United Kingdom: “Sharing a password breaks copyright law”

Update 2022-12-21 10:05:

After publication, the language was changed in the Intellectual Property Office. More specifically, the line about password sharing below has been removed the pirateParagraph and more focus instead on the unauthorized sharing of images on social media and pirated streams.

Piracy is a major issue for the entertainment and creative industries. Pasting Internet images into your social media without permission, accessing movies, TV series or live sporting events through Kodi boxes, Fire Sticks or hacked apps without paying a subscription is copyright infringement and you may be committing an offense.

The original content is as follows:

Streaming services of various kinds have grown exponentially over the past decade and a contributing factor often cited is password sharing. One such example is Netflix, which previously encouraged account sharing with multiple profiles, helping the streaming service climb to 223 million accounts worldwide.

In recent years, the competition between streaming services has become more intense, which has led, among other things, to Netflix’s decision to end participation. Now the UK is also officially jumping on the bandwagon Associate password sharing with hacking.

The UK government’s Intellectual Property Office recently launched a campaign with Meta focused on educating people on how to avoid pirated and counterfeit products. In a paragraph titled “hacking,” it was highlighted that password sharing violated intellectual property laws.

Piracy is a major issue for the entertainment and creative industries. Pasting internet images into your social media, password sharing on streaming services and accessing the latest movies, TV series or live sporting events through Kodi boxes, firesticks or apps without paying a subscription all violate copyright law. Not only are you breaking the law, you’re preventing someone from making a living from their hard work.

Sharing an account with others is usually not allowed on streaming services, except for sharing an account with family members or friends at the same address. Few, however, have actively taken up the fight against it, with the exception of Netflix, which has begun working against account sharing by offering the ability to share an account with strangers for an additional cost of three dollars.

However, testing is only taking place in select markets and it is currently unknown what plans for the global launch of the functionality look like. With more official support from the UK authorities, there is an opportunity for Netflix and other streaming services to work harder to stop this type of sharing.

Are you sharing your streaming service with someone else?