For a long time before they came to our shores, the only way to access Netflix in Australia was via a proxy or region unblocker to skirt the eternally reviled international geoblock. These services continue to allow Netflix users to access international content libraries that differ from their own and Netflix have officially had enough of it.
Netflix announced in a press release late last week that, despite being aware of subscribers using these tools for months, they will finally be taking steps to deny them access, restricting users again to their own regional content.
In Thursday’s press release, VP of content delivery architecture David Fullagar stated that despite Netflix’s current desire to provide a single, massive global library of content, such a thing simply wasn’t possible at this point in time.
That has resulted in Netflix creating new tech for their systems designed to detect anyone using proxies, unblockers or browser extensions that allow subscribers access to international libraries and simply shut them down. In short, they’re blocking your unblocker.
Fullagar’s statement indicates that subscribers who have been using unblockers and proxies should start to see them stop working within the next few weeks but reiterated the company’s plan to hammer out the particulars with content suppliers to provide one worldwide library for all customers.
The news of the VPN blocking has been met with crankiness and skepticism about its effectiveness in the days since, but if you are using a proxy maybe take advantage of your access to other libraries while you can in case it really works.
Australia’s Netflix library was tagged for being rather content anaemic on launch in early 2015 but has been slowly gaining a steady stream of content since.
———-
