Kodi CRACKDOWN: UK Gov't ramping up efforts to stop online piracy once and for all

[Len]

KODI users are being warned that the UK Government is stepping up efforts to put a stop to online piracy once and for all.

Kodi add-on fans have been alerted that the UK Government is looking at dealing online pirates in Britain a big blow.

Research has suggested Kodi - which offers access to thousands of channels - is being used in more than five million UK homes.

Kodi software is perfectly legal, but unaffiliated developers can produce third-party add-ons that provide free access to pirated and illegal content.

These apps allow users to stream premium content, like paid-for sports, movie channels and TV shows for free.

The illegal add-ons are being targeted by ISPs, government agencies, broadcasters and rights holders.

And now the UK Government is working towards a future where everyone in Britain sees online piracy as something that’s not worth doing.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has published new documents outlining how they intend to step up their anti-piracy efforts.

In their reports the IPO explained how they are looking to reduce intellectual property crime and infringement, TorrentFreak reported.

The government body explained that this can be achieved by investing in enforcement and improving access to enforcement options for rights holders.

And in their report the IPO outlined their long-term goal of: “We will work towards a time where infringement is seen as socially unacceptable by all.”

The IPO also said they will consider if there are any ways they can reduce the costs of enforcement costs for rights holders.

These measures would include reducing the time taken to bring a matter to court and reducing costs once there.

The IPO said: “Reducing IP crime requires a multi-faceted approach. The UK is already a world leader in the enforcement of IP.

“We want to build upon what we are doing to create a paradigm shift around infringement.

“Before we can make this happen we need to improve our knowledge around consumer understanding of IP crime and infringement and what works to change behaviour in this space.

“We need to understand the strengths and challenges of our enforcement approach, continue to invest in education and intelligence, and maintain and increase our capacity to lead.”

The IPO also warned that they are considering more administrative approaches such as “administrative blocking injunctions”.

They hope to have looked into this approach further by March 2019.

The IPO added: “To begin the work towards making the infringement of IP socially unacceptable, we need a better view of consumer attitudes to IP crime and what messaging changes behaviour.

“We know that behavioural change is long-term and never easy, but we want to secure general cultural change where respecting IP is seen as the right thing to do. This work will link up with the messaging on IP’s economic and career impact.”

In other Kodi news, earlier this week it was revealed that one popular add-on was forced to close its doors on the TV player.

Crunchyroll is one of the biggest online sources of Japanese anime and Asian content but it will no longer be accessible via Kodi.

The service, which is available across numerous platforms such as iOS, Android and Apple TV, charges a monthly fee to watch online and it was, until recently, also part of the Kodi player.

However, despite users needing an account to access content via Kodi, the unofficial addon has now been forced to close.

According to the firm behind the official Crunchyroll service, the addon was infringing its rights and this is why it had made demands for it to be removed.

An email sent by Remove Your Media and seen by Torrentfreak, said: “The works in question is copyrighted source code developed by CrunchyRoll Inc. Code has been reversed engineered, in bad faith, to disrupt owner’s rights.

“I have a good faith belief that the items or materials listed below are not authorised by the above owners, their agents or the law and therefore infringe the owner’s rights.

“Please act expeditiously to remove or disable access to the infringing material.”