Boo! Netflix begins blocking VPN users

Until now, a VPN served as an incredibly useful tool for Netflix subscribers who wanted to access content from another country – an American watching British Netflix, for example, or a traveler who wanted Netflix in an unsupported market – but that’s coming to an end. Netflix said recently that it was going to begin blocking users who try to connect through a VPN and, according to The Sydney Morning Herald, that’s starting now.

“You seem to be using an unblocker or proxy,” one alert from Netflix provided to uFlix and cited by The Sydney Morning Herald, said. “Please turn off any of these services and try again,” the notice says, urging folks to turn off their VPNs and other tools used to access Netflix. uFlix told The Sydney Morning Herald that this is still a testing period for Netflix, which means users might not always get the alert, or might only see it in some markets.

Now that Netflix has expanded its service to more countries around the world, a VPN isn’t always necessary. Still, it was a convenient tool for folks who wanted to watch out of market content.