Image via WikipediaThe state of Tennessee, which is called the capital of Country Music, has now passed a new law declaring that using someone else’s username and password, either by the user’s permission or not, for getting online entertainment is a crime. Obviously this state law has been praised tremendously be the entire music industry. This law was agreed upon by both the chambers of the Tennessee General Assembly on 19th May and later also signed into becoming state law by the Governor Bill Haslam on the Memorial Day.
The main support behind getting this bill passed was provided by Nashville's recording industry, along with the recent federal efforts to eradicate the theft of online entertainment by misusing user names and passwords on services like Rhapsody and Netflix. Mitch Glazer, the VP of public privacy and industry relations with RIAA, stated that "given the significant economic contributions of the music industry to the state (Tennessee), it's important to ensure that the hard work of artists, musicians and labels is protected against emerging ways to steal music."
This law has always been considered by the officials from Nashville, as the state has been the home of country music industry since the beginning. This new law passed is not exactly aimed to target the college students who frequently share their log in information among themselves, but it does not exempt them from this law either. Research analysts for a Republican senator, Stephanie Jarnagin, stated that “It's technically against the law to give your user name and password out to people not in your household." The most straight forward and aimed targets of this law are those cyber criminal which have created a black market of hacking and selling the log in information of accounts which have large music purchased. Stephanie explained that "What happens is people will hack into the system and steal thousands of user names and passwords and sell them for 50 cents a pop.”
The penalty for this crime has been kept the same as previous laws, i.e. less than $500 if it’s a misdemeanor, and more than $500 if it is proved felony. This kind of approach to eradicate piracy is very unique, stated Glazier on Wednesday. He mentioned that "While some states may already include subscription services in the scope of their theft of services laws, this is the first time a state has reviewed its cable theft law on the books in a forward-thinking manner to assure it is updated to address how entertainment is delivered today.”
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