VPN services report problems as Netflix denies crackdown

Update: Netflix has responded to reports of problems and claims any spike in VPN errors is an accident caused by a DNS change, not a wider crackdown.

Netflix in the United States is not the same as Netflix in the rest of the world. Thanks to the intricacies of international law, the streaming service offers very different content, and sometimes none at all, based on where a subscriber lives. Some savvy users have been using tools to get around that problem, but it appears the company may finally be putting its foot down.

Many users rely on VPNs — virtual private networks — or custom DNS settings to stealthily access Netflix as though they were in other regions. But Netflix may have started closing some of those loopholes. Torrent Freak reports that, in the past few weeks, popular VPN services like TorGuard have started seeing a spike in errors when users try to access Netflix.

The problems don’t appear to be widespread — the Netflix Android app, for one, may have updated to block DNS trickery — but there is a reasonable concern among users of the services that this is a prelude to a wider crackdown by Netflix. That might be unfortunate for people who rely on the services, but it’s hardly surprising: as Netflix continues its global expansion, more and more money is on the line.