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posted by cmn32480 on Thursday February 09 2017, @07:53PM   Printer-friendly
from the streaming-gets-you-sent-up-the-river dept.

Five people have been arrested, accused of selling set-top boxes modified to stream subscription football matches, television channels and films for free.

The sale of so-called "fully loaded Kodi boxes" has been called a "top priority" by the Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact).

The five traders were arrested in early morning raids.

Fact said it believed the suspects had made in the region of £250,000 selling the devices online.

Kodi is free software built by volunteers to bring videos, music, games and photographs together in one easy-to-use application.

Some shops sell legal set-top boxes and TV sticks, often called Kodi boxes, preloaded with the software.

The latest battle in the Forever War...


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by edIII on Thursday February 09 2017, @09:21PM

    by edIII (791) on Thursday February 09 2017, @09:21PM (#465260)

    Let's be real clear here though. What these people are being arrested for is essentially cooking some people dinner. They bought the ingredients, used knowledge, and presented a cooked dinner that is highly popular.

    The fact remains, the Kodi boxes are perfectly legal. Torrents are perfectly legal. The underlying technology is perfectly legal. It's the ACTIONS that can possibly be performed that are illegal. Setting the software up and configuring some settings is not illegal.

    Kodi boxes don't perform software piracy, Kodi box users perform software piracy. We can't go after gun manufacturers, so likewise we shouldn't be able to go after Kodi box "technicians". After all, they're only doing what anyone can do in their own home in a few hours of setup at most.

    This is chilling to say the least. What's next? I'm arrested because I enabled a zero-knowledge data service on a phone? I'm arrested for setting up endpoint-to-endpoint encryption? I'm arrested for routing whole houses through TOR?

    Stupidity like this will lead to one of us finally being arrested for daring to install an adblocker.

    Fucking ridiculous.

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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by damnbunni on Thursday February 09 2017, @09:40PM

    by damnbunni (704) on Thursday February 09 2017, @09:40PM (#465266) Journal

    These people are TELLING their customers the product is legal, though.

    My aunt fell for this. She bought a Kodi box (at a ridiculous markup) and was told 'the movies are included in the price'.

    She refuses to believe the whole thing is shady as fuck because 'well if it was illegal, they wouldn't be able to do it!'

    These people aren't selling 'Kodi boxes'. They're selling 'Free TV and movies and sports!' boxes. The fact that it uses Kodi isn't really relevant. They're already set up for illegal crap, they're sold with the intent of doing illegal crap, and the illegal crap they do is their MAIN SELLING POINT.

    It's the difference between selling an axe and selling 'Amazing tool opens any door, for free!' that happens to be an axe.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 10 2017, @09:21AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 10 2017, @09:21AM (#465441)

      She refuses to believe the whole thing is shady as fuck because 'well if it was illegal, they wouldn't be able to do it!'

      Does she happen to work for a certain Danish payment provider?

      "Your security is so primitive that anyone can break it. Look, it takes five seconds".
      "That attack is not possible".
      "How so? I just showed you it works"
      "Attacking out service is illegal".

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by NewNic on Thursday February 09 2017, @09:47PM

    by NewNic (6420) on Thursday February 09 2017, @09:47PM (#465267) Journal

    Different countries, different laws.

    Don't think that just because one of these "boxes" is legal in one country that it is legal in another.

    --
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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Thursday February 09 2017, @10:50PM

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday February 09 2017, @10:50PM (#465298) Journal

    Let's be real clear here though. What these people are being arrested for is essentially cooking some people dinner. They bought the ingredients, used knowledge, and presented a cooked dinner that is highly popular.
     
    The same could be said for selling meth.

    Not that I'm on the copyright cartels side or anything...

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Friday February 10 2017, @12:46AM

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Friday February 10 2017, @12:46AM (#465330) Journal

    I totally agree. I wonder what can be done to change attitudes. Boycotts can be effective, but I don't see the people coming up with the will to do it, even for the most outrageous crap the movie theater pulls. Sad how much people put up with to be allowed to watch a movie at the theater like it's some kind of huge privilege. Can't bring your own food and are asked to pay outrageous prices for extremely unhealthy junk food at their exploitative concessions stands, can't make a crap recording of even 1 minute of a movie without being accused of theft and threatened with jail time, ticket prices are high and to add to the insult if you buy online beforehand, you get charged more for the convenience by the likes of Fandango and Ticket Bastard. It doesn't cost extra to buy a DVD online, why should buying a movie ticket online cost extra?

    I think part of the problem is that fans of entertainment, including moviegoers, are younger and more naive about their rights and powers. They too uncritically accept Big Media propaganda that equates copying with theft, and swallow the line that artists will starve without copyright and deserve better. Of course artists deserve better, but that line of arguing is a red herring. They're unaccustomed to the sly tricks the propagandists use to get them to overlook flaws in the reasoning, such as that the causal connection between copying and starving artists is weak. I suspect the same factor plays into the rampant age discrimination in IT. Employers want younger employees because they don't understand as well that they are manipulated into working more and accepting less.

    Still, I am hopeful that generational change will eventually end copyright.

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by nethead on Friday February 10 2017, @02:44AM

      by nethead (4970) <joe@nethead.com> on Friday February 10 2017, @02:44AM (#465379) Homepage

      Hey, at least it gets the kids out of the house for a few hours, that can be worth the ticket price right there.

      --
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    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 10 2017, @04:56AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 10 2017, @04:56AM (#465403)

      Wait it costs more to buy online?

      I think in my 45 years on this earth, and all of the times I have gone to the movies, I can count on one hand the times I was not able to get in at the time I wanted. Usually 1-2 months after release you pretty much can sit wherever you want. In no way whatsoever would I overpay to get a ticket for the theater. For a concert I can see that because, scalpers.

  • (Score: 2) by CoolHand on Friday February 10 2017, @01:53PM

    by CoolHand (438) on Friday February 10 2017, @01:53PM (#465462) Journal

    Kodi boxes don't perform software piracy, Kodi box users perform software piracy. We can't go after gun manufacturers, so likewise we shouldn't be able to go after Kodi box "technicians". After all, they're only doing what anyone can do in their own home in a few hours of setup at most.

    Is that true though? The users are just clicking a link and watching something someone else is essentially "broadcasting". I think it's those websites that are essentially illegally "rebroadcasting" copyrighted material that are really the issue.

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