Netflix's diminishing subscribers and its response

I'm not sure it's a Windows problem. Windows takes the screenshot just fine, the problem is that whatever is on the Netflix screen, so to speak, shows up in the screenshot as a blank black field.

This isn’t necessarily nefarious, if you have GPU-accelerated content, screen capturing methods that capture 2D non-accelerated desktop content won’t necessarily work.

The really nefarious thing is OS manufacturers acquiescing to anti-user-control restrictions. e.g. https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/WindowManager.LayoutParams#FLAG_SECURE
 
I just dropped Amazon Prime and only have Netflix because I just don’t have the time to watch that much and there was practically nothing I liked on Amazon Prime.

It’s also useless in Iraq because almost nothing is available on Amazon Prime there while Netflix still has a lot of stuff. I’m in USA at the moment.

I think about getting HBO or Hulu.
 
This isn’t necessarily nefarious, if you have GPU-accelerated content, screen capturing methods that capture 2D non-accelerated desktop content won’t necessarily work.

The really nefarious thing is OS manufacturers acquiescing to anti-user-control restrictions. e.g. https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/WindowManager.LayoutParams#FLAG_SECURE

Well, I wasn't doing this on an Android system, if that makes any difference. This was just on Windows 10. I am not sure, however, given your apparent attitude toward copyright protection, how you can call this 'nefarious.'
 
Yeah, we should have Teddy Roosevelt'd Jeff Bezos' Empire of S*** already.
I suspect that's why Jeff's building that East Coast HQ. They get hit with an antitrust suit and suddenly Amazon's conveniently split into Amazon East and Amazon West
It’s also useless in Iraq because almost nothing is available on Amazon Prime there while Netflix still has a lot of stuff. I’m in USA at the moment.
Someone may have mentioned this to you before, but why not a VPN?
 
HBO has lotsa good stuff.

I’ve been a member of Netflix since the disk days but recently decided to put my account on hold indefinitely. But I have to wait for the final epis of OZARK

My reason is the rate hike. Just tired of that for a service I don’t use as much anymore.
 
Well, I wasn't doing this on an Android system, if that makes any difference. This was just on Windows 10.

Right - Windows doesn’t have such simple hooks as Android to disable screenshots, hence my guess that it might by a side effect of the rendering/screen capture methods rather than a direct attempt to block screenshots. (e.g. you can see reports of this from 18 years ago with Windows Media Player: https://thedesignspace.net/screenshot_of_windows_media_player_shows_black_instead_of_video_image/)

I am not sure, however, given your apparent attitude toward copyright protection

You mean re: my previous post about account sharing? That has nothing to do with my attitude towards copyright protection, that has to do with my attitude towards sharing passwords, which is a bad practice. (Similarly, being opposed to sharing needles and policies that don’t discourage sharing needles doesn’t make one opposed to progressive drug policies.)
 
Capitalism damaged the online tv product quality by taking a small number of good services and breaking them up through everyone with access to two perceived high value exclusives starting their own service. The only person better served is whoever can afford every single subscription simultaneously.

Very much hoping that noone succeeds in doing the same to games.
 
Why is sharing Netflix passwords a bad practice?

Sharing passwords in general is bad practice. People who share Netflix passwords typically don't have the knowledge to distinguish between scenarios when passwords can safely be shared and when they cannot, so any approach other than "never share passwords" is going to result in some subset of shared passwords from the "not safe to share" set being evaluated as "safe to share". People who share Netflix passwords typically don't have the opsec required to safely share passwords. (Every service get unique randomly generated strong password, passwords stored in appropriate password manager, sharing done via appropriate access controls via password manager.)

(Needle-sharing analogy holds up. Drug users who share needles don't have the knowledge/ability to evaluate when it would be safe to share needles, and when they do share needles they don't have the knowledge or ability to consistently do so safely.)
 
IMO Its always been a bit of a grey legal area this. Im not sure anyone really knows what the law is as there have been so few test cases. But the way i see it:

1 - Its illegal to distribute
2 - Its illegal to host
3 - Its illegal to download

BUT - it isnt illegal to stream or watch. Otherwise if you happened to watch something on youtube that was against copyright law then you could be breaking the law. But thats just silly because its not your responsibility for what someone else has posted. Its mostly the posters and secondarily its Youtubes responsibility (or vice versa - depending on which side of the fence you sit on). Its the hosts responsibility to take down such content, of course, but it just gets re uploaded by someone else, resulting in this endless cat and mouse game between poster and hoster. And ultimately the consumer wins, as they have no real legal responsibility and in the meantime can watch should be copyrighted content until it gets taken down by the host. And this doesnt even begin to count all the numerous sites on the internet that host "links" to often legitimate carriers showing copyrighted content (Daily motion, Youtube and others).

The area i think a parallel could be drawn is with abandonware in gaming. Sites like home of the underdogs, which is not (as far as im aware) a piracy site have been around for a while now. And it hosts games that have been abandoned by commercial entities and hosts them free of charge for distribution. And their justification for doing so is that you simply cannot buy XYZ game at commercial units. So they host it on their website instead for free. GOG put paid to a lot of their titles (a good thing IMO). But they are still around and still host stuff. To my knowledge they voluntarily take down titles once they begin to be sold by a commercial entity. Gaps in the market like this invariably get filled by sites like home of the underdogs. And a whole host of retro films and TV shows exist online which are simply not catered for by the likes of Netflix.

I got incredibly pissed off recently when I realized that Netflix actually makes it impossible to take screenshots of their streams, which I find utterly ridiculous. Taking a screenshot of a show to use it to make a meme is textbook fair use.

If you are watching it on a PC cant you just do the old print screen button, paste it into paint, and do it that way?

I don't use Netflix, and I don't understand this.

Simple logic suggest the service provider sells the service
with a only one log-on per account at a time for the price.

Although this holds true, what about a family of 4? Mum and dad want to watch show A. And kids want to watch shows B & C. Yes they could get the premium subscription and have it on multiple devices. But i dont think many will see it that way because they dont always use it that way. And i have some sympathy with that position. Its a bit like me being charged a higher rate because i play 1 online game for multiplayer. When 90% of my gaming time is spent in blissful single player mode.
 
The really nefarious thing is OS manufacturers acquiescing to anti-user-control restrictions. e.g. https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/WindowManager.LayoutParams#FLAG_SECURE
There's nothing nefarious about this. This is an requirement when dealing with, for example, educational institutions. You don't want someone to be able to screenshot and share your digital ID card implementation. It's an anti (physical) hack measure.

Can it be abused? Sure. But plenty of things can be abused. It's harder to say they shouldn't exist because of that in the first place.
 
There's nothing nefarious about this. This is an requirement when dealing with, for example, educational institutions. You don't want someone to be able to screenshot and share your digital ID card implementation. It's an anti (physical) hack measure.

Can it be abused? Sure. But plenty of things can be abused. It's harder to say they shouldn't exist because of that in the first place.
That sounds to me like doing client side security. Is that OS hook strong enough that you would want to protect that sort of PII behind? I expect to get round it with virtualisation for example.
 
If you are watching it on a PC cant you just do the old print screen button, paste it into paint, and do it that way?

Neither this nor the snip tool worked. These are the only two ways I'm aware of to take screenshots on a PC.

People who share Netflix passwords typically don't have the knowledge to distinguish between scenarios when passwords can safely be shared and when they cannot, so any approach other than "never share passwords" is going to result in some subset of shared passwords from the "not safe to share" set being evaluated as "safe to share".

So, you are saying that sharing Netflix passwords isn't bad per se, it's getting into the habit of sharing passwords (or perhaps more precisely, lacking the knowledge to know when it is safe to share a password) that's bad?
 
There's nothing nefarious about this. This is an requirement when dealing with, for example, educational institutions. You don't want someone to be able to screenshot and share your digital ID card implementation. It's an anti (physical) hack measure.

Can it be abused? Sure. But plenty of things can be abused. It's harder to say they shouldn't exist because of that in the first place.

A "digital ID card" that's just a picture isn't an an appropriate method of confirming identity in the first place.

See how Apple has implemented IDs in Apple Wallet - the picture is just for show: IDs in Apple Wallet: privacy and security overview

"After you authenticate using Face ID or Touch ID, your ID information is presented digitally through encrypted communication between your iPhone or Apple Watch and the identity reader"

The ability to take a screenshot of the picture is irrelevant to identity confirmation.

Neither this nor the snip tool worked. These are the only two ways I'm aware of to take screenshots on a PC.

Back in the day, FRAPS was the recommended way to get screenshots out of games where the OS screenshot methods didn't work. Not sure what current alternatives there are.

edit: A quick Google says that Nvidia and AMD both provide their own tools for screenshots of hardware-accelerated content, or for Intel GPUs OBS or xSplit may work.

So, you are saying that sharing Netflix passwords isn't bad per se, it's getting into the habit of sharing passwords (or perhaps more precisely, lacking the knowledge to know when it is safe to share a password) that's bad?

Yes, that, and not adhering to the practices required to safely share passwords.
 
Neither this nor the snip tool worked. These are the only two ways I'm aware of to take screenshots on a PC.
Use your phone to snap a picture.
 
Capitalism damaged the online tv product quality by taking a small number of good services and breaking them up through everyone with access to two perceived high value exclusives starting their own service. The only person better served is whoever can afford every single subscription simultaneously.

Very much hoping that noone succeeds in doing the same to games.
Like I said earlier, the cost of too many subscriptions vs the time spent finding a piracy site is not a dilemma that the industry should want to place viewers in. Whether they have the sense to avoid doing so is another question.
 
I suspect that's why Jeff's building that East Coast HQ. They get hit with an antitrust suit and suddenly Amazon's conveniently split into Amazon East and Amazon West

Someone may have mentioned this to you before, but why not a VPN?

A former co-worker in Iraq told me Netflix didn’t work with her VPN and it’s something else I’d have to pay for.
 
How about making Netflix more elderly friendly?

A special remote with really big buttons.
Or a 1 touch button where you speak and it brings up search results right away.

Give a senior discount even.
 
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