Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Thanks to CTOnews.com netizen Coje_He for the clue delivery! CTOnews.com, December 21 (Xinhua)-- British government agencies have warned that sharing Netflix passwords with others may be illegal, although there is still some "uncertainty" and no action will be taken unless police intervene.

According to BBC News, the British government's intellectual property Office (IPO) has declared that Netflix password sharing is both a criminal issue and a civil legal issue.

"there are a series of provisions in criminal and civil law that may apply to password sharing situations, with the aim of allowing users to access copyrighted works without paying," IPO said. These provisions may include breach of contract terms, fraud or secondary copyright infringement, depending on the circumstances.

BBC News specifically asked whether this means that the British Royal Prosecutor's Office (CPS) not only can, but will also file criminal charges against password sharers.

"any decision to accuse someone of sharing the password of a streaming service will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis," a spokesman for the IPO agency replied. "as in all cases, if they are handed over by investigators to the CPS to make an accusation decision, it is our duty to sue if the public interest needs to be sued if there is sufficient evidence."

Therefore, if Netflix chooses to involve the police, he can go to court and become a criminal case. The IPO limits each statement with "possible" and "if", but in any case, Netflix told BBC News that it does not intend to press charges against anyone.

CTOnews.com learned that, instead, Netflix said it intended to make it "easy" for people to set up their own accounts and launch "sub-accounts" in early 2023 to allow people to pay extra for family and friends.

So Nadine Dorries, Britain's controversial former culture secretary, can rest assured. "I have Netflix, but there are four people who can use my Netflix account in different parts of the country," she told the British Commission on Digital, Culture, Media and Sports in early 2022.

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