Nephew stabs uncle after a fight over Netflix password

A 50-year-old man in the United States (US) told detectives that his nephew stabbed him after failed attempt to steal his Netflix password.

An elderly St Louis man was attacked by his nephew who used a kitchen knife to slice his nose after a fight over attempting to steal his Netflix password.

It emerged that an argument broke out between the man and his nephew when he tried to steal his Netflix password while the elderly man has slept. The verbal fight turned into a fight as the nephew sliced his uncle’s nose after picking up a kitchen knife during the dispute.

The wounded man was taken to the hospital for treatment while the nephew fled before the police arrived there, 7 News reported.

The streaming giant has recently started testing a new feature that could help it crack down on password sharing via rolling out alerts asking users to verify they are authorised to watch on the account to be able to keep watching.

“This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorised to do so,” a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement. The company’s terms of service say accounts “may not be shared with individuals beyond your household.”

When a user selects their profile on a shared Netflix account, a pop-up will ask them to verify the account by confirming with a text or email sent to the account holder.

Users can also choose to verify later, in which case, the pop-up will show up again at an undetermined later time. If they can’t confirm they’re an authorised user, viewers will be prompted to set up a new account.

Before you panic: The new feature is just a test, and it’s rolling out to a limited number of users who watch on the Netflix TV app. The update comes as Netflix’s viewership has skyrocketed during the pandemic.

It reached 200 million users last month, and its stock is up nearly 50 per cent since last March.

But the company may face challenges in keeping up that momentum as people spend less time stuck at home during 2021.

Netflix and other streaming platforms have been grappling with how to handle password sharing – and whether to bother with trying to prevent it at all – for years.

On a 2019 earnings call, Netflix’s chief product officer said the company was focused on preventing password sharing, but was still looking for ways to enforce it.

– With CNN