Brian Barrett, writing at Wired:

Although the hack offers a reminder that even the best security can be undone by the so-called “weakest link” — Netflix can’t do much if a vendor is compromised — it provides a bigger lesson in how the internet has largely shifted away from torrenting. If a show lands on The Pirate Bay and nobody watches, did it really stream?

Consider that in 2011, BitTorrent accounted for 23 percent of daily internet traffic in North America, according to network-equipment company Sandvine. By last year, that number sat at under 5 percent. “There’s always going to be the floor of people that are always going to be torrenting,” says Sandvine spokesperson Dan Deeth. That group will surely enjoy whatever Piper’s up to in season five. But the idea that so small a cohort might prompt Netflix to negotiate with hackers seems absurd.

I commented on this when New Found Glory’s new album leaked and there were a bunch of comments in the threads basically saying, “no reason to go hunt for the leak, it’ll be on Spotify soon enough anyway.” I always thought easy and convenient access to music would help curb piracy, but even I didn’t think it would have as big an impact as it has.

Arrested Development, Buffy, X-Files, and more will be leaving Netflix in April. I guess it’s time to get your binge on.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Arrested Development, Firefly, Ally McBeal, The X-Files, Roswell and House are the bigger, more notable shows being tossed aside in April. Every single season from each show will no longer be available to stream, with the exception of Arrested Development’s fourth season, which will remain due to it being a Netflix exclusive.

I still watch random episodes of Arrested Development from time-to-time (I don’t visit that fourth season very often), and I realized today I haven’t cracked open my DVD collection in probably years. I guess it’s time to get this into Plex.

Netflix will be moving away from the star rating system to a thumbs up or thumbs down approach:

Netflix VP of Product Todd Yellin told journalists on Thursday during a press briefing at the company’s headquarters in Los Gatos, Calif., that the company had tested the new thumbs up and down ratings with hundred of thousands of members in 2016. “We are addicted to the methodology of A/B testing,” Yellin said. The result was that thumbs got 200% more ratings than the traditional star-rating feature.