Should account sharing be illegal?

[FranklinX 37]

Did you know that it is illegal to share entertainment subscriptions? That's including sharing with friends and family in your home. You could potentially get in trouble by using the account at a friend's house to watch a movie with him or her. What's the punishment? You could pay a fine or go to prison!

 

http://www.geekosystem.com/tennessee-netflix-crime-law/

 Stealing $500 or less of entertainment would be a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of $2,500.

 

 

 

 

Should this be a crime? After all it is your account. You paid for it. It should be your property. You should have the deciding factor if you want to share your account with anyone. To me it's like buying a video game at Wal-Mart and it is illegal to play it with friends, family, and people in general. 

 

However, I also look at it like this. This doesn't have to be a criminal offense. Companies can ban accounts, particular people, and IP addresses. It's as simple as that. They're wasting money on Lawyers to come after people. 

 

 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/should-sharing-netflix-passwords-be-194319

[Marked 197]

Lol I have an intellectual property law exam in 7 days and we touched on such things.

 

First of all, in yank land you can go to jail forever for nothing so whatever.

 

The person who wrote 1 year in jail for less than $500 should jump off a building or strap a bomb to his chest and blow up the rest of the idiots trying to get this stuff passed into law. Actually american citizens should. Hollywood admits that it funds your current government, and this sort of bullshit is itself criminal.

 

No jail time whatsoever. Jail is for morally wrong crimes and there is nothing morally wrong about the conduct in question. Literally almost nothing. Of course people will disagree, but who has ever felt bad about downloading a movie/series? The likely case is that you're not even making their monster profits any less, at all.

 

The fundamental issue with hollywood and entertainment is the industries refusal to adapt. Hollywood called the VCR the devil because they thought it would be the end of them; it made them HUGE profits. It is up to them to adapt and make content available to people hwo would otherwise have to pirate it.

 

#kimdotcom4president

[Bob423 52]

Off topic, but "First of all, in yank land you can go to jail forever for nothing so whatever." Is the best thing you've ever said.

 

 

However, I also look at it like this. This doesn't have to be a criminal offense. Companies can ban accounts, particular people, and IP addresses. It's as simple as that. They're wasting money on Lawyers to come after people.

Totally agree with this. Because otherwise my friend, brother, and his friend are criminals for watching netflix in the same room as me on the ps3. They each have their own account, but I don't, and my brother didn't went he used his friends account and when my friend let us use his account.

[phionabrie 7]

They would be stupid to try and sue someone just for having someone else in the room while they used their own account (how many people only ever watch movies alone.....) .

[Marked 197]

They would be stupid to try and sue someone just for having someone else in the room while they used their own account (how many people only ever watch movies alone.....) .

Technically its a criminal prosecution so its even worse because it is the state/government who is imposing the penalties on you. A cop could peak through the window of your house and witness your illegal acts and you could get done for it (its actually probably trespassing if they do that though).

 

Intellectual property law has majorly fallen short in the light of new technology and the inappropriate influence of hollywood (and therefore the US on other countries) is not providing any decent solutions and clearly disproportionate and un-innovative protection measures. Thus piracy

[Bob423 52]

I only hear bad things about the US on the internet and agree with 90% of it. I feel like I should move to another country, but I don't like going places. I'm too comfortable here and don't notice much outside of the internet. Maybe that's because I'm just 18...

[Bigace360 38]

@Bob423: Most other countries aren't that better off than America to even think about moving, and also don't believe everything you read on the internet; most of it is bias anyways. America is great place to live, but several people in the government make it feel like a 3rd world country sometimes. But this is all off topic anyways.

 

OT: Uh some times I wonder if our government is smoking heavy pounds crack or something. Why should I go to prison for sharing my account? Ever heard of just holding the account for certain amount of time with a fine or just banning the persons account with a fine. I think America just loves spending money on stupid shit and not on things important. First it requires money to bring this up and try to pass it. Also it requires the states tax money to keep said person in jail for no reason. Yup, America: the country that loves to waste money and resources. This is where I live.

[Marked 197]

@Bob423: Most other countries aren't that better off than America to even think about moving, and also don't believe everything you read on the internet; most of it is bias anyways. America is great place to live, but several people in the government make it feel like a 3rd world country sometimes. But this is all off topic anyways.

That's why they get away with it; it doesn't affect the majority so they stay quiet but it could happen to you, and your fundamental right of having your day in court won't save you, therefore nothing will. Sometimes I feel like I would like to leave my country solely to stop funding the dirty bastards, but that's probably not a valid reason :P

 

The more you care about politics the more you hate your country.

[dolarmak 23]

A cop could peak through the window of your house and witness your illegal acts and you could get done for it (its actually probably trespassing if they do that though).

 

From my understanding it requires a warrant for anything a cop sees on X property to be admissible in a US court otherwise they would just throw the case out. Sure they could see you watching netflix together, go to a judge and try and get a warrant, but what judge would give it to them? lol

 

Overall I think this kind of thing is just Hollywood trying to scare the honest people into not sharing with large groups (ex movie in the park style without proper licencing), no one has ever been prosecuted for watching a Netflix movie with their best friend or family.

[Marked 197]

From my understanding it requires a warrant for anything a cop sees on X property to be admissible in a US court otherwise they would just throw the case out. Sure they could see you watching netflix together, go to a judge and try and get a warrant, but what judge would give it to them? lol

It's been a long time since I learned this lol (not long after our EQ in 2011) but the deal here that cops have an implied license to enter property insofar to make contact with you. A big ass sign saying "DO NOT ENTER" or  "NO TRESPASSING" will revoke that license, the license will be express if you invite them in. If the copper knocks on your door and there's no answer, he may be able to go around the house in an attempt to find you. This contact is of course when you're under no suspicion of committing a crime of course. I think if he saw u d00ds breaking the law it could be used as evidence so long as the implied license wasn't breached (i think). That's position in NZ. I reckon peering through the window is a breach of the license though. But that's a really limited situation, you def get a warrant if you're out to catch people. A judge def wouldn't issue a warrant for a minor crime because invading someone's house is very serious.

[FranklinX 37]

I've done some research. I haven't seen any legal cases(civil and criminal) for sharing passwords to Netflix, HBO, porn, etc. Has anyone found anything? I've seen cases for irritating the actual movies. However, nothing was found for account sharing. 

[Marked 197]

The US are using NZ legislation as a copyright experient - people who share files P2P here get 3 strikes and on the third the copyright owner can obtain damages. It's been a miserable failure. I don't think there's sufficient legislation yet for this, but there's been tons of publicity on government threats to do so (obviously).

 

I can link you to NZ cases but its not that interesting, only copyright holders of musical works that were seeded from torrents have been through the court.

[FranklinX 37]

The US are using NZ legislation as a copyright experient - people who share files P2P here get 3 strikes and on the third the copyright owner can obtain damages. It's been a miserable failure. I don't think there's sufficient legislation yet for this, but there's been tons of publicity on government threats to do so (obviously).

 

I can link you to NZ cases but its not that interesting, only copyright holders of musical works that were seeded from torrents have been through the court.

 

I am curious about the law when it comes to saving files on file sites. Can I backup my files online without violating copyrights?

 

Only the music business in the US have sued people for pirating music. 

[Polraudio 122]

Think its safe to backup your media to a file site as long as your the only one who has access and downloads it. I could be wrong tho.

[Marked 197]

There's a difference between safe, legal, and technically illegal. Usually safe = technically illegal. And btw doods, I literally finished back my IP exam, including copyright, 12 mins ago :P (back in the lib studying for the nek one :D )

[rgangsta 43]

Seems it's only in Tennessee for now but I bet it'll catch on to other states. I hate the media industry for this load of shit. They always come up with a scheme to squeeze the last penny out of us consumers and then screw us over in the end. Fuck 'em.