As cloud services start to launch and digital lockers gain even more influence, the accounts and passwords for these services are going to be a major issue as they mature. Users are going to be caught in a place where hacking is a somewhat common occurrence — just look at Sony’s PSN — but there will also be the temptation to share passwords while only one user pays for access, and the question is whether the latter should be or already is illegal.
The “right” thing to do is access a personal account and pay for it without sharing that information. There is some grey area in there though, especially when it comes to things that are treated as family accounts even if they’re set up initially to be tied to one user — say for instance those paying for a single Pandora or Spotify account but accessing the premium level service on two mobiles for different family members.
Getting in a bit ahead of the curve is the legislature in Tennessee which has just passed a measure prohibiting password sharing. The legislation, largely and loudly backed by the RIAA, would make it illegal for anyone to share accounts for digital services like Netflix, HuluAmazon’s Cloud Drive, Rhapsody and the like. Tennessee governor Bill Haslam is likely to approve the measure.
The legislation was aimed largely at sharing passwords and content across large groups of people, and this will likely remain the target for law enforcement. Casual sharing between friends and some access across devices will also be made illegal but will be far less likely to become a target for investigation. The nature of tracking shared account activity is going to make this a tough nut to crack.
Penalties under the legislation are set on two tiers. Stealing content worth under $500 will be treated as a misdemeanor and comes with a max penalty of $2,500 or up to one year in jail. Theft of a larger value will be treated as a felony and charges and penalties here will range a bit more due to the nature of the content stolen.
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