Netflix will make browsing movies more secure within the next year

In addition to admitting his company’s recent net neutrality blunder, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings also used his quarterly letter to shareholders to announce that the streaming service will soon be getting far more secure. “Over the next year we’ll evolve from using HTTP to using Secure HTTP (HTTPS) while browsing and viewing content on our service,” wrote Hastings and CFO David Wells. “This helps protect member privacy, particularly when the network is insecure, such as public Wi-Fi, and it helps protect members from eavesdropping by their ISP or employer, who may want to record our members’ viewing for other reasons.” Adopting HTTPS is one measure that will help ensure customer information isn’t secretly being intercepted by unauthorized parties.

The effort to better shield customers from surveillance as they browse and stream Netflix’s collection of movies and shows is just one change planned for the coming months. Netflix will also roll out a revamped TV interface, according to the note, that “will bring video playback forward into the browse experience.” That’s not terribly specific, but it sounds like a picture-in-picture mode or some type of new feature that previews selections as you browse them. And finally, since Netflix customers still stream licensed movies and TV content far more than the company’s original programming, Netflix is exploring ways to balance out those viewing habits. “We are also developing improved ways to promote Netflix originals to our members, using our data to help identify which members would be most likely to enjoy each original title.”