“Do you feel entitled?” The class was asked this question on the first week of school after the professor asked the class to raise their hand if they share passwords to Netflix, Hulu, or Spotify.
The overwhelming majority of the class did in fact raise their hand. Technically it is illegal based off an ancient law saying that “the sharing of an account password is a federal crime.” So why does Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify not do anything.
“I get login’s for Netflix from my cousin Greg.” This is a quote from the famous rapper Lil Dicky in his hit song “$ave Dat Money.” Lil Dicky is a millionaire and still borrows Netflix passwords. Does this influence the public?
That is the age old question. Does Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify actually care about this issue? More people would probably lose loyalty to these companies if they started suing everybody for sharing passwords.
So I picked out ten people I planned to interview and ask if they share passwords for any of these services and seven of the ten said they only share Netflix and all were with family members.
“I’ve been bumming off my parents for Netflix forever” said freshmen Tenna Beel. She also went on to say that she “doesn’t plan to change that anytime soon.”
The three that said they borrow or use other’s password outside their family interested me as I got into more detail with them. “I watch Hulu with my girlfriend thanks to my ex-girlfriend,” said junior Chase Hiser as described the why he still uses his ex-girlfriend’s Hulu account.
“She never uses and still has no idea I use it, so why stop?” Hiser went on to say. “I don’t even think about how it is my ex’s until I’m forced to log back in with her email every now and then.”
I also spoke with junior Natalie Lambert, a frequent Spotify sharer. “I share Spotify with all three of my roommates.”
Knowing how Spotify operates, I know you can only have one person on it at a time. “It gets heated sometimes over who has been using it the most or who had it first. Sometimes it is even over even who needs it more.”
Lambert went on to say that she has a lot of quiet drives home as her radio is broken. “If somebody is already playing music, there is nothing I can do on my drives home, which sucks in the mornings.
The last person I sat down with is what I would call an abuser of the system. Drew Schiltz is a sixth year student coming back for his third degree. He does more then share one or two passwords.
“I share passwords with people from Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Apple Music, Fox Sports, and ESPN, and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head,” said Schiltz.
Schiltz refers to this system of living as “smart.” “I save a ton of money this way and my friends don’t care so why wouldn’t I? I think everybody should do it.”
So do we feel entitled enough to share passwords and why do we feel that way. That question may never be answered.
Tenna Beal – tlb014@morningside.edu
Drew Schiltz – (712) 253-4416, dts001@morningside.edu
Natalie Lambert – (515) 351-1566, njl003@morningside.edu
Chase Hiser – (712) 233-9736, crh008@morningside.edu