Tennessee governor Bill Haslam has signed legislation that for the first time makes the theft of subscription entertainment services like Netflix a crime on par with stealing satellite television or walking out of a restaurant without paying your bill. And "theft" now includes sharing your account password too broadly.
It's probably not a coincidence that the legislation was enacted in Tennessee, home to the Nashville music scene. The legislation was strongly supported by the Recording Industry Association of America, which says that it's the first legislation of its kind in the country.
The scope of the new rule is unclear. Tennessee law already has a definition of "service" that includes a laundry list of items, including "telephone, mail, gas, electricity, steam, water, cable television," and "any other activity or product considered in the ordinary course of business to be a service." The bill Gov. Haslam signed adds "entertainment subscription service" to this list.
It also specifies that anyone who is "directly or indirectly harmed" by theft of service has standing to report the violation to the police. And it tweaks the penalties for violating the law. Stealing more than $500 in services can lead to serious jail time.
Jerry Brito, a scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, told Ars that the basic concept of the law was sound. "Big content, through subscription services, are trying to adapt to the new economic environment of the Internet by giving consumers a legal, inexpensive way of buying their content," he said. "I don't see why it shouldn't be criminal for someone to hand out subscription passwords en masse."
Is password sharing a serious problem? Rep. Gerald McCormick, a sponsor of the bill, argues that the legislation is aimed at stopping mass password sales, not mere sharing among family members. But it shouldn't be too difficult for Internet streaming services to monitor account usage and cancel accounts that are used by too many people.
Brito stressed the importance of prosecutorial discretion. "The targets of this law should only really be the worst offenders who are selling passwords to many people," he said, not a 16-year-old who gives his girlfriend his password. "The fact that this is a tweak to an existing law gives me hope" that prosecutors will behave sensibly, he said.
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