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A Dutch-based developer and Kodi addon repository administrator has shut down his operation following threats from anti-piracy outfit BREIN. Due to the XvBMC-NL repo offering addons including Covenant and IPTV Bonanza, BREIN accused its operator of facilitating access to infringing content. He is now required to sign an abstention agreement and pay a settlement of 2,500 euros.
As the battle to prevent unauthorized content getting into the hands of the masses continues, Kodi remains one of the leading platforms for such consumption.
Completely legal as it leaves its official download platform, the Kodi software is easily modified to provide access to pirated movies, TV shows, and live sports. From here on in, usage of such a setup to infringe copyright is illegal in Europe.
With this established, anti-piracy outfit BREIN has been attempting to stem the tide of platforms offering 'pirate' addons in the Netherlands. One of those was XvBMC-NL, a repository which contained addons including the hugely popular Covenant and live TV addon IPTV Bonanza.
According to a report by BREIN, last month the Dutch developer and administrator of XvBMC-NL received an unwelcome visit to his home by bailiffs sent by the anti-piracy group. BREIN hasn't made the precise contents of its message to 'Z' known but it's clear that it views his work as illegal and contrary to copyright law. The developer shut down soon after.
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Wednesday August 15 2018, @08:08AM
The first thing it wants me to do is to notice that my library is empty (I don't want a library, I want to see how this program works as a media player, to see if I want to bother with it) and to have me choose a source, which, being a beginner, I have no idea what it is. Kodi assumes that I want to use it so much, that I'll put up with its quirkiness, and that I am already proficient in its terminology and way of doing things. At this early stage, both assumptions are wrong.
Video>Files does not open files, only folders. It allows you to specify a folder as a video source, which you need to add to your video sources, after which, you can browse said folder. Adding your home folder as a source, then browsing said source, yes, you can sort of have the equivalent of File>Open, but in a complicated, round-about way. However, being a beginner trying to figure out how to open a file, and seeing that Video>Open does not open files, one is more likely to think that one is simply looking at the wrong place. Meanwhile, VLC has "Media>Open File", not to mention Media>Open all sorts of other things.