5 ms·

It is absolutely ridiculous that anyone's physical location should impact the content they are allowed to watch. Full stop.

chakerb 5y ago
It affects how much salary we get paid, what language we speak, what we eat ...etc. Why is that any different?
- Ansil849 5y ago
  Because in 2021, culture is global. Your examples also don't really make any analogous sense, at all. You are free to learn whichever language you want. Under the corporate geofencing intellectual property regime, you are not free to watch whatever films you want. That is the issue.
  - chakerb 5y ago
    To a recent years, lot of films where banned where I live and watching any of them is a felony! So location indeed affect what you're allowed to watch regardless of whether it's under geofencing intellectual property or another thing. To be clear I wish I lived in a world where I can legally watch everything without a hassle. But there's no such world like that regardless of how much we want to exist. The same way there's no such world where we get paid equally ( doing the same work obviously) because we're living in different locations/countries!
    - Ansil849 5y ago
      > To a recent years, lot of films where banned We are not talking about films which are specifically banned, or content which is generally illegal. We are talking about content that is 'normative' and generally legal around the world, but is artificially restricted based on geofencing. For example, attempting to watch a film that is legal both in Country A and Country B, but not being able to because of the region you are logging into Netflix from.
      - enriquec 5y ago
        There is no intellectual consistency in what you're saying, at all. Freedom of Speech is only an actual guarantee (at least in text) in one country. And the electrons/bits in the wire obey physics like every other item the GP mentioned and as a result, are subject to the same political and physical forces that reflect in their regionally relative price.
        chucksta 5y ago
        What they are saying has nothing to do with rules or regulations. If the content of Barney is legal to watch in Canada, and the USA, there is no reason the show shouldn't be available to watch in both countries
        latexr 5y ago
        > Freedom of Speech is only an actual guarantee (at least in text) in one country. Plenty of countries have freedom of speech rights in text: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_by_country
  - slapfrog 5y ago
    "Global and homogeneous" culture is a right wing meme, not reality. Don't believe me? Survey the Americans you know and ask them how many Bollywood movies they've watched ever.
  - Flow 5y ago
    In Sweden I can't even pick English subtitles on some streaming services. I prefer that to Swedish, but noooo.
    - CogitoCogito 5y ago
      Last I checked Apple TV doesn't even list the languages their subtitles are available in before renting/buying movies. Frankly this is just plain idiotic. I rented Parasite, but my girlfriend couldn't really watch it, since she doesn't speak Swedish. It's such an obvious piece of information they should provide. (And even if it's not obvious, I did email them letting them know. Somehow I doubt my feedback will come to use.)
- josephcsible 5y ago
  If you live in the US, going on vacation to Europe doesn't affect how much salary you get paid or what language you speak, but it does impact the content you are allowed to watch.
  - distances 5y ago
    In EU Netflix doesn't change the content now immediately. I was on a holiday recently and kept seeing the home content on Netflix. https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24853# https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24853#
    - nyuszika7h 5y ago
      Yes, that’s true if you only move within the EU. Has been the case for a few years now, also with other streaming services, due to new EU portability laws.
  - OJFord 5y ago
    It's so silly. They could at least make it clear - I forgot about it on holiday in Canada, watched a couple of episodes of a series (enough to get into it), returned home to the UK and it wasn't there. I didn't realise until then that would happen; I hadn't even remembered that it was a possibility.
  - leephillips 5y ago
    “If you live in the US, going on vacation to Europe doesn't affect [...] what language you speak” So the stereotype is accurate?
meowface 5y ago
I fully agree, but - and someone please correct me if I'm wrong - I was under the impression that this is essentially out of Netflix's hands. It just depends on the terms of the license that's granted, right? And/or is it a scenario where in some cases Netflix could perhaps pay more to get wider/global airing rights, but they can't justify the additional cost based on the viewership numbers they expect for that piece of content in those additional countries/regions? By that same token, I wouldn't be surprised if lawyers have been breathing down their neck for years trying to pressure them to crack down on region lock-bypassing VPNs, and perhaps even threatening legal action against them. (Of course, that's not justification for blocking residential IP addresses as VPNs when there are non-VPN users behind those IP addresses. Just wanted to point out that the blocking policy is probably something they have to do rather than something they want to do.)
- socialist_coder 5y ago
  Why can't Netflix just allow people to buy another subscription for a new country? I wouldn't mind paying extra to unlock additional content from another country.
  - forrestthewoods 5y ago
    Because the person who owns the content sold exclusive distribution rights in that country to another distributor.
    - socialist_coder 5y ago
      But Netflix also has an agreement with whoever owns distribution rights in the other country though... that's why the VPN trick works. Just let me pay extra for the other country, what would be the problem there?
      - lotsofpulp 5y ago
        I would assume the content owners are demanding the Netflix to stop the VPN trick. I would assume the distributors in other countries are telling content owners they will not pay a certain price if Netflix is allowing people to use VPNs.
passivate 5y ago
Digital goods are still considered property so its far from ridiculous, but we can re-evaluate and change that via legislation if we wish to. Re: Regional Pricing - Its no different than product prices changing depending on the country. Import/custom taxes/duties, trade treaties, etc, still are a thing in today's world. Again, not ridiculous, but changeable if people want to.
- Ansil849 5y ago
  > Digital goods are still considered property so its far from ridiculous That is precisely what makes it ridiculous.
  - passivate 5y ago
    Okay, I accept that this is your position. I don't agree that it is ridiculous as its the basis of our entire digital economy including software licensing and everything else. No point arguing over it, so I'll just let you have the last word. Have a nice day.
  - nomel 5y ago
    This view doesn't make sense to me. Have you ever created something through effort/cost? Is it not yours if it can only be displayed on a monitor? Most of us here have jobs/products that have the same limitation.

chakerb 5y ago

It affects how much salary we get paid, what language we speak, what we eat ...etc. Why is that any different?

Ansil849 5y ago
Because in 2021, culture is global. Your examples also don't really make any analogous sense, at all. You are free to learn whichever language you want. Under the corporate geofencing intellectual property regime, you are not free to watch whatever films you want. That is the issue.
- chakerb 5y ago
  To a recent years, lot of films where banned where I live and watching any of them is a felony! So location indeed affect what you're allowed to watch regardless of whether it's under geofencing intellectual property or another thing. To be clear I wish I lived in a world where I can legally watch everything without a hassle. But there's no such world like that regardless of how much we want to exist. The same way there's no such world where we get paid equally ( doing the same work obviously) because we're living in different locations/countries!
  - Ansil849 5y ago
    > To a recent years, lot of films where banned We are not talking about films which are specifically banned, or content which is generally illegal. We are talking about content that is 'normative' and generally legal around the world, but is artificially restricted based on geofencing. For example, attempting to watch a film that is legal both in Country A and Country B, but not being able to because of the region you are logging into Netflix from.
    - enriquec 5y ago
      There is no intellectual consistency in what you're saying, at all. Freedom of Speech is only an actual guarantee (at least in text) in one country. And the electrons/bits in the wire obey physics like every other item the GP mentioned and as a result, are subject to the same political and physical forces that reflect in their regionally relative price.
      - chucksta 5y ago
        What they are saying has nothing to do with rules or regulations. If the content of Barney is legal to watch in Canada, and the USA, there is no reason the show shouldn't be available to watch in both countries
      - latexr 5y ago
        > Freedom of Speech is only an actual guarantee (at least in text) in one country. Plenty of countries have freedom of speech rights in text: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_by_country
- slapfrog 5y ago
  "Global and homogeneous" culture is a right wing meme, not reality. Don't believe me? Survey the Americans you know and ask them how many Bollywood movies they've watched ever.
- Flow 5y ago
  In Sweden I can't even pick English subtitles on some streaming services. I prefer that to Swedish, but noooo.
  - CogitoCogito 5y ago
    Last I checked Apple TV doesn't even list the languages their subtitles are available in before renting/buying movies. Frankly this is just plain idiotic. I rented Parasite, but my girlfriend couldn't really watch it, since she doesn't speak Swedish. It's such an obvious piece of information they should provide. (And even if it's not obvious, I did email them letting them know. Somehow I doubt my feedback will come to use.)
josephcsible 5y ago
If you live in the US, going on vacation to Europe doesn't affect how much salary you get paid or what language you speak, but it does impact the content you are allowed to watch.
- distances 5y ago
  In EU Netflix doesn't change the content now immediately. I was on a holiday recently and kept seeing the home content on Netflix. https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24853# https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24853#
  - nyuszika7h 5y ago
    Yes, that’s true if you only move within the EU. Has been the case for a few years now, also with other streaming services, due to new EU portability laws.
- OJFord 5y ago
  It's so silly. They could at least make it clear - I forgot about it on holiday in Canada, watched a couple of episodes of a series (enough to get into it), returned home to the UK and it wasn't there. I didn't realise until then that would happen; I hadn't even remembered that it was a possibility.
- leephillips 5y ago
  “If you live in the US, going on vacation to Europe doesn't affect [...] what language you speak” So the stereotype is accurate?

meowface 5y ago

I fully agree, but - and someone please correct me if I'm wrong - I was under the impression that this is essentially out of Netflix's hands. It just depends on the terms of the license that's granted, right? And/or is it a scenario where in some cases Netflix could perhaps pay more to get wider/global airing rights, but they can't justify the additional cost based on the viewership numbers they expect for that piece of content in those additional countries/regions? By that same token, I wouldn't be surprised if lawyers have been breathing down their neck for years trying to pressure them to crack down on region lock-bypassing VPNs, and perhaps even threatening legal action against them. (Of course, that's not justification for blocking residential IP addresses as VPNs when there are non-VPN users behind those IP addresses. Just wanted to point out that the blocking policy is probably something they have to do rather than something they want to do.)

socialist_coder 5y ago
Why can't Netflix just allow people to buy another subscription for a new country? I wouldn't mind paying extra to unlock additional content from another country.
- forrestthewoods 5y ago
  Because the person who owns the content sold exclusive distribution rights in that country to another distributor.
  - socialist_coder 5y ago
    But Netflix also has an agreement with whoever owns distribution rights in the other country though... that's why the VPN trick works. Just let me pay extra for the other country, what would be the problem there?
    - lotsofpulp 5y ago
      I would assume the content owners are demanding the Netflix to stop the VPN trick. I would assume the distributors in other countries are telling content owners they will not pay a certain price if Netflix is allowing people to use VPNs.

passivate 5y ago

Digital goods are still considered property so its far from ridiculous, but we can re-evaluate and change that via legislation if we wish to. Re: Regional Pricing - Its no different than product prices changing depending on the country. Import/custom taxes/duties, trade treaties, etc, still are a thing in today's world. Again, not ridiculous, but changeable if people want to.

Ansil849 5y ago
> Digital goods are still considered property so its far from ridiculous That is precisely what makes it ridiculous.
- passivate 5y ago
  Okay, I accept that this is your position. I don't agree that it is ridiculous as its the basis of our entire digital economy including software licensing and everything else. No point arguing over it, so I'll just let you have the last word. Have a nice day.
- nomel 5y ago
  This view doesn't make sense to me. Have you ever created something through effort/cost? Is it not yours if it can only be displayed on a monitor? Most of us here have jobs/products that have the same limitation.