UK Government: Sharing Some Passwords is Illegal

Account holders who share their passwords for streaming services are breaking copyright law, according to the UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO).

The IPO confirmed its stance in a new post on “avoiding piracy and counterfeit goods online” which was published earlier this week.

“Piracy is a major issue for the entertainment and creative industries,” it read.

“Pasting internet images into your social media without permission, or accessing films, tv series or live sports events through Kodi boxes, hacked Fire Sticks or apps without paying a subscription is an infringement of copyright and you may be committing a crime.”

According to multiple reports, the statement original referred explicitly to sharing logins, with the phrase “password sharing on streaming services,” before it was replaced with the more general “accessing …. without paying a subscription.”

However, an IPO spokesperson told the BBC its position had not changed despite the altered wording, and that password sharing for certain services was both a civil and criminal matter.

That means the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) could theoretically bring criminal charges against password-sharers, although this would first require a police investigation, which is highly unlikely.  

Password sharing is an issue for streaming providers like Netflix, which see potential new customers effectively accessing services for free. Thus far they have chosen not to crack down on the practice, but with profits and growth declining, this may be about to change in the new year.

A Wall Street Journal report yesterday claimed that Netflix was about to crack down on password sharing back in 2019, but then the pandemic ushered in a new wave of customers, which delayed its plans.

The article cited Netflix stats that over 100 million viewers now watch the service using passwords they borrow from friends, family and others.

In South America, the firm is reportedly trialing plans that require account holders to pay an additional charge to share accounts with up to two people outside their household.

However, the difficulty from a technical perspective is understanding when legitimate users are accessing the service while out and about on mobile devices and at other locations, and when it is someone else borrowing their password, the report claimed.