It seems that Netflix is determined to create mobs of angry people. Last year the company announced it was going to spinoff its disc rental service to a new business called Qwikster. The company aborted the plan less than a month after the announcement when the stock price tanked and customers loudly protested. During the cleanup of the Qwikster mess, Netflix promised to continue support for DVD features in public API.

It seems the decision makers at Netflix had their fingers crossed. Netflix announced several changes to its public API on its developer blog that created some developer backlash and confusion. Netflix will no longer give third-party developers access to rental history starting in September. The company also modified its terms of service in an effort to prevent developers from reselling the output of Netflix’s API and using its metadata to advertise competing products. Many interpreted the resell clause to mean the end of for profit third party apps, but Netflix later clarified,

“We’re not prohibiting developers from monetizing their applications by selling them directly to consumers. We will not, however, permit resale of our information in a business-to-business fashion.”

Netflix also eliminated its gallery of third-party applications saying the page was rarely used and contained stale information. Netflix did not provide much explanation for the change, beyond saying the changes support the company’s new strategic direction. Netflix has tried to calm fears, but developers are justified in being  suspicious. The company has made breaking changes to its API before. Earlier this year, Netflix removed the date Netflix removed movies from its streaming queue. The available until date showed January  1, 2100 for all movies.

Most Netflix customers don’t care about the latest round of changes from Netflix, but most companies avoid making big changes to their API without engaging developers or providing a migration path. It might not be Netflix intent to reduce third party development, but that will likely be the result of its actions.