Sharing your Netflix password with your friends so that they can enjoy its instant streaming feature? While that’s already a moral no-no, it’s soon going to be a crime in Tennessee, as a bill has been passed to make that practice illegal.
The bill awaits the governor’s signature. While originally intended to target hackers and other criminals who sell this sort of login information in quantity, it also covers those who share information with friends and relatives.
The bill was backed by industry officials, who hope other states will follow. The bill is written to cover all subscriptions based services such as Netflix and Rhapsody.
It’s not illegal to let your friends watch your subscription when you login and show it to them self yourself is it? No, but as Rep. Gerald McCormick, the bill’s sponsor in the Tennessee house, said,
If you are on the Watch Instantly Unlimited plan or the 1-disc-out-at-a-time plan, you may watch only one device at a time. If you are on the 2-discs-out-at-a-time plan, you may watch on up to two devices at a time. Members on the 3-disc plan can watch on up to three devices. The maximum is four devices — available for members on the 4-or-greater-discs-out-at-a-time plan.
In other words, depending on the plan, you can watch on one or more devices (up to four) simultaneously at a time. The assumption there is you might have someone at home watching via TV (of course, family living in the same home are OK) while you watch on your iPhone.
Odds are that small violations won’t be noticed. Start giving it out to your entire company baseball team, and you might see a lawyer, at least in Tennessee, knocking on your door.
The bill awaits the governor’s signature. While originally intended to target hackers and other criminals who sell this sort of login information in quantity, it also covers those who share information with friends and relatives.
The bill was backed by industry officials, who hope other states will follow. The bill is written to cover all subscriptions based services such as Netflix and Rhapsody.
It’s not illegal to let your friends watch your subscription when you login and show it to them self yourself is it? No, but as Rep. Gerald McCormick, the bill’s sponsor in the Tennessee house, said,
“What becomes not legal is if you send your username and password to all your friends so they can get free subscriptions.“They will use the IP address you use to access the service. So waitasec, I can login to Netflix myself from a friend’s computer, or watch via my Android device, which will provide a different IP address. Isn’t that legal? Here’s what Netflix’ Terms of Service says, as an example:
If you are on the Watch Instantly Unlimited plan or the 1-disc-out-at-a-time plan, you may watch only one device at a time. If you are on the 2-discs-out-at-a-time plan, you may watch on up to two devices at a time. Members on the 3-disc plan can watch on up to three devices. The maximum is four devices — available for members on the 4-or-greater-discs-out-at-a-time plan.
In other words, depending on the plan, you can watch on one or more devices (up to four) simultaneously at a time. The assumption there is you might have someone at home watching via TV (of course, family living in the same home are OK) while you watch on your iPhone.
Odds are that small violations won’t be noticed. Start giving it out to your entire company baseball team, and you might see a lawyer, at least in Tennessee, knocking on your door.
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