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Back in simpler times, TV was straightforward—you pay for cable, you set up your cable, and you watch your cartoons on TV9. If you were a little more well-off, you can get Astro with its hundreds of channels, which is also a simple matter of signing up and waiting for the Astro people to set up your satellite.
In more recent times, Netflix dominated the streaming scene, and that was fine for most people too, as Astro users are not unfamiliar with the subscription model. Streaming was great against piracy, as it allowed people to access their favourite shows anytime they wanted without having to resort to illegal means.
That quickly ended when more companies picked up on the subscription streaming model. Now, we have to commit payment to several streaming services in order to enjoy our favourite shows, and more often than not, we only watch that one, or maybe two, shows on the site. For most people, it doesn’t make sense to pay for a full subscription for a single show, so that brings us right back to square one.
People are always going to be trying to pay less for what they want. This used to be sharing passwords amongst family and friends, leveraging on the fact that multiple people can be on the same account at the same time, but just recently, Netflix put an end to this.
Netflix’s decision to crack down on shared accounts outside the household has finally reached Malaysia this week. Now, if you want to share your account with anyone outside your household, you’ll need to pay an extra RM13/month. And as human nature dictates, people are already finding ways around that, like trying to get cheap Netflix subscriptions off the Internet.
First and Foremost, That’s Illegal.
Truth be told, it’s really not that hard to find these “services” online, and they don’t stop at just Netflix. Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, Dropbox, etc… basically, if it needs subscriptions, there’ll be someone out there offering a “lifetime license” at a really cheap “one-time fee” — in short, pirated software.
These cheap pirated software and subscriptions usually originate from third-party vendors, who procure them through a variety of underhand methods, the most common of which is hacking and credential stuffing. They then sell these compromised accounts at significantly lower prices than the official subscriptions. It seems like a great deal on the surface, but don’t forget: pirating is still a crime.
Nowadays, piracy is no exclusive secret only reserved for the tech-savvy. Anyone can just venture onto Google (or any other search engine of your choice) and look up free movies and TV series. Or, you know, there’s always uTorrent and the like.
It Harms The Creators…
Apart from risking involvement in actual crimes, piracy also harms the companies directly. Some of us may not care for profit-grabbing companies that demand high subscription fees, but consider this: their revenue also pays for the people that create the content that you so desperately want.
And as much as we don’t like it, the loss of revenue, in a broader sense, will indirectly affect the entire ecosystem of artists, creators, and production teams that depend on Netflix or other companies for their livelihood.
The Community…
You may be surprised to learn that these cheap subscriptions also contribute to an overall increase in cybersecurity threats. Where there’s demand, there’ll be supply, and when unscrupulous cybercriminals realise that they can sell cheap subscriptions easily, they’ll be incentivized to invest more in hacking tools and techniques.
The better the tools get, the more rampant cybercrimes will be, and it’ll also be harder to track down all of these illicit tools. Therefore, the security of all internet users is thus undermined, contributing to a more hostile digital environment.
With this, the harm extends beyond the direct victims (you and the content creators) to the entire digital community. With digital rights and privacy already a major concern to most people, this creates a slippery slope where the value of digital products and services can be—if not already— undermined, as well as the rights of creators and consumers.
And Yes, Consumers—That Means You.
There is also a personal risk for those who buy these cheap subscriptions. Apart from contributing to illegal activity, you expose yourself to potential cybersecurity risks. After all, how sure are you about these vendors you’re buying your illegal subscription from?
For all you know, your purchased accounts can be used to spread malware or for other illicit activities. You might find yourself downloading what you think is Microsoft Office from uTorrent, when in actuality you’re downloading spyware that can be used to access your device; or, going back to Netflix, your personal information like phone number, address, credit card number, and more could be at risk when you “sign-in” with a sketchy account.
To make it worse, there can be legal consequences for knowingly participating in such fraudulent activities. As of the Copyright (Amendment) Act 2022, digital piracy is considered a criminal offence, and offenders are liable to fines of up to RM200,000 or 20 years of imprisonment or both. So yeah, it’s not good.
In the digital age, where so much of our lives revolve around online services, it may be hard to keep up with all the fees and subscriptions you’d want for your daily life. Even so, it’s important to prioritize ethical and legal consumption to protect ourselves, the community, and the overall digital environment.
So, if your password-sharing Netflix account has been discontinued and you’re reaching out to less official sources for your content consumption, maybe consider just paying the RM13/month. Remember, if no one is paying for quality content creation, then no one is getting paid for creating quality content.