Shared a Netflix password? Don’t panic

Don’t worry, sharing your Netflix or HBO password shouldn’t land you in jail.

Password sharing isn’t something secret or “a fundamental problem” to the companies.

But all of this password anxiety came from United States v. Nosal, in which the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled it illegal that David Nosal asked for and used his former assistant’s password with the intent of downloading proprietary information.

The majority ruling said “this appeal is not about password sharing,” but Judge Stephen Reinhardt disagreed.

“It loses sight of the anti-hacking purpose of the CFAA [Computer Fraud and Abuse Act], and despite our warning, threatens to criminalize all sorts of innocuous conduct engaged in daily by ordinary citizens,” Reinhardt wrote in his dissenting opinion.

Either way, it boils down to nefarious means.

Nosal used that password to commit a crime. Your friend used your HBO GO account to watch Game of Thrones.

So unless your friend has some crazy Netflix heist up his sleeve, you should be fine.

This story was originally published July 13, 2016 at 6:12 PM with the headline "Shared a Netflix password? Don’t panic."