Netflix buckles down on proxy users

Netflix today announced plans to evolve its proxy detection in an effort to curb members from accessing titles that are available outside of their territory.

"If all of our 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," said David Fullagar, Netflix VP of Content Delivery Architecture, in a post today.

While the video streaming service does anticipate a future in which licensing content is in sync across the world, that's unfortunately not the case right now.  "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," Fullagar said. "In the meantime, we will continue to respect and enforce content licensing by geographic location."

Fullagar further explained Netflix employs the same or similar measures other firms do to prevent members from using proxies or "unblockers" to access content not offered in their territory.

"This technology continues to evolve and we are evolving with it," he said. "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."

Fullagar didn't get into specifics, but Variety reports the company is using "a variety of technologies to properly geolocate members and to avoid attempts to circumvent proper geolocation. Fullgar added Netflix is "confident" this won't impact members who do not use proxies.

"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."