The More You Know... The More You Might Wish You Didn't

[Writer’s note: This article was intended to be published before break, but was delayed due to a Google account location lock-out until I was able to return to campus.]

Recently, Netflix and other media streaming services have been cracking down on account sharing and use. Here are some of the basics of the issue and how you can comply with the law and end user agreements.

At base level, sharing login information is illegal, even if the law is vague and rarely enforced because use of the service means money either way. However, most companies have an unofficial opinion on the matter.

By and large, media providers of all stripes declare that there are as many as ten and as few as one permissible users with a single login, as will be stated in their user agreements. To provide a legal leeway, many offer ‘premium’ or ‘professional’ accounts (read “paid”) that either increase or remove the limit entirely, just in case you care enough to comply.

In many instances, companies aren’t actively pursuing the shared accounts, with notable exceptions like Spotify. From a managerial standpoint, the cost to the company of allowing account sharing to take place can be as high as $500 million per year. However, one extra person on an account is still one more person seeing the ads, which brings in revenue. Some of the piggy-backers may also become paying members in the future, so to most companies it makes more sense to play the long game.

It should be mentioned that if the sharing begins taking too much revenue from the companies, crackdowns are likely to be imposed, so share at your own risk – if you’re not bothered by the legality of doing so.