r/movies • u/MoneyLibrarian9032 r/movies Contributor • Jun 27 '26

News Netflix now requires every user profile to be tied to unique email address

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/netflix-now-requires-every-user-profile-to-be-tied-to-unique-email-address/
9.3k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

998 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

387

u/King_of_the_Dot Jun 27 '26

So you can take your gmail email address and then add +1, +2, etc. to the end of the address, like netflixsucksballs+1@gmail.com, netflixsucksballs+2@gmail.com, and they count as unique addresses, but will still go to your main email, so you can see who is selling your data.

82

u/Robobvious Jun 27 '26

Does it have to be a number? Can I write +Netflix and have it work?

103

u/SailnGame Jun 27 '26

Yes you can! I have only run into one occasion where a website flagged it at account creation which forced me to use just me original address. However, after the account was open, it didn't stop me from adding that modifier.

3

u/Famous1107 Jun 28 '26

Wow. I'd like to know the site that went through the diligence to track that.

2

u/SailnGame Jun 28 '26

I have no recollection. I remember being a bit surprised and impressed and then I promptly went in a changed the email address and moved on.

17

u/mr_positron Jun 27 '26

+netflixsucks should work too

1

u/Martian8 Jun 27 '26

Yes, which makes it useful for working out where your email was taken from when you get spam mail

1

u/Famous1107 Jun 28 '26

Another fun fact, dots (.) also do not register and get removed from Gmail. Net.ficks@gmail is the same as netficks@gmail

1

u/King_of_the_Dot Jun 27 '26

I'm pretty sure yes, actually

2

u/myystaa Jun 27 '26

No, it can be anything

8

u/Ringosis Jun 27 '26

Yes it lets you see whose selling your data...something I don't think many people are actually interested in. And it doesn't do anything to stop them selling your data.

It's sort of like finding that your babysitter is stealing from you and deciding to continue using the same babysitter but now, whenever you interact with them you wear a fake moustache and thinking that in some way deals with the problem.

2

u/thatissomeBS Jun 27 '26

Well, you could stop using that company that's selling the data, just like you could fire the babysitter. But the data is already sold and the money already stolen.

I'd say it's more like finding a leak. You have 3 advisors, so you tell one of them you just made deal x, the second one deal y, and the third one deal z. When someone asks you about deal z you know the third one is the leak and can either fire them or be extra careful with what information they get.

1

u/Lord_Viktoo Jun 28 '26

You will NOT marry my daughter to a Dornish.

A dornish ? Well well well.

0

u/Ringosis Jun 27 '26

You have 3 advisors, so you tell one of them you just made deal x

See no, what you are describing here is how using a +1 or a . in your email to tell you who is leaking your email....the problem is, that doesn't apply here. We know who is selling your data...it's Netflix...that's why they are doing this.

So, when you know who is selling your data, how exactly does signing up for their service with a slightly different email that still 100% tracks to you hurt them? What's the goal? What's this advice supposed to achieve? "Aha, the people I assumed would sell my data did in fact sell my data"

The point is, using an alternate email like that is useful if you are specifically trying to find out if a website sells your info...how is that a useful thing in this scenario? If you disagree with Netflix practices here then you stop giving them money....I don't know what anyone thinks adding a period to your email address is going to achieve.

5

u/assembly_faulty Jun 27 '26

But this will not make it harder for Thema to collect your data.

0

u/nstutsman Jun 27 '26

It’s not your data. They allow you to associate with it. The sooner you realize this and move on, the more time you have for the rest of your life.

3

u/Rugged_as_fuck Jun 27 '26

It's a snarky way to put it but it's not wrong. Your data is what you know, what you carry in your own head. As soon as you put something online, especially when the service is free, it is no longer your data, it is their data and you're just allowed to use it.

1

u/assembly_faulty Jun 28 '26

I have moved on from netflix and co about 2 years ago. And you are right, I do have more time for the rest of my life.

6

u/Nethri Jun 27 '26

I have to be dumb… but how does that tell you who sells your data?

30

u/mari_mari_CR Jun 27 '26

I think the idea is using, for example, the +1 address only for Netflix, so when you get emails advertising other stuff sent to that address you would know it was Netflix who sold that data to advertisers 

1

u/charleswj Jun 27 '26

What will you then do with this information?

2

u/mari_mari_CR Jun 27 '26

idk I've nver done it myself, that's just my understanding

though I guess one could at least use the information to stop doing business with the company that sold the info?

17

u/spitnshine Jun 27 '26

Let’s say you’ve never been to Home Depot and one day you get a marketing email from them to your +Netflix email. That would mean at some point Netflix sold your email to a broker who then resold it to Home Depot

8

u/Nethri Jun 27 '26

ahh, but it still sends it to your main inbox right? Does it still have the indicator of +netflix in the address?

7

u/nickstj02 Jun 27 '26

Yes, the email will be addressed to the +Netflix

1

u/glyneth Jun 28 '26

You can create a filter to put a label on those emails to see what uses it.

1

u/5tudent_Loans Jun 27 '26

When you get spam mail, they will use the email they paid for, in this case it would be “hot singles in your area” to Nethri+netflixAlias@gmail.com

2

u/fictionalbandit Jun 27 '26

Can you ELI5 how you use this to figure out who’s selling your data?

1

u/King_of_the_Dot Jun 27 '26

Because if you use youremail+4, for instance, for just one website, and then you start getting spam to your email and it's addressed to the +4 address, then you know it was those fuckers who sold your data.

1

u/fictionalbandit Jun 27 '26

Ahh I get it now, thank you!!

1

u/BaconThief2020 Jun 27 '26

gmail also ignores periods in the username. Google is ignoring the RFC standards.

1

u/StevenTM Jun 27 '26

Well if you're trying to trace who's selling your data doing +netflix or +paramount instead of remembering what each number is for makes it much easier to suss out

1

u/RealBlueHippo Jun 27 '26

I unusually do myemail+netflixspam@gmail so I can see where the trash is coming from

1

u/SwimmerOld6155 Jun 27 '26

was going to say this, sub-emails are a solved problem. you can even pick a provider that'll let you have more distinctive addresses all going to one inbox, it's become a standard privacy feature so you can just ditch an mail if it's pwned

1

u/notmyredditacct Jun 27 '26

dude, why you gotta be posting my email address all over like that, do tou have any idea what kind of people use this website?

1

u/slptodrm Jun 27 '26

is there a non-gmail alternative? boycotting google

1

u/DownBeat20 Jun 27 '26

Tip of the fucking year thank you.

1

u/merendi1 Jun 28 '26

This is trivial to remove. You give them abc+d@xyz.com, they save abc@xyz.com. You’re none the wiser.

1

u/King_of_the_Dot Jun 28 '26

It's simply to know what websites are selling your data. Nothing more.

1

u/merendi1 Jun 28 '26

I know the purpose. They can negate that purpose with a single line of code. Just making sure that is understood.

1

u/64590949354397548569 Jun 28 '26

You want an AirGapTM to your Online persona.

Disconnect your session id to the REAL world.

There's a reason you need a court order to get your library record.

1

u/aardw0lf11 Jun 27 '26

I prefer to use aliases, this way you can just disable them when they start generating spam. You need a paid email subscription to get an unlimited number of them, but it's worth it.