Passing on your password? Online streaming services are past it

Many of us were taught to share as kids. Now streaming services ranging from Netflix to Amazon to Disney+ want us to stop.

That’s the new edict from the giants of streaming media, who are hoping to discourage the common practice of sharing account passwords without alienating subscribers who’ve grown accustomed to the hack.

Password sharing is estimated to cost streaming services several billion dollars a year in lost revenue.

That’s a small problem now for an industry that earns about USD 120 billion annually, but something it needs to address as spending on distinctive new programing skyrockets.