Share Your Netflix Password? Court Says You're a Criminal

One interpretation of a recent federal court ruling suggests that Netflix subscribers who share their passwords with friends could be in violation of federal anti-hacking laws and be subject to actual prison time. That interpretation is controversial, however, and you're unlikely to go to jail if your friend borrows your subscription to watch Orange is the New Black.

The case in question involved not an online streaming service, but a corporate database that was used without permission by a former employee. The ruling, though, used the anti-hacking law to convict the defendant of accessing the database using a shared password without the company's authorization. That would, according to one judge, leave the door open for a company like Netflix or HBO to argue that users that stream their programming via shared passwords are unlawfully gaining access to the company's property and are therefore subject to prosecution.

Other judges argued, though, that the details of the ruling did not apply to a situation like Netflix password sharing. In the case, the defendant conspired to use a work-around to break into the secured database without the company's knowledge, while Netflix, through its user profiles and terms of service, actively allows multi-user access through a single subscription.