Thursday, June 1, 2017

Three more Kodi add-ons shut down as anti-piracy group turns up the heat on illegal streaming

More than any other streaming service, Kodi has come under fire for allowing users to access illegal content like movies , TV shows and Premier League football games.
Even though the software itself is perfectly legal, third-party sources use it as a distribution platform for foreign or illegal live streams .
Continued pressure from anti-piracy groups has already led to one stream - known as an "add-on" - closing down. Now it appears that more are following suit.
Several Kodi add-ons based in Israel have reportedly closed operations following pressure from a local group called ZIRA.
ZIRA filed for an injunction to stop the operation of these add-ons, and they have dutifully switched themselves off rather than incur heavy fines. One of the add-ons, Abeksis, was a popular hub for pirate content.
Even though these Kodi add-ons were based in Israel, they were accessible here in the UK because of the global nature of the software. Also, by using virtual private networks, Kodi users are able to access certain geographically-locked services.
According to TorrentFreak , even though these add-ons weren't monetising their service, and offered legal streams alongside illegal ones, the threat of a lawsuit was too much.
"The operators of the sites reportedly paid a settlement of a few thousand shekels. In addition, they will have to pay 100,000 more ($28,000) if the repositories or add-ons reappear in the future," the site explained.
The move echoes an earlier shutdown from the popular Navi-X add-on , which had been operating for 10 years up until last month.
"After ten years of successful operation, Navi-X has sadly being discontinued. Navi-X was first released in April 2007, and is the oldest Kodi add-on of its kind," the development team explained.
"The main reason why the decision was made to discontinue the Navi-X service is the current legal climate surrounding Kodi."
In recent months, Kodi has become a by-word for internet streaming piracy - even though the software itself doesn't host any media.

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