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Johannesburg - Video streaming service Netflix plans to act more strongly against blocking technologies that fool its systems into thinking that some viewers are in different countries.
Netflix launched in an additional 130 countries last week, including South Africa.
However, a simple Google search offers tips to users in countries such as South Africa and even Canada on how to access the likes of the US or UK version of Netflix by using proxies and unblockers.
These technologies help users pretend that they’re using the internet from locations within countries such as the US or the UK.
Proxies and unblockers have been available for years, and the global launch of Netflix last week is unlikely to curb their use.
This is because users who want to watch shows such as House of Cards - which is not available on the South African version of Netflix because of content rights - could turn to these spoofing technologies to use the US version of Netflix.
But Netflix in a statement says it is taking a harder line towards proxies and unblockers and is encouraging users to stick to their local versions of the service.
“In coming weeks, those using proxies and unblockers will only be able to access the service in the country where they currently are,” said the company.
“We are confident this change won’t impact members not using proxies,” added Netflix. Netflix went on to say that it is working on making more of its content available in regions across the globe.
Last week, Netflix told Fin24 that it targets spending $5bn this year on content rights. But this could take time, the company has said.
“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 Netflix on Thursday.
“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 ways to go before we can offer people the same films and TV series everywhere,” said the company.
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