The article does say that it is mostly to combat people harvesting and selling large number of accounts/passwords which seems reasonable to me. It is scary that they could go after people sharing with a friend with up to a year in jail though.
> The article does say that it is mostly to combat people
> harvesting and selling large number of accounts/passwords
> which seems reasonable to me.
It seems reasonable that there be a law against that?
Reasonable: Netflix TOS allows them to terminate your account if you're found in violation.
Unreasonable: TN law allows criminal charges to be brought against you, potentially incurring fines and jail time and almost definitely incurring legal fees.
We really need help from the Republicans here. They passed laws so that any time someone wants to do something useful with taxpayer money (build infrastructure, provide government services), the first step becomes a 10-year-long "alternatives analysis" stage. We need the same thing for new laws. As an example, before this law can take effect, we need to decide exactly how much it will cost to investigate, prosecute, and imprison violators. And, we need to decide where that money is going to become from? Should we legalize child rape to free up those investigators to go after Netflix ToS violations? If yes, then make it a law. If no, then let Netflix worry about its own profits.
Unfortunately, there is nothing preventing the law from being applied in your 'scary' scenario.
Additionally, if I share my password with my wife, and her sister 'borrows' it from my wife, and she gives it to three friends, and they each give it to three friends, who is responsible under this law? How do you prove it?
Also, it is just really poor business to solve a problem using legislation which could easily be solved using software.
This law may even be in conflict with the licensing agreements between Netflix and the studios. If Netflix and a studio had worked out an arrangement where up to 4 simultaneous users can stream from a single account, who is the Tennessee legislature to declare otherwise.
