Kodi Boxes - what does kodi need to do to distance from illegal activities

Forums › Online streaming services › Kodi Boxes - what does kodi need to do to distance from illegal activities - or has horse bolted?

1 | 2 | 3

935 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#2116570 30-Oct-2018 08:15

Kodi make it very clear that Addons that access pirated content are NOT supported - so I think they are in front of the issue of piracy.

However as an Open Source project users can still do dodgy stuff - but I don't see this as Kodis fault much the same way me driving my car drunk is not Holdens fault.

And as for Sky claiming each box is equivalent to a lost Sky Subscription....ppfffttt.

And as others have said while I have some addons installed, it took me years before I bothered and I only use them intermittently - and Kodi for me is ALL about organising and showcasing my locally stored content.

gehenna

8506 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2116571 30-Oct-2018 08:17

driller2000:

so I think they are in front of the issue of piracy

Well, they're in front of the issue of not publicly condoning piracy :)

robfish

683 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2116573 30-Oct-2018 08:24

I use Kodi for:-

Locally stored content
Emby (there is also an add-on for Plex)
MythTV Frontend
TVNZ and Three On demand

Rob

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#2116669 30-Oct-2018 10:18

I love Kodi and use it for ota TV viewing and recording. I used to have TV tuner in each media pc. Now I have HDHomerun and use Nextpvr and Nextpvr plugin on Kodi. I can record and play TV all from Kodi and all my photos etc all through Kodi. Tried Plex but still a lot missing for TV and often comes up no servers available yet if you exit the player and use Openpht it is there. So Kodi is for me solid and reliable. And can check the weather forecast as well all through Kodi

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18660 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2116722 30-Oct-2018 12:14

I think the relevant point, which I was also trying to make, is that Kodi is a great Swiss army knife do (m)any things utility that can be used in all kinds of ways that have nothing whatsoever to do with stealing content from paranoid satellite TV providers. Sure, it can also be used for that but so can lots of other things. Maybe someone should explain to Sky that you don't need Kodi to steal stuff. Any pc also works just fine for that. Chrome with the HLS extension works fine for M3U8 streams. So does VLC. All Kodi does is make it a little easier to change channels. But it has nothing to do with finding IPTV streams. Others take care of that. Sky is chasing phantoms.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

Sounddude

I fix stuff!
1928 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

2degrees

Lifetime subscriber

#2116734 30-Oct-2018 12:29

This isn't Kodis issue at all.

The main issue was that this guys sold Kodi boxes, with plugins which allowed content which sky objected to AND the guy sold them as a sky alternative and advertised them as such.

Plex/Kodi out of the box doesn't have these plugins etc, so in my view they are not breaking any laws. Its down to the user and what they do with them. Kinda like Tapes and Recordable CD/DVD's back in the day.

irongarment

280 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#2116785 30-Oct-2018 12:46

The main issue is that people can use a computer for whatever they want. Eventually, general purpose computers will be outlawed, and the only way you can use a computer is with a locked-down bios booting a cryptographically signed OS connected by an encrypted geolocated connection to authorised servers providing "approved" content.

No thanks.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

gzt

17134 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2116911 30-Oct-2018 15:21

Kodi Boxes - what does kodi need to do to distance from illegal activities - or has horse bolted?

Nothing. There is probably more illegal activities on Windows. It's an operating system.

robfish

683 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2116914 30-Oct-2018 15:24

gzt:It's an operating system.

No it isn't. It is software which runs on either Windows, Linux, Mac or Android. (Not sure about iOS)

Rob

tripp

3848 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2116921 30-Oct-2018 15:39

robfish:

I use Kodi for:-

Locally stored content
Emby (there is also an add-on for Plex)
MythTV Frontend
TVNZ and Three On demand

I would be interested to know if tvnz or mediaworks has anything in their T&C's about accessing the stream via non approved app's etc.

Normally when media companies offer a way to stream their programs they do it to collect information about user viewing which drives what they spend money on for each program (i.e. rights buying etc). This can be done via web stats or app stats, using a 3rd party plugin could mean not recording of that info.

mdf

3513 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#2116991 30-Oct-2018 17:24

So my take on the case is that Sky has actually been very clever.

Sky was essentially successful against My Box for false advertising; My Box made frequent statements to the effect of "You can legally watch X on My Box without paying". As with many of the peer to peer copying cases, My Box the system wasn't necessarily copying anything itself (i.e. breaching copyright), rather making it easier for users to do so. But it did make a point of claiming this was "legal". While selling the boxes might be perfectly legal, using them to access copyrighted material often isn't. The judgment doesn't say anything about the legitimacy or the uses to which Kodi is made at all, it is very much about My Box's conduct in advertising its product.

Sky also seems to have learnt from the music industry cases by realising it isn't a Good Look to sue your own customers. So far as I can tell, Sky hasn't taken any copyright proceedings against any My Box users.

JWR

821 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2117057 30-Oct-2018 19:26

tripp:

robfish:

I use Kodi for:-

Locally stored content
Emby (there is also an add-on for Plex)
MythTV Frontend
TVNZ and Three On demand

I would be interested to know if tvnz or mediaworks has anything in their T&C's about accessing the stream via non approved app's etc.

Normally when media companies offer a way to stream their programs they do it to collect information about user viewing which drives what they spend money on for each program (i.e. rights buying etc). This can be done via web stats or app stats, using a 3rd party plugin could mean not recording of that info.

If they unlock the data to you, via login, I can't see any issue with you viewing it how you like.

Kiwifruta

1423 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#2117100 30-Oct-2018 20:35

Just hope Kodi doesn't get misconstrued as some illegal streaming software and have some factions try to ban it. It's as little to blame as web browsers, PC monitors and TVs.

I've found it great to watch services I've paid for and legal free streams such as Freeview.

logo

646 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#2117128 30-Oct-2018 21:45

davidcole:

Interesting to read in the NZ Herald article (bottom of here: https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=151&topicid=210210&page_no=7 )when talking about damages for the Mybox issue, that sky seem to be of the opinion that every box was directly purchased was directly related to the lack of a sky subscription.

Full of yourself much sky? That wasn't the only claim to fame of that box was it?

May as well use that as a starting point for damages and work down from there.

Let's face it - every single one of those purchasers of Mybox bought it to illegally stream tv and movies. However many of them won't have sky so it's not a lost sub for sky (or netflix or lightbox)

Yes - there are legitimate uses for Kodi but those that do use it legally will not be paying the inflated prices for a Mybox. They will be buying a cheap android box off aliexpress, or run kodi on their laptop or Raspberry Pi or whatever having set it up themselves from scratch.

The Mybox guy is a douche. He was only in it for the money really. And then to claim he'd sold it to a chinese company for $12m! Now he's claiming a lot of his sales was to Aussie so limiting the damages to Sky.

I have no love for Sky (never been a subscriber, never will be) but good on them for throwing the book at this guy.

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18660 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2117133 30-Oct-2018 22:02

No problem with any of the above. I think Sky sucks and I hope they die so something better can take their place, but I agree that the Mbox guy is a douche and those who bought his box probably did so to get Sky or other commercial services 'free' and they probably pretty much deserve whatever losses they suffer. I also doubt many of them would have paid for legitimate Sky subscriptions. I just hope jerks like that don't end up killing Kodi for the rest of us.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

1 | 2 | 3