Netflix, VPNs and Piracy – an Extremely Complicated Relationship

netflix everywhere

We’ve got it pretty good here in the United States when it comes to Netflix.

By far the largest content library and great internet connections make it easier than ever to use a service like Netflix to replace the majority of our cable entertainment. But everywhere else? Things are a bit more complicated when it comes to streaming. As we reported last month there’s a huge gap in the number of titles on a country-by-country basis. This wasn’t a terrible issue for the more tech-savvy among these international subscribers, as they could easily use a VPN service to quickly get access to the global Netflix library.

But as Business Insider’s Nathan McAlone points out, this week Netflix finally made good on their promise to close the gate on VPNs, updating their technology to make it much more difficult to use this once-simply workaround.

As McAlone also points out, this shift in VPN availability also likely will lead to more piracy. Pointing out a survey run by Secure Thoughts, that polled 1000 Netflix VPN users, many of these folks will likely turn to piracy if they can’t quickly get what they want on Netflix.

As you can see below, the majority of respondents have stated they’ll likely turn to more piracy as the restrictions on VPNs get tighter. Interestingly, most have said they’d pay more for Netflix if it meant an improvement to the library, (something we all agree with here as well).

See the full data below: