Posted on 07/11/2016 11:12:16 AM PDT by servo1969
A new federal court ruling could make sharing your passwords for subscription services -- covering everything from Netflix to HBO GO -- a federal crime punishable by prison time, according to a judge who opposed the decision.
The ruling, issued by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last week, pertained to a trade-secrets case and found that certain instances of sharing passwords are prosecutable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) - legislation predominantly concerned with hacking.
The case involved David Nosal, a headhunter who left his former company Korn/Ferry and then used the password of an employee to access the company's database and use that information at his new firm. According to Fusion, the defendant was convicted of hacking charges in 2013 and sentenced to one year and one day in prison. The appeals court upheld the conviction by 2-1.
"This access falls squarely within the CFAA's prohibition on access 'without authorization,' and thus we affirm Nosal's conviction for violations of ... the CFAA," Judge M. Margaret McKeown said in the opinion.
However, Judge Stephen Reinhardt, writing in his dissent, argued that the case was not about hacking but password sharing. Consequently, he argued, the ruling jeopardizes password sharing for the general public.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Yeehaa, more felonies for me.
Our family shares my Netflix account even though we live in several states.
Oh no, we also share a phone account. Is that illegal too 9th Circus?
It seems to me that if Netflix says I can watch 4 devices at once, then it shouldn't matter if I want to cool off the back bedroom with Oscillating Fan for Your Home or let my mother watch Penny Dreadful.
“What you in for? Littering. And they all moved away from me on the bench there...”
Arlo Gutherie ALice’s Resteraunt
Yup. Theft of services. Just hashing out where the boundary line nuances are.
What do the terms of service say?
Not a problem. I'll just store the passwords on an illegal email server. Presto, I'm Miz Clinton.
LOL!
I’m fine within those, but the ninth circus may say something else.
So if a tech unsavvy moron like Madam Benghazi needs tech support to log on and gives her password to the tech rep to get her on, it's a Federal Crime - well for everyone else, certainly NOT her!
#NoCriminalIntent
Hey, it works for Hillary.
“There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.” ― Ayn Rand
Are you sure about that? Because I can think of all sorts of absurdities that can be, and have been, read into laws/rules. — An example: I've heard lower enlisted being told that they'll get written up for "destruction of government property" if they get a [severe] sunburn.
>> This cannot be extended to things such as a spouse sharing a password with a spouse.
>
> Yeah, and Obamacare could not have possibly been a tax either.
That’s a really good point.
*
It all comes down to intent. You didn't intend for your family to share your account, it just happened. It was just carelessness. According to Hillary Clinton, what difference does it make? Just be careless and don't give a darn, and it isn't illegal.
CA is a community property state. Do the passwords have to split 50/50?
But it’s OK for Hillary to share classified information?
Depends on who is paying for the account. If you're allowing others to share it for free while you pay, okay. If you expect payment and don't receive it, then change the password. It's a well-known secret that Netflix doesn't bother people sharing passwords, as long as someone is paying for the account.
Not enough rules on the books...
...
Not enough to catch the Clintons.
Just last month I bumped my Netflix account up to allow 4 simultaneous streams instead of 2. It was an extra $4 per month.
I can now allow my daughter in college to use one of the streams, without privilege collisions.
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