News

This Netflix Hack Lets You Watch With Friends Even When You're Not Together

by Eitan Levine
Reuters/Carlo Allegri

You hear that? That's the collected sigh of relief from every 20-something who just found out he or she still doesn't have to shell out $8 a month for a Netflix account.

I'm pretty sure everyone has access to a Netflix password at this point, not that he or she pays for it. It's usually someone's aunt's old intern's mom's ex-boyfriend's account or something like that.

Honestly, using someone's Web-streaming-service password is probably the most common form of Internet crime, to be honest. Wait. Is it Internet crime?

Actually, want a really good talking point for a lively party or a date that's had five minutes straight of awkward silence? Here's one: Is using someone's Netflix password the most commonly practiced, technically illegal act people commit daily? Is it even illegal? On that note, what is law?

Discuss.

At one point, there was a deterrent for all of this password sharing built into Netflix's back end in the form of user limits. Everyone knows you cannot log into an account if there are multiple people using it. It's like Netflix's bouncer keeping the party to a respectable number and the "Suggested For You" section pure and consistent to the person who actually pays for the account.

Now, there is a way around that bouncer. (SHHHHHHHHH, DON'T TELL NETFLIX.)

Thanks to a Google Chrome extension called Netflix Party, you can now have multiple people watch the same movie from different locations at the same time.

Think of it as being, like, your own private movie theater spread out across the Internet with people you know.

It takes three easy steps -- one of which is just watching the movie -- to get unchecked Netflix access.

Netflix Party

TAKE THAT, SUPER AFFORDABLE WEBSITE WITH QUALITY WEB CONTENT FORCING CABLE NETWORKS TO STEP UP THEIR GAMES AND PRODUCE BETTER TV PROGRAMMING! IN YOUR DANG FACE!

FRANK UNDERWOOD FOR EVERYONE!

Citations: This Hack Lets You Watch Netflix With Your Long-Distance Friends (Cosmopolitan)