The UK says it’s a crime to share your Netflix password

Not news that great goal Netflix In 2023 it is Terminate shared passwords. Something forbidden by its terms and conditions, but which the platform chose to ignore for years, even knowing that its users did. The interesting thing is that it was known recently This practice is a crime in the United Kingdom.

As mentioned BBCThe British Intellectual Property Office (IPO) guarantees that password sharing for streaming service accounts will be shared violates copyright law. After the data came to light, the agency decided to remove it from its official website; Especially since Netflix or any other platform has not warned of legal action against subscribers who allow other people to use their accounts.

However, a representative of the IPO confirmed to the aforementioned media that the position on the issue has not changed. An important fact, since the crime It would bring civil and criminal consequences. “There are a variety of provisions in criminal and civil law that may apply to password sharing when the intent is to allow a user to access copyrighted work without payment. Such provisions may include breach of contract, fraud or secondary copyright infringement, depending On the conditions,” they pointed out from the organization.

To be sure, what is being suggested from the UK seems like an exaggeration. Especially since, as we said earlier, Netflix has for years allowed its customers to share their passwords. However, the UK authorities suggest, where appropriate, Even the Crown Prosecution Service can step in to open a judicial process. “Any decision to charge someone for sharing streaming service passwords will be on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the individual context and the facts of each,” prosecutors said.

Sharing Netflix passwords is a crime in the UK, though don’t lose too much sleep

What does this mean? Yes, the UK considers it a crime to share your password to Netflix or similar services. But the criminal consequences would be the most extreme scenario in which a situation of this kind could arise. Firstly, because the police will have to investigate before the prosecution intervenes. Something that, in and of itself, already seems crazy. Second, because to date there are no records of UK security or justice forces having considered investigating someone who shared access to their subscriptions.

Additionally, through civil means, it would be the responsibility of Netflix – or its competitors – to press charges against users accused of sharing their passwords. Which hasn’t happened yet, and probably won’t happen either.

According to Netflix, About 100 million potential subscribers today access your service using someone else’s account. Because of this, they decided to counter a multi-stage plan to try and end the practice. On the one hand, they have already launched a cheaper plan with ads. While they also offered functionality to transfer profiles or block users from certain subscriptions. The idea is to tackle the problem on a large scale in 2023, though it certainly is It won’t be easy.

Analysts agree About 4 million subscribers Share their UK Netflix password. An even lower number, given the estimated 30 million between Canada and the United States. As if to put the number more in context, as of the end of October, the platform boasted more than 223 million paying users worldwide. As it stands today, the British IPO warning isn’t likely to wake many people’s sleep.