Ever since the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on April 26, 2017, that the temporary reproduction of copyright-protected content is NOT exempt from the “right of production,” a chain of events has been set off, leading to the demise of several add-ons for Kodi, the media center software that is at the center of all the attention.
In the UK, the Digital Economy Act 2017 received Royal Assent the following day, April 27, 2016. The ruling is similar to that of the EU, and much of it is carried over from the Digital Economy Act 2010, but it adds provisions for the sentencing of criminal copyright infringement, among other amendments.
Caught in the middle of it all is the Kodi media center software, which is actually just a platform for media streaming. However, since add-ons can be created for Kodi, and some of these add-ons flout most international copyright laws, they’ve been bearing the brunt of it over recent weeks.
The phenomenon is now spreading across the globe, with the latest target being 3 add-ons that originate from Israel. Giving in to an injunction filed by ZIRA, a local anti-piracy group, these add-on providers chose to shut shop rather than incur significant fines. A report on Israeli site YNET shows that they have already paid a few thousand shekels towards a compromise agreement, but face fines of up to NIS100,000, or $28,000 if they continue their operations.
However, one of these providers appears to have continued the service since the incident, and the lawsuit may still be brought to bear on them. In addition, ZIRA is taking the next level approach by attempting to track some of the users themselves.
Around the world, the tracking problem has often been solved by VPN, or Virtual Private Network services. However, not all VPNs provide the highest level of anonymity.
If you’re a Kodi user in any country in the world, what you need is a Top Tier VPN provider like IPVanish (Learn More). A Top Tier provider is one that owns all of its servers and other assets, and all upstream and downstream processes are carried out in-house rather than being outsourced to third parties.
That’s the most secure option for users, and the way things are shaping up on the legal side, even if you stream legitimate licensed content using Kodi, it is advisable that you sign up for such a service to protect yourself and prevent prying eyes peeking into your web traffic or finding out who you are.
It’s only going to get worse from here. Kodi is trying to distance itself from the problem of pirated content, but has confirmed that it will not step in. It continues to maintain that it merely provides the software platform for digital streaming, nothing more.
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