Mobile billboard in Netflix’s backyard asks company to listen to over 47,500 concerned customers and unblock VPNs

Nearly 2,000 people a week now signing petition urging Netflix to respect its customers’ right to use a VPN to protect their privacy

May 26, 2016– A rapidly growing global movement calling on Netflix to reverse its policy of blocking Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) is taking the campaign into the company’s backyard. Organizers at OpenMedia have arranged for a mobile billboard to carry the campaign’s pro-privacy message around Los Gatos, California, where the streaming giant is based.

The billboard calls on Netflix to “Defend our Privacy.” Its launch comes two weeks after OpenMedia’s digital rights specialist Laura Tribe wrote a letter to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, calling on him to lift the VPN blockade and sit down with privacy advocates to find a better way for the company to enforce its contractual obligations to geographic content restrictions.

High-resolution photos of the billboard in action areavailable here.

“Right now, Netflix customers are being forced to choose between watching their favourite shows and safeguarding their privacy,” said Laura Tribe. “Our mobile billboard is one more way we’re working to encourage Netflix to rethink their approach. The company has much better options available to it, than undermining the privacy of over 80 million paying Netflix customers in the post-Snowden world.”

VPNs are an essential, user-friendly tool used by millions to keep their online activities and information private. A recent survey by the blog Secure Thoughts found that 2 in 3 VPN users say they primarily use VPNs for reasons other than accessing geo-blocked content on Netflix.

A total of 47,870 Internet users have now called on Netflix to respect privacy at DefendOurPrivacy.org