Sharing passwords for streaming services like Netflix illegal: UK's Intellectual Property Office

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The UK's Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has said that users sharing passwords for streaming sites like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Disney+ are breaking the law.

The UK IPO has collaborated with Meta for a counterfeit and piracy campaign, and one of the guidelines makes it clear that accessing streaming services without paying for subscription amounts to piracy.

"Piracy is a major issue for the entertainment and creative industries," says the IPO in a post. "Accessing films, tv series or live sports," or using hacked devices to watch them, "without paying for a subscription is an infringement of copyright and you may be committing a crime."

According to the IPO, this also extends to pasting images "without permission" on your social media accounts.

The IPO draws comparisons to other lines of work saying, "When we go to work, we want to be paid - the creative industries are no different."

It takes the example of an average film, which is usually staffed by hundreds of people. Not only "Directors and film stars" but also "cleaners, carpenters and makeup artists to name a few."

The IPO says that by paying for a subscription, the viewer ensures these "people continue to work" and "create excellent experiences".

"The creative industry offers employment for more than 1.9 million people and contributes £84.1 billion to the UK economy," the IPO said.

"If you are not paying for content, you are depriving industry of the money it needs to fund the next generation of TV programmes, films and sporting events," it added.