The Kodi fight has begun

[TidaLWaveZ]

We all knew it was inevitable and it's finally here.

 

A dealer of Android TV Boxes is pleading not guilty to three charges brought against him.  Brian Thompson of the UK is set to appear in court October 27th.

 

This is the first ever prosecution that relates to the sale of Android TV / Kodi devices

 

Brian told press: “I’m just standing up for myself - I’m going to fight it.”

 

I'm quite curious to see how this turns out, as I have been a big fan of Kodi for awhile.  The ruling on this case should set a precedent for the future of streaming of this caliber.

 

Brian Thompson outside of court

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37474595

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/kodi-box-court-case-im-11946403

 

[Vigilante505]

Money money money. Its all about money. 

[minibois]

These are the Kodi machines that can stream TV and shows and stuff right?

[TidaLWaveZ]

Just now, Vigilante505 said:

Money money money. Its all about money. 

I can't see the Film Industry along with Netflix, Hulu, etc just letting Kodi's popularity grow.  I remember the first time I heard about Kodi thinking how is this not shut down already?

[Nineshadow]

What is kodi? Former XBMC?

[TidaLWaveZ]

34 minutes ago, Minibois said:

These are the Kodi machines that can stream TV and shows and stuff right?

 

It's a little unclear.  The devices are capable for sure, but it doesn't say whether the boxes Thompson sold were preloaded with the content and he says they weren't.

 

Kodi itself does not come with illegal streaming, it can be used to just play media locally or from a network location.  I use it to stream my files from my computer and NAS to my nvidia shield.  It can however use repositories to stream copyrighted material.

[TidaLWaveZ]

3 minutes ago, Nineshadow said:

What is kodi? Former XBMC?

Kodi was/is XBMC.

[kuddlesworth9419]

24 minutes ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

 

It's a little unclear.  The devices are capable for sure, but it doesn't say whether the boxes Thompson sold were preloaded with the content and he says they weren't.

 

Kodi itself does not come with illegal streaming, it can be used to just watch media from a network location.  I use it to stream my files from my computer and NAS to my nvidia shield.  It can however use repositories to stream copyrighted material.

So just like any PC can. Maybe they shoudl ban PC's then.

[TidaLWaveZ]

Just now, kuddlesworth9419 said:

So just like any PC can. Maybe they shoudl ban PC's then.

 

That's an acceptable comparison given that all you need to do the same thing that Kodi does is to have a computer with a web browser capable of streaming video.  Kodi just extends an easy way to do this across different devices.

[Misanthrope]

29 minutes ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

 

It's a little unclear.  The devices are capable for sure, but it doesn't say whether the boxes Thompson sold were preloaded with the content and he says they weren't.

 

Kodi itself does not come with illegal streaming, it can be used to just watch media from a network location.  I use it to stream my files from my computer and NAS to my nvidia shield.  It can however use repositories to stream copyrighted material.

So it's no more illegal than a torrent client and it should be a simple matter of going after the repositories and shutting those down.

 

I seriously hate the Copyright lobby: Why do they keep playing fucking dumb and try to fucking subvert valid rulings hoping they can either intimidate companies or kill the growth of this devices by locking them in court battles early by hoping for a tech clueless judge?

 

I hope they throw this the fuck out of court, but I doubt it.

[TidaLWaveZ]

5 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

So it's no more illegal than a torrent client and it should be a simple matter of going after the repositories and shutting those down.

 

I seriously hate the Copyright lobby: Why do they keep playing fucking dumb and try to fucking subvert valid rulings hoping they can either intimidate companies or kill the growth of this devices by locking them in court battles early by hoping for a tech clueless judge?

 

I hope they throw this the fuck out of court, but I doubt it.

 

Correct, it's just like a means to access something illegally.  What's troublesome is remembering the outcome of the Napster case.  Like torrent clients, Napster was just a means in which people could do something illegal, yet the creator of Napster lost his court case if I remember correctly.  This means the makers of Kodi could probably take a big hit themselves. 

[Misanthrope]

8 minutes ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

 

Correct, it's just like a means to access something illegally.  What's troublesome is remembering the outcome of the Napster case.  Like torrent clients, Napster was just a means in which people could do something illegal, yet the creator of Napster lost his court case if I remember correctly.  This means the makers of Kodi could probably take a big hit themselves. 

In the case of Napster (Or Megaupload) since they did manage the servers there was more of a tenue connection but unless Kodi run the repositories themselves it shouldn't matter: You can't go after people creating bit torrent clients for this very reason.

[TidaLWaveZ]

4 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

In the case of Napster (Or Megaupload) since they did manage the servers there was more of a tenue connection but unless Kodi run the repositories themselves it shouldn't matter: You can't go after people creating bit torrent clients for this very reason.

 

Yeah, I'm a little fuzzy on how those P2P networks worked.  So in the case of Napster copyrighted material would be stored on their server at some point in the process?

[Misanthrope]

Just now, TidaLWaveZ said:

 

Yeah, I'm a little fuzzy on how those P2P networks worked.  So in the case of Napster copyrighted material would be stored on their server at some point in the process?

Not hosted by Napster but indexed by Napster. It's still profoundly stupid since it's akin to blaming Google for search results even though they just index whatever people upload and submit (Though as you might have seen on Google searches with DMCA takedown notice disclaimer, it does happen and often).

 

After Napster, bit torrent came which was also a Peer 2 Peer network (users both host and redistribute the data themselves) but also did away with a centralized tracker so the responsability of tracking the users became someone else's problem (Most Notably Pirate bay though other popular trackers come and go) This however means that legit companies like Linux distros can run their own trackers (or legal files on any tracker really) without being subject to a centralized take down as it happened with Napster.

 

So basically if your service merely provides functionality but doesn't provides servers to host or track the information you cannot be hold accountable for whatever illegal activity occurs on the network since well, it's not your fucking network to begin with you don't even have the authority to intervene.

[MEC-777]

AFAIK, the "illegal" repositories are a completely separate thing from Kodi and the creators/devs of Kodi are not and should not be held responsible for that. It would be like taking a car salesman to court for selling vehicles capable of speeding. 

[TidaLWaveZ]

9 minutes ago, MEC-777 said:

AFAIK, the "illegal" repositories are a completely separate thing from Kodi and the creators/devs of Kodi are not and should not be held responsible for that. It would be like taking a car salesman to court for selling vehicles capable of speeding. 

 

You're right and it is. The add-ons and repos for illegal streaming have to be completely set up manually and are not included in the Kodi software.

 

Still unclear whether Thompson had preloaded the boxes he sold, but still just setting up the add on and pointing it to a location doesn't seem like it violates the law but I'm not knowledgeable on the UK's legal system.

[jaggysnake57]

2 hours ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

snip

 

2 hours ago, kuddlesworth9419 said:

snip

 

2 hours ago, Misanthrope said:

snip

this guy is selling android tv sticks like the amazon fire etc, only his come pre loaded with all the methods to watch tv channals that are sub only or not in your country. thats what the issue is. if he just sold the tv sticks with standard kodi then he has done nothing wrong. kodi is against this, strongly but what do they do? they would have to gimp kodi to stop this.  what he is doing is that same as knock off nigel selling copied DVDs at the car boot or swap meet for the Americans in here

[TidaLWaveZ]

4 minutes ago, jaggysnake57 said:

 

 

this guy is selling android tv sticks like the amazon fire etc, only his come pre loaded with all the methods to watch tv channals that are sub only or not in your country. thats what the issue is. if he just sold the tv sticks with standard kodi then he has done nothing wrong. kodi is against this, strongly but what do they do? they would have to gimp kodi to stop this.  what he is doing is that same as knock off nigel selling copied DVDs at the car boot or swap meet for the Americans in here

While I tend to agree, Thompson's not really selling or ever possessing copyrighted material, just a pathway to it. Whereas a guy selling bootleg dvd's actually possesses and distributes copyrighted material. 

[Curious Pineapple]

This is a country where it is the norm to drag people in to court for watching TV without paying a "license fee" to a private corporation. That makes more money than making said corporations content subscription only, cause no fucker would subscribe to it!!

[imPixelTV]

3 hours ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

We all knew it was inevitable and it's finally here.

 

A dealer of Android TV Boxes is pleading not guilty to three charges brought against him.  Brian Thompson of the UK is set to appear in court October 27th.

 

This is the first ever prosecution that relates to the sale of Android TV / Kodi devices

 

Brian told press: “I’m just standing up for myself - I’m going to fight it.”

 

I'm quite curious to see how this turns out, as I have been a big fan of Kodi for awhile.  The ruling on this case should set a precedent for the future of streaming of this caliber.

 

Brian Thompson outside of court

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37474595

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/kodi-box-court-case-im-11946403

 

Fuck! my nan, mum and aunt have like 10 between them, will they just be bricked or what? uk piracy laws are retarded, i'm pretty sure its like up to a 10 year prison sentence (more than a fucking PEDOPHILE) 

[JAKEBAB]

The quality is crap anyway why would u want this?

 

Edit: talking about Live TV.

[Curious Pineapple]

Just now, JAKEBAB said:

The quality is crap anyway why would u want this?

Low quality or don't watch at all, what would you choose?

[TidaLWaveZ]

1 minute ago, JAKEBAB said:

The quality is crap anyway why would u want this?

The quality of what?

[TidaLWaveZ]

3 minutes ago, Curious Pineapple said:

Low quality or don't watch at all, what would you choose?

 

4 minutes ago, JAKEBAB said:

The quality is crap anyway why would u want this?

 

Are you talking about video quality? If so it depends on the repository and for a large amount of titles 1080p is available.

[JAKEBAB]

2 minutes ago, Curious Pineapple said:

Low quality or don't watch at all, what would you choose?

I know but really isn't the fee like 120 pounds a year or something with no ads? Obviously if you are in really hard times it makes sense but other than that it's almost unwatchable.

Just now, TidaLWaveZ said:

The quality of what?

The streams for kodi.