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After a decade of encouraging customers to share their streaming accounts, services like Netflix now take the opposite stance. They claim that “password hacking” is detrimental to the industry and are fighting to combat the phenomenon. Adobe obviously sees this as a business opportunity.
Adobe has just launched Primetime Account IQ, a service that promises to solve “illegal” password sharing on sites like “Netflix, Disney+, and HBO Max.” It uses machine learning to track user habits and identify “credential sharing and fraud.” From there, you can apply an appropriate “accountability strategy” that can encourage password sharers to pay for their own streaming bills.
The “accountability strategies” promoted by Primetime Account IQ vary in intensity. The service can force 2FA on people who share small-time passwords, or routinely log such users out of their accounts (making password sharing a hassle). But in more extreme cases, Primetime Account IQ may restrict account access or display intimidating pop-ups to customers of a service.
In theory, companies like Netflix could apply this kind of approach without the help of Adobe. But the Primetime Account IQ service is very complete. It integrates with other Adobe services and can show a company how much money they are “losing” due to “fraud”. Adobe also claims that Primetime Account IQ can speed up a website or app by replacing outdated security tools.
This is a frustrating conversation. Sharing passwords is a big part of streaming success, and until now, companies like Netflix have encouraged this behavior. The language Adobe uses to advertise its Primetime Account IQ service shows how drastically things have changed: It repeatedly calls password sharing an “illegal” activity equivalent to “fraud” or “hacking.”
And from a business point of view, Adobe’s solution to “password hacking” looks very attractive. It’s a lot smarter than the crap Netflix is testing in South America, at least.
It seems that the golden age of streaming is finally coming to an end. In 2019, I wrote an article titled “Streaming Services Starting to Look Like Cable Companies.” Most of the concerns listed in that article are now coming true, though to be honest, I didn’t expect password sharing to become such a hot topic.
The idea that streaming services lose “billions of dollars” by sharing accounts is nonsense. It’s based on the assumption that everyone would pay for Netflix, Disney+, or HBO MAX if they couldn’t use a friend’s account for free. In reality, the ability to share these accounts is one of the only ways to justify their ridiculous monthly fees.
Source: Adobe via TechDirt
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