Piracy fighters battle Kodi 'epidemic'

[fzbob]

Should we be worried/concerned?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37508235

 

[Nigelar]

In my opinion, no. The current legal battle involves dealers who sell boxes "fully loaded" i.e. ready configured with addons that infringe copyright material.
Droidboxes are not sold that way.

Kodi is completely legal.

Kodi and both legitimate and third party addons capable of streaming copyright material can be loaded on android set top boxes, pc's, laptops, smart phones, tablets and raspberry pi's. The chances of 1 or another of those devices being made illegal is zero. The kodi foundation (the people who make kodi) have publicly stated they do not like or support 3rd party addons that stream copyrighted material but can do nothing to stop it other than flash up (in kodi 17) appropriate on screen warning notices (e.g. kodi itself cannot distinguish if the material being streamed is legitimate or not).

The current legal action will hit sellers of fully loaded boxes and rightly so. They charge a premium for loading software which is freely available and which anyone who can read a google instruction set, can load themselves.

So to summarise. Nothing to see. Move along.

 

[fzbob]

I get what you say about Droidbox's not being fully loaded.
But I'm sure the powers to be are aware that illegal apps can be loaded onto Kodi

 

[Nigelar]

Well there's no argument about that. That's what the article you quote is about. And they can do nothing about it. Given the appropriate coding skills, you and me can write software that trawls the web for streams.

 

[ChrisM]

"We are aware that set-top boxes, while perfectly legal in their own right, are frequently adapted by criminals to illegally receive TV channels protected by intellectual property rights," a spokesman told the BBC.

"The government is working with its partners in industry and with police forces across the country to target criminals looking to profit from this activity.

emphasis added by me.

If retailers in the UK are advertising and sending out fully loaded (lots of dodgy add-ons installed etc) devices, they'll need to be pretty small time to slip under the radar I suspect. Here at DroidBOX we have been aware of what can and can't be done, and try to ensure that appropriate warnings are given when needed.

As ever, don't watch anything that requires permission from the copyright holder if you don't have said permission.
If you pay a subscription fee to an organization each month or year, make sure they have the legal right to sell/resell viewing access.