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Password sharing on streaming services is nothing new, and Netflix’s attempts to curtail the practice in recent months have been well documented. Now, however, new piracy guidelines from the UK government suggest that anyone sharing passwords in the UK could be in breach of copyright law – and even face criminal charges for fraud.
As first reported by Torrent Freak (opens in new tab)The UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has updated its piracy guidelines to claim that “password sharing on streaming services” – including Netflix, Prime Video and Disney Plus – can be legally regarded as an act that constitutes “breaking[s] copyright.”
TorrentFreak contacted the IPO for clarification on the legality of password sharing, and the agency responded as follows: “There are a range of criminal and civil law provisions that may apply in the case of password sharing. passwords intended to allow a user to access copyrighted works without payment.”
“These provisions may include breach of contract terms, fraud, or secondary copyright infringement, depending on the circumstances,” the IPO continued.
In other words, those who share streaming service passwords in the UK could be legally prosecuted for fraud and/or copyright infringement – although it’s worth noting that the likelihood is very slim in our opinion.
For starters, the bar for what constitutes a fraud in the UK is low. The countries Fraud Act 2006 (opens in new tab) notes that using “services of a member club without paying and without being a member” is considered fraud, as is posting “payable data or software on the Internet without paying”. Both offenses are commonplace – how many times have you reposted someone else’s work on social media? – and while the practice of password sharing could fall into either category, it’s highly unlikely the prosecution would prosecute anyone for wanting to share Stranger Things with their friends.
Publicly joining such draconian actions would also damage the reputation of streaming services that have actively encouraged password sharing in the past (as recently as 2017, Netflix tweeted (opens in new tab) “love is sharing a password”).
While password sharing isn’t likely to put you behind bars in the UK or anywhere else any time soon, the UK government’s official line on the legality of such behavior will give Netflix the confidence – and legal mandate – to continue with are ambitious plans to introduce bill-sharing surcharges in 2023.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if Prime Video and Disney Plus followed suit, if Netflix’s drastic move yields a significant increase in revenue in the months following the rollout.
For more Netflix-related content, check out our overview of Netflix’s cheaper ad-supported tier, as well as its new remote logout feature.