UK government now considers Netflix password sharing to be criminal fraud
The UK Government’s Intellectual Property Office just published new piracy guidance. It features a small, unnoticeable feature. Anyone who discloses their Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Disney+ passwords does so in violation of copyright laws. There is no improvement. The IPO warns TorrentFreak that password sharing may result in criminal charges for fraud. After a modest launch in 2007 with just 1,000 items, Netflix now has more than 6,600 movies and TV shows available. It’s interesting that there are over 223 million viewers.
There is little doubt that password sharing for Netflix contributed to the growth of the company. Furthermore, by openly endorsing it, the behavior gained widespread acceptance. It was obvious what the underlying message was: Netflix loves you, you love Netflix, and now all your friends adore Netflix as well. I appreciate your sharing. Five years after Netflix’s now-famous tweet, the situation is changing. For the first time ever, Netflix subscription counts decreased earlier this year. In addition, there is fierce rivalry from rivals like Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO, and a plethora of others.
The practice of sharing passwords is being reverted to in the background and across the company. Nobody appreciates today’s “password piracy.” This holds true for the ACE anti-piracy group as well, which consists of all the aforementioned streaming services. Due to the obvious concerns, ACE publicly supports the term “unauthorized password sharing” as a description. “Without permission” is a term that is regularly used elsewhere. According to the anti-piracy group Rights Alliance, password sharing is “not allowed” in Denmark. However, there was a slight yet significant improvement this summer.
The UK Government’s Intellectual Property Office announced a new campaign with Meta
“The extent of password sharing among Danes is therefore alarmingly great and will eventually be on a par with other forms of illegal consumption of content,” the group said.
Since password sharing almost always breaches the terms of service for streaming sites, observers typically characterize it as such. Although password sharing is not expressly forbidden, the general consensus is that Netflix and its competitors no longer support it. The Intellectual Property Office of the UK government quietly revealed a new campaign with Meta today. The ad attempts to help people stay away from internet piracy and fake goods.
Fraud has been the principal charge in a number of noteworthy UK pirate cases over the past few years. Despite the fact that copyright law is the most common source of infringement, fraud is a crime in the UK, and a conviction can quickly put a stop to, or even end, a career.