The era of freeloading is officially over

Costco and Disney this month took a page from the Netflix playbook and announced they are cracking down on account sharers.

One of the problems with tech is that it can be really good at narcing. And I don’t mean in the scary Big Brother Thought Police kinda way, more in the lawful evil sense of forcing us to pay for things we used to get for free. Once upon a time, you could have yourself a nice little Saturday of stocking up at Costco (using your sister’s membership card, naturally), before hitting up a museum (free admission with your 15-year-old expired student ID) or settling into a reality TV binge sesh (streaming on your college roommate’s ex-boyfriend’s Netflix login). You wouldn’t call it stealing, per se. Mooching, perhaps. Exploiting a loophole in a system of commercialized culture you didn’t create but are forced to participate in — and what could be more capitalist than that? But thanks to the fine-tuning of the tech that Corporate America uses to police subscriptions, those freeloading days are over. Costco and Disney this month took a page from the Netflix playbook and announced they are cracking down on account sharers. So the next time you want to restock your Kirkland chocolate covered almond stash, you’ll need to have an honest-to-God membership of your own that you scan at the door. Want to put on “Frozen” for the kids so you can have two hours to do literally anything else? You’re going to need a Disney+ login associated with your household.