Netflix has been a huge success that made it so popular that it became a cultural touchstone. Everyone seems to want to get that much closer to the edge of their comfort zone, but they don’t want to be caught with their pants down. At the end of the day, it’s only a matter of time when you do something that goes against your values and that you aren’t happy with.
Netflix is not a crime these days, but if you are caught streaming something that the company deems illegal, you can be fined up to $5,000 and imprisoned for up to three years, even for something as harmless as streaming something like a catnip dog movie.
There is a new twist on the netflix thing. If this is a crime, it’s a crime against the netflix culture. Netflix’s main argument is that by forcing you to pay for the content you watch, it is stifling the creativity of its users. Netflix wants you to pay for the services that your peers will be paying for, and in that way, it may be indirectly helping to stifle creativity. I believe that is illegal.
What’s the problem with this? Well, let’s just say that if Netflix were to stop its business model, I could see why it would be a crime. There are hundreds of other service providers out there, so the same arguments would apply to them.
Well, first of all, they are not competing with each other for your money, they are competing with one another for your attention. If you watch an hour of something on Netflix, you don’t expect to go back and watch the same thing over and over. Netflix creates value for its users and that value should not be used to stifle creativity.
Streaming video is becoming a huge portion of our day-to-day media consumption. If you can show that to me, I would love to see how it would be used. If you think it would stop people from watching something on their television set, I would love to see how that would be used.
In a recent interview, Netflix general manager of content Ted Sarandos stated that “Netflix is not going to be the first place you watch anything on a streaming device”. I can’t speak to that because I have never watched a show on Netflix and so I don’t know what it’s like to be forced to watch on a streaming device.
Although I think the current laws are a bit confusing, I would imagine that if the content you are trying to watch is illegal (like porn) then you can be punished. But I doubt that most people will care that much.
I have no idea what Netflix is, but I am pretty sure it is not “the first place you watch anything on a streaming device.” As far as I’m concerned, you can pretty much watch anything you want on any device you want.
Actually, I think people will probably care more about the content of the video they are watching, and more about the content of the streaming device they are using. If you use Netflix on a computer, you can pretty much stream Netflix on your computer. It is not like it is a big deal to be watching porn on a streaming device, although it may be more difficult to watch it.