UK customers of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney Plus have all received a password warning. Millions of people are reportedly breaking the law by sharing passwords to their accounts, after it was ruled on Wednesday, December 21 that doing so was illegal.
The ruling was issued by the Intellectual Property Office. In conjunction with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, the office has issued new guidance on the issue of password sharing reports Birmingham Live.
IPO stated: "Piracy is a major issue for the entertainment and creative industries. 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.”
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It warned if someone is “accessing … without paying a subscription” then they are breaking the law, as doing so is a criminal and civil offence. Anyone breaking the rules could theortetically face prosecution for doing so.
A spokersperson for IPO said: " 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. These provisions may include breach of contractual terms, fraud or secondary copyright infringement, depending on the circumstances.
"Where these provisions are provided in civil law, it would be up to the service provider to take action through the courts if required.” Chengyi Long, Netflix’s director of product innovation, said Netflix has “always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account."
However, “accounts are being shared between households – impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members,” Long said. Media companies have had a fabulous distribution system for decades,” Tom Rutledge, chief executive of Charter Communication, a major US cable company, told CNBC in 2020. He warned: “It’s just too easy to get the product without paying for it.”
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