r/technology Feb 03 '23

Netflix says strict new password sharing rules were posted in error Business

https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/02/03/netflix-says-strict-new-password-sharing-rules-were-posted-in-error
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u/SloppyMeathole Feb 03 '23

For anyone wondering, this is called a "trial balloon". This is what happens when it doesn't go well. They can just claim it was an accident and never meant to leak it. If the perception had been positive they would have just left it out there.

44

u/merien_nl Feb 03 '23

Is that really an English term? Proefballon is a Dutch word. Politicians do it al the time. Leak something to the media, if the response is positive of course it is policy in the making, is the response negative nobody knows how it got in the media and it was just an idea of a low level civil servant.

16

u/Light_Error Feb 03 '23

It is indeed an English term. I looked around to see where we got it from, and it seems to just be a translation of the French “balloon d’essai”.

7

u/Syharhalna Feb 03 '23

I can at least confirm that this kind of tactic is indeed called « ballon d’essai » in France, and I would blindly translate it as trial balloon.

If we did in fact pioneer the word (as obviously the tactic is as old as politics), that I am not sure.

-3

u/Nieshtze Feb 03 '23

Ligma balloon

1

u/sushisection Feb 03 '23

99 proefballons