Love is not sharing a password?

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Photo by Unsplash

Gracie Burgess, Staff Writer

“Love is sharing a password,” Netflix tweeted on March 10, 2017. But now, they are backtracking that statement and asking users not to share their passwords.

So far, the new procedure has been launched in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain – if you live in a separate household, you will be charged an extra fee to share passwords. Netflix has not set prices for password sharing yet, but some are estimating it can be as much as an extra $7.50 a month.

“For Netflix, it simply just won’t work,” senior Tyler Dawes said. “There are too many people that travel and too many that piggyback the service.”

Dawes suggests that if Netflix were to roll out this new program in the U.S., many people would move on from Netflix and subscribe to a different streaming service that will better suit their needs. Many college students use their parent’s Netflix accounts for streaming movies and shows. Changing this would greatly impact college students, forcing them to pay for their own Netflix accounts. This is all while some students struggle to even pay for their tuition.

“I believe the situations will have a strong impact on college students if implemented,” senior Christine Pilnacek said. “Most students’ expenses are paid for, in part, by their parents, or accounts are shared between friends to save on expenses. A lot of students will lose access to the streaming service.”

Many college students struggle to afford to attend college. The least of their concerns is securing themselves a Netflix account. Since its inception, Netflix has not had any restrictions on sharing passwords. Now that there are restrictions that are possibly taking place, students are faced with the decision if Netflix is worthy of their limited funds or not.

“By Netflix limiting password sharing they want more people to pay their service fee, but this is going to end up hurting them more than helping them,” junior Ronique Bobb said. “Too many people share passwords for streaming services so if they are no longer able to do so, they might just get rid of the service completely.

Students use Netflix in many ways that can impact their personal lives and their academic career. Some students choose to use Netflix as a method of relaxation after a long day of classes and work. Other students, like Pilnacek, have come up with some creative ways to use Netflix to help further their academics.

“I myself have used it several times for assignments,” Pilnacek said. “I think there’ll be a lot of pushbacks and they stand a chance to lose a huge amount of revenue.”

While there will be, and already is pushback regarding Netflix’s potential worldwide change, there is nothing that is stopping the brand from attempting the change. Many college students though agree that the change will not work.

“As someone who utilizes password sharing, I can see how many college students and people overall that this will affect,” junior Ronique Bobb said. “Taking something away that is used so much is going to be detrimental for those who can’t or may not be able to get the service for themselves.

And while this will be a global impact on all those who use Netflix, college students who do not make much of an income, if any, have to pay the price. While Netflix suggested years ago the idea of “Love is sharing a password,” obviously in today’s day and age, that message has changed. Even in your own family, love is not sharing a password.