A popular thing to do amongst family and friends is share passwords for their streaming accounts like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and HBO Now. It’s a growing trend that does hurt these services. But for those who cannot afford multiple subscriptions, it does help cut down costs. One way these services try to prevent that is to offer multiple users on one account but at a higher price. Still, most do not go for this option.

But it looks like Disney+, Disney’s upcoming streaming service, may be working on ways to stop the practice of password sharing. More on the report below.

A joint press release sent out by Disney and Charter Cable included a little tidbit about password sharing:

It doesn’t sound like they have anything as of yet. But the press release does indicate that the two parties are working together in order to curb password sharing. It’s not clear if they have a plan yet or how they will execute it, nor is it clear if there will be consequences if someone does share their password.

As such, this seems more like a threat than anything else, and until there are rules and regulations that are made public, people will probably take it as such. But this probably won’t be the last time we hear about it. Ars Technica (via /Film) says companies are laying out the groundwork that would match a person’s IP address with the subscribers. That would sound like a solid plan, but what if said subscriber wants to watch something from Disney+ at another person’s house?

As of right now, there really is no solid plan being offered by any of the popular streaming services that would eliminate the practice of sharing passwords. As aforementioned, some services limit the number of access to a single account to one stream per subscriber.

This may actually help encourage others to get their own subscriptions as it may act as a back-up to when someone else is using another person’s account. I know I helped a few times sharing my account when someone was accessing my friend’s during the final season of Game of Thrones.

[Source: Ars Technia via /Film]