Sharing Your Netflix Password Might Soon Be a Crime
Sharing your Netflix password with your bestie so that you both can binge-watch Orange Is the New Black and The Gilmore Girls might seem like a minor rebellion against the rules while also enjoying a BFF benefit. We’re gonna assume, though, that it probably isn’t something you’d be willing to go to jail for. But soon, sharing your password may be a federal crime in the league of big, bad computer hacking. Uh-oh!
Three judges from the US Court of Appeals have recently issued a ruling that now lumps the action under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).
This means that if you give your friend your password and they use it, they could be considered a hacker and charged. The person giving the password could also be in trouble, as all access has to be granted by the company itself, i.e. Netflix, Amazon or Hulu.
The new ruling came about during a case where an ex-employee, whose own account had been revoked, used a former colleague’s password to gain access to a company computer. The judges felt that a precedent needed to be set in order to tighten security in such instances, and by doing so, has made sharing any and all online passwords risky business.
So before your next Fuller House marathon, you and your besties might want to splurge on your own Netflix accounts.
Have you ever shared your Netflix (or other online) password with a friend? Tweet us @BritandCo!
(h/t Metro; photos via Netflix)