Update Feb 11th, 5:16AM: Story updated to be clear that Kodi as a platform is perfectly legal. It's the third-party plug-ins that are responsible for the illegal streams. So how about you, dear reader? Ever try Kodi? That makes me think the UK bust is just the tip of this iceberg. I'm aware of similar practices in the US, too, with sellers marking up Kodified Fire TV Sticks to $60, $80, or even $100, with eager buyers snapping them up for the promise of "free" everything. Kodi was in the news this week after five people were arrested for selling fully loaded "Kodi boxes." Those little HDMI sticks allegedly earned the pack some £250,000 (over $310,000) in the process. HBO executives are doing damage control once again this morning as more information from season 7 of their hit show Game of Thrones has leaked online. In that way it's similar to BitTorrent: the platform itself is benign, but an entire industry has emerged to abuse it. To be clear, Kodi is perfectly legal, it's the third-party add-ons that create the issues while simultaneously raising Kodi's visibility and demand. Assuming you can find working sources, that is. Thing is, my subscriptions don't offer DVD Screeners and HDCAM videos of films still in theaters, or access to seemingly every live sporting event being televised around the world. It was enlightening, but also a huge pain in the ass to find working streams compared to firing up Netflix or one of the other video services I subscribe to. I then delved into the world of third-party add-ons with names like Exodus, BOB Unrestricted, and SportsDevil. I'll admit to hacking Kodi's open-source media server onto a $40 Amazon Fire TV Stick over the holidays.
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