Kodi

[John]

Is it illegal to stream content using Kodi?

I haven't got one myself, but someone I know has just bought one. I
have read that it's illegal to sell boxes preloaded with Kodi but that
the streaming is more of a grey area, although no doubt the law will be
altered to make it illegal once the pay TV boys lose a certain amount of
revenue, as I'm sure they will. I joined a local facebook group a few
weeks ago, and often see posts about it.

It reminds me of the banks charging fiasco. Claiming back charges was
the norm and accepted by the banks until it snowballed and then the
banks tested the law and eventually won their case.

[August West]

Post by John
Is it illegal to stream content using Kodi?

No, but it's illegal to use certain Kodi plugins to dowload certain
content. Kodi, itself, is in no way infringing, and the authors of Kodi
do their best to disyance themselves from the infringing.

[John]

Post by August West

Post by John
Is it illegal to stream content using Kodi?

No, but it's illegal to use certain Kodi plugins to dowload certain
content. Kodi, itself, is in no way infringing, and the authors of Kodi
do their best to disyance themselves from the infringing.
From what I've read, if you're using software that allows you to stream

copyrighted content, that in itself is not illegal as long as you don't
store a pernament copy on your device.

The distributors of the streamed content are acting illegally, and there
could be an argument that by viewing such content, you are aiding and
abetting an illegal act.

[Reentrant]

Post by John

Post by John
Is it illegal to stream content using Kodi?

...
The distributors of the streamed content are acting illegally, and there
could be an argument that by viewing such content, you are aiding and
abetting an illegal act.

Does it act as peer-to-peer? Even if you're "just" watching something,
you might be distributing it.

I do watch some Premier League games live via a Kodi add-on if they
aren't on Sky Sports or BT Sport (to which I subscribe). However I'm not
actually depriving anyone of income as there's no legal way to pay to
watch that game in the UK.

[Mark Goodge]

Post by Reentrant

Post by John

Post by John
Is it illegal to stream content using Kodi?

...
The distributors of the streamed content are acting illegally, and there
could be an argument that by viewing such content, you are aiding and
abetting an illegal act.

Does it act as peer-to-peer? Even if you're "just" watching something,
you might be distributing it.

No, Kodi isn't P2P, at least by default. It's not implausible that some
plug-ins may add that capability.

Post by Reentrant
I do watch some Premier League games live via a Kodi add-on if they
aren't on Sky Sports or BT Sport (to which I subscribe). However I'm not
actually depriving anyone of income as there's no legal way to pay to
watch that game in the UK.

If the game kicks off at 3pm on Saturday, then the argument is that you may
be depriving a football club of gate money by staying at home and watching
a match instead of attending a match in person. That's why televised
matches don't overlap with the "protected" timeslot of the traditional
Saturday afternoon.

Whether that really has any effect is, of course, open to debate. But the
argument that you're not depriving the broadcasters of revenue isn't the
relevant one here.

Mark

[Yellow]

Post by John
Is it illegal to stream content using Kodi?

Depends on the content.

Post by John
I haven't got one myself, but someone I know has just bought one. I
have read that it's illegal to sell boxes preloaded with Kodi but that
the streaming is more of a grey area, although no doubt the law will be
altered to make it illegal once the pay TV boys lose a certain amount of
revenue, as I'm sure they will. I joined a local facebook group a few
weeks ago, and often see posts about it.

Where is this content being streamed from?

I for example have installed kodi on my firestick and use it to stream
content from my PVR to my kitchen telly.