun clamping down on those services.
It’s been an interesting few weeks for the crew over at Netflix. The extremely successful streaming subscription service welcomed in 2016 by going through a huge expansion project that saw its services offered to an additional 130 countries, which brings the number to an amazing 190 countries in total. With services spread to a wide array of countries now, Netflix decided that there was no need for the service to be accessed using VPN or proxy services anymore and thus, should be blocked. The company has faced some serious backlash from announcement – most notably from the companies who actually provide those services that allow geo-location spoofing – but remains undeterred, as it begins blocking VPN and proxy services.
Typically speaking, Netflix has served varying content to subscribers of the service based purely on their location in the world. As an example, if you’re based in the United Kingdom you are able to access a different library than those consumers who access Netflix from the United States or Mexico. Tech-savvy consumers have previously utilized the services of VPN services that offer geo-location spoofing in order to bypass that restriction and access content intended for foreign markets.
It is being reported that Melbourne based service uFlix is getting word from some of its customers that they have already received notifications from Netflix asking them to disable their unblocking services. uFlix configures a user’s DNS settings and IP address to spoof the system and trick Netflix into thinking the Australian customer is from a different location. Netflix seems to be taking exception to that by informing the users that they “seem to be using an unblocked or proxy. Please turn off any these services and try again”.
The company has provided its own investigation into the issue and has stated that the error message from Netflix that blocks access to the service has so far only reached a few of its customers. With that said, given the fact that we knew this was coming, it seems highly likely that the number of affected uFlix customers will grow significantly in the coming days and weeks. It also serves as a warning to VPN users around the world that Netflix is definitely staying true to its intentions.
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