Netflix has already begun facing heated competition from Disney Plus, HBO Max and other upcoming streaming services. But one issue that could potentially affect the revenue of all companies in the streaming business is the illegitimate password sharing and ways to crack down such practices are already in discussion.
The production company has addressed the issue of password sharing and stated that they continue to monitor it. Moreover, the company also hopes to find a consumer-friendly way to face it and openly revealed that there were no big plans at the moment to overcome that hurdle. But that could change in the near or far future.
A new report from Bloomberg's Gerry Smith reveals that companies like Netflix and HBO are already working on ways to stop users from sharing passwords among friends and families. Moreover, as Business Insider points out - potential new features already are being discussed to battle online piracy by Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE).
For those unaware, ACE is an industry alliance with Amazon, Netflix, HBO and Disney serving as the members. A few of the tactics currently discussed so far include: periodic account password resets and sending codes via message to access the account. ACE also seems to be contemplating restricting access to services based on a subscribers' geographical location.
This feature would deny access to a user trying to use his account from a media device like Roku if the address he's situated in is not the same as the location listed in the account. However, that won't apply for mobile devices.
The biggest feature that could possibly put an end to password sharing is fingerprint recognition. Users could face situations in future which requires them to place their fingerprint to access the account. Though the use of the lock has been discussed it's unknown if companies would go ahead with introducing such tactics.
Introducing a fingerprint recognition wouldn't necessarily be a single feature since users would obviously be provided with other secondary options in case the scanning feature faces errors. But that may not resolve the issue or could rather worsen and affect the company's revenue.
It must be noted that media conglomerates are being cautious in approaching this issue since it could easily lead to viewers abandoning services. Netflix, HBO and ACE didn't respond back when Business Insider reached out for a comment.
