“DoNotPay” Released Chrome Extension for Sharing Streaming Subscriptions

• A new Chrome extension enables streaming service subscribers to share their access with friends.
• The service is offered free of charge without limitations but comes with some ads for the users.
• The extension is currently violating none of the streaming service membership clauses.

“DoNotPay”, the world’s first robot lawyer service, has released a new, homonymous Chrome (and derivatives) extension which enables people to share streaming subscriptions with their friends. The sharing happens securely, by sending a link for an active logged-in session to a friend, enabling them to watch content that you are paying for, but not to access your private data like your login credentials for example. Even the cookies that are shared between the two users are encrypted on both ends.

For this system to work, both users will have to have the extension installed on their browser, while the streaming service subscriber must generate a link and share it via email with their friend. By following that link, the other party will be able to access the service, add “favorite shows” or save titles on their watchlist, but they won’t be able to touch anything on the account, change passwords, or disable the 2FA. Right now, the extension supports Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, and Spotify, so some device number restrictions apply. Simply put, from the service’s perspective, the other user is just another device belonging to the same subscriber.

Source: The Verge

Using the extension is free of charge, although during the beta stage of the development DoNotPay experimented with the possibility of allowing the user who shares the link to make money out of this. In the released version, they stripped this functionality as it “ruined the spirit of sharing with friends”. However, there are ads promoting DoNotPay’s other services that cost $3 per month. This is understandable and acceptable considering what you get from the extension and the fact that you don’t have to pay a dime to enjoy it without limitations.

One optimal way to use “DoNotPay” today is to exchange subscriptions with friends who have access to different platforms. With the level of fragmentation that plagues the streaming market, it’s impossible to pay for all the streaming services that may offer something interesting, so you now can solve this problem with DoNotPay. The best part is that the particular extension isn’t violating the terms and conditions of these streaming platforms, as people aren’t sharing their password or payment method details with anyone else. They are merely sharing access to their accounts with someone of their choice. Of course, streaming companies could get more aggressive if the amount of sharing gets out of proportion, but for now, they’re simply keeping an eye.