But that’s not exactly the situation. “In my view, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act does not make the millions of people who engage in this ubiquitous, useful, and generally harmless conduct into unwitting federal criminals”, writes Reinhardt. When he left, the employee held on to his login credentials so he could use his former employer’s database. However, just days before the decision, Sling announced Sling Blue, a $25 monthly Internet TV service allowing up to three devices stream videos at the same time. “This is tantamount to outright theft, something that prosecutors are interested in prosecuting”. Nosal knowingly and with intent to defraud Korn/Ferry blatantly circumvented the affirmative revocation of his computer system access.
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As Consequence Of Sound reports, Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt noted that he anxious the new ruling could set a precedent that could extend to Netflix users being found guilty of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
A new court ruling has some people fearing that sharing a Netflix password could land them behind bars: We’re telling them to chill.
Meanwhile, the majority opinion in the ruling states: “This appeal is not about password sharing”.
“It loses sight of the anti-hacking goal of the CFAA [Computer Fraud and Abuse Act], and despite our warning, threatens to criminalize all sorts of innocuous conduct engaged in daily by ordinary citizens”, Reinhardt wrote in his dissenting opinion.
“I don’t see anything in the majority ruling that states definitively that sharing passwords” is illegal, Brett Trout, a Des Moines-based attorney, said.
Pray made a similar point.
The case makes the 30-year-old CFAA law more confusing than ever, as there is no clear answer to whether or not using a roommate or family member’s Netflix or HBO Go passwords is illegal or not – especially if the person has permission and the service provide itself has no problems with them doing so. Maybe you don’t have HBO Go, but your parents do and you just have to catch Game of Thrones, or vice versa. The language, though, doesn’t explicitly prohibit users from authorizing others to use their accounts.
What do Netflix and HBO think about password sharing?
HBO is less enthusiastic about password sharing, but CEO Richard Plepler has said that it’s simply not a big concern for them.
But, as Trout pointed out, the appeals court didn’t exactly put the issue to rest either.
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It doesn’t rule out a company in the future bringing a case forward to prevent password sharing.
