Kodi anti-piracy campaign continues as law firm can now track users streamin illegaly

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The domains of add-ons like Navi-X and TVAddons are now in the hands of a Canadian law firm

The legal situation surrounding the free streaming software Kodi has continued to intensify over the last few months as copyright owners attempt to crack down on illegal streams.

Two of the biggest add-ons that used the Kodi platform to distribute illegal streams of films, TV shows and live sports have shut down amid mounting legal pressure.

Now it turns out that the domains of TVAddons and Navi-X have both been transferred to a Canadian law firm. As reported by TorrentFreak, any users that haven't wiped their devices or updated them to work with other repositories are handing over their data to this firm.

Because the lawyers now control these repositories, they can do anything with them, and that's making some people nervous.

“These are unsandboxed Python addons. The person [in control of] the repo could do whatever they wanted," Kodi's project manager Nathan Betzen told TorrentFreak .

“If some malware author wanted, he could easily install a watcher that reports back the user’s IP address and everything they were doing in Kodi. If the law firm is actually an anti-piracy group, that seems like the likeliest thing I can think of."

Other potential reasons for the law firm owning these repositories is that they simply want to put them out of business or sell them on to another company. The lawyer involved in the transference of the domains couldn't be reached for comment.

Companies are increasingly turning to legal means to try and halt the spread of pirated content. Recently the Premier League obtained a High Court order allowing them to force ISPs to block servers showing matches illegally.

“This blocking Order is a game-changer in our efforts to tackle the supply and use of illicit streams of our content," said Kevin Plumb, the Premier League's director of legal services.

“It will allow us to quickly and effectively block and disrupt the illegal broadcast of Premier League football via any means, including so called ‘pre-loaded Kodi boxes’.

“The protection of our copyright, and the investment made by our broadcast partners, is hugely important to the Premier League and the future health of English football."

Kodi is a free, content-neutral platform that has publicly shunned the pirate streams that use it . However, because of its ease of use it has become a major source of copyright infringement.

Shady dealers are installing the software onto stock Android devices and pre-loading it with illegal streams before selling them on to punters - sometimes for as much as £100 each.

How many people actually use Kodi?

A report by the UK's Intellectual Property Office (IPO) estimates that 15% of UK internet users - approximately 7 million people - still stream or download material that infringes copyright.

In particular, streaming boxes that can be easily adapted to to illegally stream premium TV content such as sports are now used by 13% of online infringers. This doesn't just include Kodi, but other platforms like Mobdro as well.

Some services like Netflix and Amazon are providing viewers with reliable alternatives to piracy, but they also produce quality content that can be replicated illegally.

"There has never been more choice or flexibility for consumers of TV and music, however illicit streaming devices and stream-ripping are threatening this progress," said Ros Lynch, Copyright and IP Enforcement Director at the IPO.