An amendment to the Digital Economy Act was tabled, but withdrawn, on Monday. However, the fraud route typically takes a long time to pursue, with lots of evidence and paperwork needed, and it is therefore potentially more expensive.Īnd as Ari Alibhai – a barrister who has helped train FACT staff and represented media companies – pointed out, a conspiracy needs two people.Īlibhai has backed modifing the relevant part of the Copyright Act on selling circumventing kit.

O’Reilly was convicted for conspiracy to defraud, a route preferred by copyright enforcement prosecutors since SurfTheChannel operator Anton Vickerman was jailed in 2012.

A prosecution against two men selling modified Android TV boxes made without much fanfare before Christmas in Nottingham Crown Court saw a jail term for one of the men, Terry O’Reilly, a set top box supplier. The alternative is more emphatic, but more laborious. Now it’s “plug and play,” and the unlicensed streaming services even have a slick EPG (TV guide).Ĭlamping down on the Kodi gadgets would be easier if trading standards agencies could make Copyright Act charges stick. What’s changed in the last year, say industry sources, is that previously, configuring the USB sticks needed patience and advanced technical knowledge, with Tor and VPNs. Kodi allows plugins, and a black economy of streaming networks and resellers has sprung up to allow users to dodge subscription fees. The team behind it said they’ll use their own trademark IP to disassociate themselves from copyright infringement operations. On its own, the open-source Kodi media software, formerly known as XBMC (and before that, Xbox Media Center), isn’t illegal. The case was brought by Trading Standards. Both actions are illegal under 296ZB(1)(c)(iii) of the Copyright Act. Thompson denied two charges of selling a box breaching TPMs (technological protection measures), and advertising such a box, in a hearing last week. Last year, a wave of arrests were made in Teesside and Birmingham in England, with Middlesbrough shopkeeper Brian Thompson of Cut Price Tomo’s TV likely to be the first to stand trial in May. Pay TV and other copyright industries are pinning their hopes that new prosecutions of “Kodi USB stick” sellers will thwart what they call an “epidemic” of streaming piracy.

Kodi for usb tv