UK Gov Says Password Sharing on Streaming Services is Illegal

manic111 said:
So if it doesn't offer you value, don't subscribe?

I find it bizarre that people's response to poor value propositions in respect of content is to pirate it.
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I wouldn't... but I share the login with my parents so it delivers enough value to leave it subscribed all year round. If we couldn't then we would stop paying for it all year round.

As to piracy, thats always been the case. Thats what streaming services have literally solved for the most part. I pay a fee to apple every month for access to almost any music I could ever want for about the price a CD used to cost. I don't pirate music anymore as a result.

Same for films and TV. The solution to piracy has always been to make the value proposition of the alternative so good that people don't bother pirating.

I always used to love seeing the anti piracy stuff on legitimate DVDs when almost every dodgy rip had removed it.
 
fez said:
I mean, of course it is if its against their terms and conditions.

In the same way you can't buy photoshop and then give a copy to all your mates and let them log in using your account.

The issue is more the value that people see in these services if they can't share with their friends/family. Netflix is crazy expensive for what they give you unless you share it with others.
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Depends how you get it. I have Sky signature plus Ultimate package so I get the top tier netflix for £16 per month. Quite happy to get both of those services for slightly more than a tv licence per year.
 
In theory - would one say it's like downloading a film on a torrent. Someone somewhere isn't paying for a subscription so it would indeed be in the terms and agreement to not share passwords.
They should be shutting accounts down but I think the streaming companies are realising how many they may have to close if they were to do that.

 
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Huxton said:
No way to enforce, arrest or prosecute though .waste of time. There are plenty of ways of circumventing stuff like this.
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Same as a TV licence right? or so many people think this in the TV licence thread. :)

manic111 said:
Genuine question - how would you implement a practical way to block it, without making the user experience for "genuine" users worse?
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Would need to detect if so many streams come from different locations per account. Once this is detected display a message about password sharing. Can't enforce it though as people will just close their accounts.
 
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manic111 said:
Genuine question - how would you implement a practical way to block it, without making the user experience for "genuine" users worse?
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Block double logins. If another machine on a different IP tries to login the account could be blocked. The block could mean the account holder has to verify its them through email or phone. If this kept happening all the time then it would dissuade the account holder to be loaning out their password.

I agree it would make the experience worse for people. It would also negatively effect Netflix's stats.

Netflix and others need to make more discounted price offers and reduce the amount of geo-locked content.
 
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BowdonUK said:
Block double logins. If another machine on a different IP tries to login the account could be blocked. The block could mean the account holder has to verify its them through email or phone. If this kept happening all the time then it would dissuade the account holder to be loaning out their password.

I agree it would make the experience worse for people. It would also negatively effect Netflix's stats.

Netflix and others need to make more discounted price offers and reduce the amount of geo-locked content.
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Exactly - so they'd significantly detriment user experience.

The arguments above are that they could stop it if they wanted. Well, they could, but only through causing paying users problems. In circumstances where the law is being broken to their detriment, I don't have any issues with them lobbying for that law to be enforced, rather than causing their paying users problems.

People also raise arguments around business models, and geo-locked content.

Firstly, they are a hugely successful company which to some extent single handedly revolutionised online distribution. They are intelligent people, who will have thought about all the proposals people make. They have decided that their way is the best way for their business, and are within their rights to do so. If people don't like it, the answer is not to use the service. It's not to steal content.

Secondly, as to geo blocking, I largely agree that content should be released everywhere at the same time. But I've seen numerous examples - far more than you'd think - of this not being in the hands of the streaming platform, usually because a particular show has rights issues in a certain jurisdiction.
 
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