Category: Iowa Life

The newest Iowa Senator George St. George announced that he is holding a press conference to discuss his new bill coming out in January. The bill will make sharing your Netflix account password a criminal offense with the harshest consequence of serving jail time.

The bill has made recent headlines due to criticism that jail time for sharing a password is too harsh. Senator George often relates paying for the subscription service back to other types of subscriptions and bills people pay for such as mail service or water. Iowa will be the second state to pass a bill regarding the sharing of Netflix passwords following in Tennessee’s footsteps.

Michael Conner from the Federal Communications Commission will also be joining the Senator at the press conference. Conner has been supportive of the bill since its beginning and will be speaking about how this bill directly connects to the FCC’s mission.

The press conference will be taking place at the Iowa State Capitol building in Des Moines, Iowa. The conference starts at noon and there will be time for comments and questions directly after the conference.

There’s a lot of talk about the new Republican Senator George St. George and the new law getting ready to pass in Iowa. The new law will now view sharing your Netflix subscription password with another person to be a criminal offense. While some see this as harsh, it’s an intelligent step for Iowa.

Iowans, and all people for that matter, should be held responsible for paying their rightful debts and fees. While some might view a Netflix password as innocent, it’s not. You wouldn’t share your water with a fellow friend or not pay for your mail, would you? In my eyes a subscription service to one of the most popular apps of our generation is no different.

The RIAA is actively fighting for the rights of artists and groups who deserve the pay they aren’t receiving. The problem of not paying for media has been around since online sharing began but the battle is still being fought. Artists and creators are still lacking the funds the so truly deserve and states can do something about this.

The other good news is that this will hopefully not come as a big change for Iowans. The people of Iowa tend to have great character and moral guidelines which makes this law an easy thing to put into place.

Other states should look to this forward-thinking model and take notes over what a little bit of good can do for a state, community, and individual. As for Iowa, accept this bill with open arms and stay “Iowa Nice.”