Another Kodi Plugin Domain Is Now In The Hands Of A Law Firm

[Len]

We've seen this happen to the TVAddons domains, and now another third-party Kodi plugin provider has been taken down, with its domains handed over to lawyers. Navi-X is one of the oldest plugins for Kodi, having started out in 2007 on XBMC, which is the name Kodi used to go by. Navi-X shut in May, but now TorrentFreak has discovered that the domain is now in the same hands that posses the TVAddons domains.

Lawyer Daniel Drapeau has both navi-x.org and navixtreme.com under his control, both of which had been used for the plugin's site, although navi-x.org was only registered this year. It's not clear what purpose this serves, but of course it could be used to collect data about people who use these services, especially those who do so without the protection of a VPN.

Like Kodi itself, Navi-X wasn't about piracy in itself. It was originally setup to play video and audio streams from legitimate sources. However the plugin allows people to add playlists from other sources, and as such it was possible to use the plugin as a way to stream IPTV, which in turn can be used to watch live football from illegitimate sources.

It was this which may have played a part in the plugin shutting in the first place. While the team behind it may have tolerated the illegal use for a while, the consequences of that are now more severe. No one wants to cop a prison sentence because other people are abusing their work to steam things they shouldn't be.

Back in May TorrentFreak wrote about the closure, and reported that moderating the content was becoming a problem. Not only was there streaming of copyrighted feeds, but also there were attempts to sell ads, distasteful content and premium IPTV feeds for which people pay a monthly sum to watch, say, Premier League football.

Navi-X wasn't the subject of a lawsuit though, so how this Lawyer has ended up with the domains isn't clear. It may be that someone is getting court orders to seize these domains, but their ultimate intent isn't clear. It may be an attempt to scare users into stopping their use, for fear of being caught. This might work for some, but for many the risks are worthwhile and they feel comfortable enough about their security to avoid any potential trouble in the future.