Kodi add-on: Users given advice on how to stop being tracked

[Len]

KODI adds-ons continue to cause controversy and now a new post online reveals how users can avoid being tracked.

Kodi is fast becoming one of the world's most popular online TV Players.

The favoured software is now thought to have over 30 million users across the world and that number continues to grow at an alarming rate.

Kodi is not illegal but it can be used to view premium content without a subscription via add-ons.

It's these add-ons that are causing huge concern for content makers, ISPs and the authorities.

Streaming or downloading content without permission is illegal and some UK ISPs have recently begun warning broadband users who download copyrighted material.

In an effort to lower piracy rates across the UK, leading Internet service providers will send out emails from the Get It Right campaign to those who have download copyrighted material online.

The email cautions subscribers they have 20 days to stop downloading copyrighted material using peer-to-peer websites.

However, one popular service is now giving out advice to its users on how to avoid being traced.

TVADDONS recently posted an article on its website telling users how they can avoid their ISP tracking what they are doing online.

The post also reveals details on how to get around Geoblocking and to avoid being caught when downloading torrents.

In a message on the site TVADDONS states: "Internet services providers used to be the ones that fought for internet freedoms, they wanted the internet to be something that could be enjoyed universally.

"Over the years, almost every internet service provider in the world has either been acquired by (or expanded into) larger media conglomerates who had monopolized the distribution of entertainment and media prior to the arrival of high speed internet.

"We’re beginning to see governments and internet services providers blocking more and more content on a daily basis.

"It looks like the free internet is being lost to the status-quo."

The advice centres around the use of VPNs (virtual private network) which let you connect to the web via a server run by a unique provider.

VPNs are legal but users should be aware that streaming content or downloading files without permission is not.

Speaking last year Kieron Sharp, the chief executive of the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), said those who use illegal Kodi add-ons “are committing criminal offences”.

Speaking to The Independent he said: “What we’ve been looking at in conjunction with many of our clients and members are the different levels of crime being committed.

“There’s the manufacture and importation of devices, and then the distribution and selling of those. We’re also looking at the people who are providing the apps and add-ons, the developers.

“And then we’ll also be looking at, at some point, the end user. The reason for end users to come into this is that they are committing criminal offences.”