Guest blog: Why should loyal VPN customers give up their privacy to watch Netflix?

One of our community members, Tony Djukic, reached out to us to voice his concern over how Netflix cracking down VPNs jeopardizes his family's online privacy and how he values their privacy over anything. If you have any similar experiences you would like to share, please send them our way.

I filled out your petition regarding Netflix but also took some time to contact Netflix directly to personally express my concern.  We use a VPN in our household, not because of content, but because we genuinely value our privacy.  Michael Geist's 2014 articles for the Toronto Star that outlined that Canadian ISPs were submitting subscriber data to authorities, without a warrant and for a fee, as frequently as every 27 seconds, really made me uncomfortable and since then we've used a VPN for pretty much everything we do online.  

We're not criminals, we don't participate in any illicit activities and as far as our Netflix is concerned, we're very happy with what the Canadian version has to offer (On my business travels to the states I've seen their offering and was relatively unimpressed by the subtle differences). I strongly recommend that you encourage other Open Media subscribers to manually and personally reach out to Netflix.  Use the live chat, send an email or even place a call. We should overwhelm their support centres with our concerns.

The most irritating aspect of all of this is that:

a) There are free, grey area, alternatives to Netflix that people don't use because they're happy to pay for quality service.

b) High-brow techies who do participate in illicit activities will find away around any new blockades or security measures, so it's just the 'everyday' paying customer that is being punished.

I have indicated to Netflix that, should I experience any issues while using their service through my VPN, my account will be cancelled because I value my family's privacy more than I value their service.

Thanks for all your efforts,

Tony Djukic