Gone are the days when regulations in the entertainment industry were mostly concerned with torrenting and P2P sharing sites. The online piracy ecosystem has significantly changed in the last decade. The entertainment industry now confronts challenges from a wide range of unauthorized online streaming sights and programs.
The Formation of ACE
In an effort to combat the threat of piracy, some of the biggest entertainment companies including Netflix, Amazon, and Hollywood Studios came together in 2017. They formed a global anti-piracy coalition known as the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE). In recent times, Internet providers have also joined the alliance.
For example, Comcast and the Canadian-based Bell are members as well. Charter is also another member of the growing list of Internet providers that have joined ACE. It is no surprise why these telecom companies have become members of ACE. They are content companies too and have vested interests in fighting online piracy.
So far, the alliance chilled a few milestones in bringing down streaming services that provide unauthorized content. This included Dragon Box and Set TV.
Fighting the Threat of Password Sharing
The next Frontier being addressed by online content companies is password sharing. While password sharing may not exactly fall in the typical piracy category, sharing password facilities unauthorized access to copyrighted files without permission. Platforms and content owners have always struggled to enforce restrictions on password sharing. The issue is now one of ACE’s main agenda.
According to the global anti-piracy coalition, ACE, restricting password sharing will reduce unauthorized access to content. It also enhances content protection practices such as encryption and other forms of piracy.
Tom Rutledge, CEO of Charter, was recently quoted praising the initiative ACE is taking to fight unauthorized password sharing and other content security practices. The initiative provides a unified strategy for content creators, distributors, and consumers to fight piracy threats of all types including password sharing.
The global anti-piracy coalition will ensure that streaming content is more secure and sufficiently protected from unauthorized copyright distribution and use. All this while ensuring that the consumer continues to enjoy content rights that they have actually purchased on the network, device, platform, and in the location in which they have subscribed.
Charter has often talked about the problem of password sharing. The issue was even highlighted in their recent content distribution deal with Fox.
Netflix’s Concerns Over Password Sharing
ACE’s focus on the issue of password sharing comes barely two weeks Netflix expressed concerns about password sharing in their latest quarterly earnings report. Greg Peters, Netflix chief product officer, stated that the company is currently monitoring the situation. However, he didn’t provide more information about the actions they are planning to take.
The company is seriously considering the situation and promises to roll out consumer-friendly ways of accessing Netflix content in the near future. According to a report published on Migid, Netflix could potentially lose approximately $135 million in subscriptions due to password sharing. This is a substantial amount given the popularity of Netflix shows and movies globally.
The Counter-Productive Effect of Restricting Password Sharing
However, the grim reality is that people who share passwords will not suddenly decide to pay for a subscription if they cannot afford one. In fact, some customers may even cancel their subscriptions if they are not allowed to share passwords.
ACE promises to provide a solution in streamlining best practices. This is to avoid customers from counseling their subscriptions and joining other competitors who don’t have password restrictions. ACE’s focus on password sharing does indeed prove that the problem is being taken seriously. Measures to convert the problem are being discussed by key players in the online entertainment industry.
In fact, experts recently consulted ACE for more information on password sharing and how they practice compares to piracy. ACE is yet to provide a response. Charter is also currently involved in a piracy lawsuit from major music labels. These labels accuse the Internet provider of not working hard enough to curb piracy.
Conclusion
With advances in technology, piracy of copyrighted content is no longer restricted to torrent and P2P sharing sites. Password sharing has also entered the list of piracy practices. It’s now a concern with the ACE, the global anti-piracy coalition.
It will, therefore, be more difficult to share your torrent password with other users.
What do you think about password sharing and the global anti-piracy coalition? Drop us a comment below. We would love hearing from you!
