Upon the advent of streaming services like Netflix and the later Disney+ and/or HBO, password sharing became a very common practice for those too lazy to create their own new account.

However, at least in the UK, a government agency has suggested that sharing passwords for streaming sites may be illegal and could lead to a court sentence. 

In recent months, Netflix decided to announce that it might monetise password sharing as part of a new, erm, ‘thoughtful approach’ due to a successful pilot scheme in some reasons.

So far, Netflix did not suggest plans to take legal action in such incidents but the UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has now said that log-in sharing may be against the law. 

Through a statement published Monday 19th December, as revealed by The Guardian, it referred to ‘accessing…without paying a subscription’ as possibly being considered an act of piracy. 

It would still depend on the service provider to take action through the courts if required. So we might be safe for now, but for those who have been slacking on actually creating their subscription… you might want to plan ahead. 

#MaltaDaily