England Expresses Sharing Netflix Passwords And Disney Hotstar Violation Of The Law

The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) warns its citizens, sharing passwords for online streaming services such as Netflix and Disney Hotstar violates the law. (photo: Pixabay dock)

JAKARTA - The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) warns its citizens, where password sharing for online streaming services such as Netflix and Disney Hotstar violates the law.

This was conveyed by the IPO recently, by clarifying that this practice violates copyright laws. In the UK, password sharing is quite common when citizens do not live together.

Although this goes against the terms of service agreement, they still do. Meanwhile, Netflix has never taken any legal action in such a case before.

The IPO says password sharing practices are criminal and civil offenses and those who do so theoretically can face lawsuits.

"There are various provisions in criminal and civil law that may apply in case of password sharing whose purpose is to allow users to access copyright protected works without payment," said an IPO spokesperson.

"This provision may include a violation of contract requirements, fraud or secondary copyright infringement, depending on the circumstances. Where this provision is regulated in civil law, it is up to the service provider to take action through court if necessary," he added.

Netflix estimates that more than 100 million households access its services for free including global users through password sharing, including as many as 4 million subscribers in the UK, which have been tolerated despite violating terms and conditions.

Earlier this year the company announced plans to crack down on the practice by offering customers the option to add additional sub-accounts or members with a little more monthly fees.

This plan, introduced by Netflix as one of a number of measures to increase revenue, is expected to be introduced in the UK next year.

Launching BBC International, Thursday, December 22, the company has also introduced a new price level in the UK last November, to make services look more attractive, such as subscription packages supported by 4.99 ads equivalent to Ro94 thousand per month.

Furthermore, those who share passwords, will face demands from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), taking into account all the contexts that exist in each individual.

"Every decision to sue someone for sharing passwords for streaming services will be seen on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the individual context and facts of each case," a CPS spokesperson said.

"As with all cases, if they are referred to the CPS by investigators for the indictment's decision, our job is to bring prosecution where there is enough evidence to do so and when prosecution is needed for the public interest," he added.

In other words, before the CPS can take action, there must be a police investigation first. However, no word also shows police forces in the UK will open an investigation into someone because they share their passwords with streaming services.