MPA Challenges Brazil’s Move to Outlaw Password Sharing Restrictions

• The Motion Picture Association expressed concerns regarding a bill in Brazil allowing the sharing of streaming accounts’ passwords.
• The proposed legislation would eliminate extra charges and blocked access outside the registered household.
• Services like Netflix have already implemented these fees and restrictions a while back.

The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is voicing concerns over Brazil's proposed legislation that aims to prohibit streaming services from implementing password-sharing restrictions. The bill would prevent platforms like Netflix from charging additional fees or blocking access for users outside the registered household.

The MPA argues that this measure would negatively impact revenue and hinder copyright enforcement.

Despite significant strides in combating online piracy through initiatives like "Operation 404," which led to the dismantling of 675 pirate sites and the arrest of nine individuals last month, the MPA maintains that further progress is crucial. 

The association commends Brazil's efforts but highlights the persistent challenges of illicit streaming services and the rising usage of illegal streaming devices, even as web-based piracy shows signs of decline.

The MPA advocates for legislation to formalize site-blocking measures and criminalize unauthorized theater recordings to strengthen copyright protections. However, the proposal to ban password-sharing restrictions poses a significant threat to these efforts. 

According to the MPA, such legislation would undermine providers' revenues and contractual freedom and could weaken copyright enforcement globally.

Brazil's consumer protection agency, Procon, and several lawmakers criticize the current password-sharing restrictions, arguing they do not account for modern usage patterns, such as mobile streaming and geographically dispersed families. 

The proposed Bill No. 1153 seeks to ensure that users can fully utilize their subscriptions, regardless of their location, without incurring additional costs.

The MPA's brief yet firm opposition underscores the industry's apprehension about potential international ramifications. Given the widespread interest of Hollywood studios and streaming giants in maintaining password-sharing restrictions, the outcome of this legislative push could set a precedent impacting global streaming policies.

Netflix started to look for a way to reduce password sharing in 2021 and eventually enforced an extra fee for profiles of the same account that belong to other households or have IPs different from the home one for more than two weeks.

In recent news, Polish video-on-demand service CDA was accused by the MPA of being a piracy market and rejected the claims, calling them false and misleading. Also, clones still appear after the dissolution of FMovies and other pirate movie websites, and MPA pressure forced pirate site Cuevana to shut down voluntarily.