If you’re the lucky recipient of someone else’s Max (formerly HBO Max) password, be prepared to pay for the privilege of streaming its blockbuster TV shows and films later this year. According to a report published by Bloomberg this week, Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) is set to join its peers by implementing a password-sharing crackdown that will boot freeloaders from its flagship Max service by the end of 2024. The move is intended to help WBD generate more revenue from streamers who watch hit HBO series and other content from the Warner Bros. film and TV library. It comes amid a broader industry push to prevent password sharing, with the hope that freeloaders will eventually pay for their own accounts. Other services like Netflix and Disney+ have implemented similar measures over the past few years, with test runs overseas before each streaming service brought its password-sharing crackdown stateside. Image: Unsplash / KnowTechie What’s the problem with password sharing? Historically, most streaming services have turned a blind eye to freeloaders using their service. Some media executives even embraced it as a way for an upstart service to get exposed to new customers, with the hope that freeloaders would eventually convert into paying subscribers. Perhaps no one embraced this more than Netflix: The company’s founder and former CEO Reed Hastings once called password sharing a “positive thing” and encouraged his fellow media executives to “learn to live with” the practice. Netflix itself even tweeted that “love is sharing a password,” and the…Max to implement password-sharing crackdown later this year