Can Subscription Scams Cause a Revival of the Newspaper?

Netflix has recently been the victim of a phishing scam, targeting subscribers’ to give a fake customer service line their personal information, while allowing hackers to access their personal information.

It’s an aspect of online subscriptions that gets pushed under the rug – the dangers of identity theft. So many newspapers and major media firms are going digital. Rather than offering their readers or viewers a pay-by-read option, monthly or yearly subscriptions make it simpler for people to enjoy their daily consumption.

Courtesy of: The Huffington Post

While I am a proud subscriber to The New York Times, Hulu and Netflix, I never considered the caution that needs to be taken, mainly because the product these companies are selling is so convenient. The truth is, I’d rather have an automatic monthly fee on my credit card than have to take it out every month and have services suspended until I pay.

But now, I feel ambivalent. From a business standpoint, it’s great. It guarantees monthly revenue (unless someone unsubscribes), and these companies can confidently tell investors what projections are based on the patterns of their subscribers. However, from an ethical perspective, it is difficult to say whether or not these companies have the most secure servers.

My college roommate offered me her solution to the issue, saying that she goes to the local drug store, picks up a pre-paid gift card, and uses that for her subscriptions. When the money on that card runs out, she just loads more onto it.

I guess that customers enjoy this convenience of reading their morning newspaper from anywhere, at anytime, without having to constantly take out money from their pocket to pay for it is nice. But at the same time, I have to wonder how long these companies can last without secure security systems. Maybe conflicts and scams like Netflix has recently been victim to will drift people away from subscribing, and push more to get back to the $2.50 to pay for a real newspaper.