So, it might be the case that sharing your Netflix password is a crime in the United Kingdom, according to a statement from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).
I don't imagine anyone will be fessing up to these morally egregious, abominable and heinous activities. How you would go about your day like an upstanding citizen is beyond me. However, should those scalliwags be in the audience today, I will proceed for the salvation of their souls. Not once have they been warned, with monetary charges for people who share passwords, not twice with the increases to said charges, but three times with the grace of the new Profile Transfer feature have they had the chance to rectify their ways.
Check out Troll, one of Netflix's highest rated films of the year, here!
The IPO has offered new guidance to Meta and the statement originally pertained to "password sharing on streaming services," yet it was updated to "accessing... without paying a subscription."
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"Piracy is a major issue for the entertainment and creative industries," asserted the IPO (thanks to The Guardian). "Pasting internet images into your social media without permission, or accessing films, TV series or live sports events through Kodi boxes, hacked Fire Sticks or apps without paying a subscription is an infringement of copyright and you may be committing a crime."
Consequently, "there are a range of provisions in criminal and civil law which may be applicable in the case of password sharing where the intent is to allow a user to access copyright-protected works without payment." In layman's terms, you could be prosecuted as it is a criminal and civil offence. Before some of us start sweating, it's actually the responsibility of the streaming service on whether they will chase password sharers or not. Netflix had 17 million subscribers in the UK in the summer, so. It might not be the swiftest of processes.
Featured Image Credit: NetflixTopics: Netflix