In the US, many of the add-on uses are currently sketchy but, based on what I've read, technically legal (for now). It's another story in England. I'm certainly not an attorney so folks should do their own research and decide for themselves.
And just so other folks know (because it keeps coming up), Kodi itself is a completely legit and 100% legal program. Great media server and a lot of solid fully legal supported add-ons.
"The problem with strikeouts isn't that they hurt your team, it's that they hurt your feelings..." --Rob Neyer
"The single most important thing for a hitter is to get a good pitch to hit. A good hitter can hit a pitch that’s over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a ball in a tough spot.”
--Ted Williams
The app itself is legal. Using it to stream any tv shows/movies, however, is not. While you, the viewer won't get in trouble for it, it's not legal. But 99% of the world isn't using it for anything other than watching Game of Thrones, NFL Football on Sunday so they don't have to get Sunday Ticket or the latest movie out in the theater.
Actually, I've yet to find a single piece of US legislation that defines streaming (as a viewer) as being illegal. The linchpin appears to be that, unlike downloading, the temporary file created by the viewer does not qualify as copyright infringement. You can argue "unethical" regarding use in the US, but I haven't found any basis whatsoever for a claim of "illegal". Recently, Europe appears to be taking a more hard line stance, though.
Just so you know, I did a lot of research on this before choosing instead to use legit pay streaming services like Hulu, Netflix, HBO Go, MLB.tv, NFL Sunday Ticket, Vudu, etc. I have never bought, sold, or otherwise instructed anyone else to install unsupported Kodi add-ons. But do I know how? I surely do.
And for others, just to be clear, it's not Kodi that hosts or supports the apps used for streaming material. It's just an open-source software application that acts something like an operating system; allowing for the installation of other programs. It's those programs that we're discussing- not Kodi itself. There is absolutely nothing wrong at all with downloading and installing Kodi (people get SO confused by this).
"The problem with strikeouts isn't that they hurt your team, it's that they hurt your feelings..." --Rob Neyer
"The single most important thing for a hitter is to get a good pitch to hit. A good hitter can hit a pitch that’s over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a ball in a tough spot.”
--Ted Williams
From what I understand - and I have a friend that uses Kodi - the open source media player itself is fully legal software; but what the user is using it for may not be depending on what form they use it in.
Again, no expert on this, but found this.... https://fossbytes.com/what-is-kodi-illegal-features/
I know a lot of people that are buying the Amazon Fire Sticks that are "jail-broken" .. but all that is is installing Kodi.Is Kodi (and Kodi Boxes) legal?
Kodi is a fully-legal software; It’s as legal as your web browser. If you’re calling Kodi illegal as it’s being used to stream pirated content, you should also call browsers illegal as they are used to download pirated content and watch them on such websites.
However, Kodi is attracting bad publicity due to the third party add-ons that are being used to connect to access subscription streaming services for free. A large number of Kodi Boxes, which are totally unaffiliated with official Kodi Team, are being sold with add-ons that link to pirated streams. But, if a Kodi Box doesn’t ship with add-ons that promote pirated streaming, then it’s legal to use such box.
In the past, on many occasions, Kodi has made it clear. “Kodi does not provide any media itself. Users must provide their own content or manually point Kodi to third-party online services. The Kodi project does not provide any support for bootleg video content,” Kodi’s official website states.
Personally, I think anyone who uses these "methods" is taking a chance (risk), IF CAUGHT, from a legal perspective. But Hey! We're a society that loves living on the edge (LOL).
I'll stick with the services I know are legit and can't get me in trouble, because I'm always the guy who gets caught (LOL)
"In my day you had musicians who experimented with drugs. Now it's druggies experimenting with music" - Alfred G Clark (circa 1972)
It's like any other file sharing service, there is basically zero risk for an end user. It's like Grokster, Napster, etc. The only difference is you are streaming a temporary file (which gets removed) not downloading and saving something and you aren't transferring it to anyone else.
When the supreme court has weighed in recently it's to attack the product's maker for not requiring individuals who post the files to make sure they aren't breaking any copyright laws. So they'd go after people like Kim Dotcom not Joe Schmo down the street.
This article from Business Insider suggests that streaming it, but never downloading it, is not illegal. That does beg the question for me, though - If I were to stream a movie on my computer, it's absolutely "downloaded" within my temporary internet files, and thus should be "illegal". But streaming a movie from that exact same website through Kodi on an Amazon Firestick doesn't actually download it to the device at all in order to stream it, is legal. It's a weird line.
End of the day, it's not like they are going to come knocking on your door. But, morally, it's stealing no matter how you want to justify it. You're taking something that wasn't paid for that is supposed to be paid for. You're accepting stolen property (and you know it's stolen property, too), even if the law doesn't look at it like that.
Last edited by dougdirt; 09-28-2017 at 07:08 PM.
Yep, there are some moral issues with it. But there is zero risk of you getting punished for viewing anything on it. Most of the vids on it are actually legal copies, and it's not against the law to share it with someone; it's been argued in court that it's akin to someone purchasing a digital copy of a dvd and loaning it to a friend. And it's on the studio to prove that is false.
Again, some major gray moral issue there.
Where the movie studios have found legal ground is people walking into a theater, recording a video and then uploading it for a profit. That's a major no-no, don't do it. Most camed copied of movies are crap anyway.
I would imagine the number of people who currently use Kodi for viewing is tens of millions. And every time one site provider gets shut down another pops up to take it's place. Some studios have actually decided to look at it a different way, I know Walking Dead producers actually welcomed pirated viewing because it was linked to increased viewership and later purchases of the show on dvd.
Studios should be happy it hasn't reached proportions of porn, no one in their right mind would ever purchase it with it all online for free.
Before you get a lampshade, I'd suggest a bulb.
Love the white/blue color scheme. Goes very well together.
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please. |