(Opinion) Why Kodi Addons & Pirate Apps Are Disappearing…Quietly

[Matrix]

Since 2017, many Kodi addon and 'pirate' app developers have chosen to discontinue their projects and disappear into the shadows. Yet, unlike historical shutdowns of torrent and streaming platforms, most of these moves haven't made the headlines. The informational black hole is notable but can be explained. Those targeted are compelled not to say a word.

It’s impossible to say how many lawyers have been deployed to shut down piracy-related projects over the years. Dozens would be a conservative estimate but just one beating down the door can be an intimidating experience.

In the early 2000s and for at least the next decade and beyond, many efforts to shut down pirate sites and services were accompanied by triumphant press releases. Arrests, court appearances, and usually negative verdicts against pirates became a rallying point for the content industries, with the head-on-a-pike deterrent proving a valuable tool in the propaganda wars.

Last year, however, a new tactic appeared to gain momentum. In addition to strategic publicized cases against larger-scale infringers, a steady undercurrent of threats became evident in the Kodi addon and pirate application community. Rather than breaking down doors, content owners approached developers quietly, warning that shutting down is the only real way to avoid punishing legal action.

Most of the approaches were made by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the global anti-piracy coalition made up of 30 of the world’s most powerful entertainment companies. This fact has been made public by a number of developers, with some publishing correspondence on the web.

Many others, however, simply announced their retirement and disappeared, often around the same time that other developers took the same course of action. When approached for comment most refused to offer details but it’s clear that decisions weren’t being made freely. It won’t come as a surprise to learn that many, in exchange for not having their lives ruined, agreed to take a vow of silence.

After collating information from a number of sources, we can now reveal some of the tactics being used against developers involved in ‘pirate’ projects.

While the details vary from case to case, most approaches begin with a detailed overview of the project the developer is involved in and various laws that ACE believe are being broken. This is followed up with details of a multi-point settlement deal which can potentially see the developer exit with a minimum of costs.

As previously reported, some of the terms are fairly unpalatable, including an agreement to report on associates and colleagues involved in the project and associated projects. We have no idea whether anyone targeted has done so but we know the settlement agreement contains such clauses. However, aside from ending all infringing activities, the number one insistence is that recipients keep their mouths firmly shut.

In order to protect those who have disclosed information to TF, we aren’t publishing direct quotes from the settlement agreements. However, we can disclose that those entering settlements are forbidden from speaking to anyone (apart from their legal advisors) about the contents of the agreement, but it goes further than that.

Those targeted are expressly forbidden from telling anyone that they have even been contacted or that discussions are taking place, something that really isolates people seeking to receive external help and advice.

Furthermore, if the recipient’s case is discussed with ACE at all, no information – whether spoken or in written form – can be revealed to any third-party (outside legal counsel). As far as we can see from the documents available, this means they aren’t even allowed to discuss the terms with a close friend or family member.

However, in return for their full cooperation, it appears that ACE will keep their identities a secret. If announcements to the press are made (which thus far hasn’t been the coalition’s modus operandi), ACE has told those who sign agreements that they won’t be named or identified in other ways.

With this background, it’s not difficult to see why developers are choosing to shut down their projects and disappear quietly. While some will find the terms of ACE’s settlement agreement difficult, it’s undoubtedly better than the alternative. With billions of dollars up their collective sleeves, ACE members have unlimited access to legal weaponry and could drain the average person’s finances in a matter of months in legal fees alone.

Quite why ACE has chosen to act against developers so quietly isn’t clear but given that most of their targets thus far have been bedroom-based Joe Publics, it’s possible that the “30 Goliaths versus David” imagery is something some its members would prefer not to be associated with.

Finally, users worried by a potential hand over of information to authorities as highlighted by the Terrarium TV case this week (note: we have no confirmation that ACE was involved) shouldn’t be surprised when developers act to save their own skin. Privacy and security is the user’s own responsibility and in the Wild West of piracy, anything can happen.

 

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[straycat19]

I think they are on the wrong track.  The threat of a civil suit doesn't carry enough weight to bring about these results, however, the threat of a criminal arrest does.  So I don't see if being just lawyers for ACE but also the involvement of federal law enforcement officers.  Especially since at least one individual released information that his user list was wanted.  Lawyers wouldn't have much use for the user list since the manhours needed to derive the real names and locations would be beyond their capability.  However, FBI Cyber Teams have files on user names, forums, IPs, etc that have been collected over the years and they could cross reference the data.  The threat of a criminal charge alone can be life changing since it can affect your real job, credit, family, etc.  Also consider the NDA that seems to be associated with these closures.  NDAs are the result of a settlement, approved by a civil court, and there is a record of that action.  A formal document between a suspect and law enforcement officer however carries more weight and doesn't require judicial review.  The most common of which is the Rights Waiver Form.

[steven36]

Rumor in the unofficial addons  community  is there's a snitchs involved that is helping ACE as part of there agreement.. So far only 2 well known repos  have been took to court TV Addons  and  ZemTV... TV Addons settled  in Texas with Dish TV  confidential settlement

 

Every since this happened

Quote

 

 

Offline Repositories Due to Kodi ACE Letters

The following Kodi repositories have gone offline after receiving the letter above:

September 10th, 2018

• Blamo
• UrbanKingz

May 12th, 2018: 

• Zero Tolerance

 

May 4th, 2018: 

• Trademark

 

February 15th, 2018:

• Looking Glass
• The Pyramid
• Teverz
• Doggmatic
• Noobs and Nerds
• Spinz TV
• Ares

 

November 16th, 2017:

• Colossus
• Smash
• Caz Wallace
• Mucky Duck

 

 

 

 

 

It's not so much a problem as people think  theirs still a ton of  addons out there,  new repos open up everyday. So it's just whack a mole   Addons go down others fork them it's only 8 lines of code ...  Just  the last ones who quit in September  it must of been part of there agreement to not post it in the media  what really happened  or ether they just wanted too stay out of the news  . Also the Kodi unofficial addons  community are not very helpful in helping users find new addons they most of the time only talk about  2 or 3 addons  tell one of the repos get closed then they switch to a different fork and talk about them...  When a  repo  gets closed the addons are just mirrored  somewhere else and  they just dont stop working over night,   what messes them up, is websites change there api after so long and makes them die really slow, so the unofficial addons  community is still using addons from Blamo.. some devs still even fork Exodus  witch was part of TV Addons that stop hosting it in 2017.  The unofficial addons  community want move to new addons tell  time  kills them .

[Alanon]

On 9/24/2018 at 7:42 PM, steven36 said:

It's not so much a problem as people think  theirs still a ton of  addons out there,  new repos open up everyday. So it's just whack a mole   Addons go down others fork them it's only 8 lines of code ...  Just  the last ones who quit in September  it must of been part of there agreement to not post it in the media  what really happened  or ether they just wanted too stay out of the news  . Also the Kodi unofficial addons  community are not very helpful in helping users find new addons they most of the time only talk about  2 or 3 addons  tell one of the repos get closed then they switch to a different fork and talk about them...  When a  repo  gets closed the addons are just mirrored  somewhere else and  they just dont stop working over night,   what messes them up, is websites change there api after so long and makes them die really slow, so the unofficial addons  community is still using addons from Blamo.. some devs still even fork Exodus  witch was part of TV Addons that stop hosting it in 2017.  The unofficial addons  community want move to new addons tell  time  kills them .

29

 

Well, it's not that insignificant a problem either, particularly since all the Kodi sites have been overrun with the latest info, with bombastic titles "how to install this amazing new repo and update all the best streaming add-ons". Exposure is the key problem, and Kodi communities insist on widely publicising every new development to the largest number of people, which will always include the copyright agencies. They actually wouldn't need informants in order to know who to target. As long as this kind of cat and mouse game continues, there just won't be any continuing add-on maintenance, and Kodi will never return to its old state. 

[steven36]

2 hours ago, Alanon said:

Well, it's not that insignificant a problem either, particularly since all the Kodi sites have been overrun with the latest info, with bombastic titles "how to install this amazing new repo and update all the best streaming add-ons". Exposure is the key problem, and Kodi communities insist on widely publicising every new development to the largest number of people, which will always include the copyright agencies. They actually wouldn't need informants in order to know who to target. As long as this kind of cat and mouse game continues, there just won't be any continuing add-on maintenance, and Kodi will never return to its old state. 

Your getting confused with the Kodi community  and the people who  monetize off Kodi, it's the people  on YouTube and sites  who do this for money that say install this or that half the time the addons they promote  wont even work ..  The Kodi community of  today is not very old, it only became really popular a few years ago there still going to have to learn like the Warez Groups had to learn  back  in the early 2000s.

 

Social Media and YouTube   is what's caused them such growing pains ..DEVs  have been leaving social media for awhile every since the take downs started they are opening private groups  off of it  and now there starting community maintained scrappers were  all the dev does is have to make the addon  and  the community maintains the addon with the infringing sites.  Right now you can make and addon and tell them  that you are not going to link to the scrappers  for the infringing sites that they have install  the community maintained addon . Addons themselves are not illegal but just like search engines that link to  infringing sites  have lots of problems , the addons that do  have problems.

 

Back a few years ago people didn't need  Kodi  all they had  to do was use Google and could  find anything they wanted and Google and Tech Giants are the ones who allow  all that Kodi spam and  Google , Bing  , other ad companies  and vpns   are the ones paying them to monetize off Kodi  if it was not profitable they would not bother to tell you to install this or that addon  there not DEVs who just do it to share there YouTubers and Bloggers who profit off it. Portals like TVAddons that  monetize off Kodi  and used the DEVs to profit with infringing addons are a thing of the past, the only way you can be a portal is only post legal  addons, they learned that the hard way . It's never going to go back to the way it was, that chapter of Kodi history is closed . It's like all piracy evolve or die.

 

You cant really stop it  without killing  the streaming and torrent sites  people can post the stuff that's needed to fix addons anywhere  ..Repos and Kodi automation  is only needed for the noobs. It can be manually installed by any one that has fooled with kodi awhile just as easy as using a repo . it's open source meaning you can open any addon up and look in it with text editor or noetpad and see what you need to install to make  it work.  

 

Even News sites like TorrentFreak is  harmful to piracy because  all the other news sites , Anti Piracy ,  and the Feds  use them to keep up with what's going on.  They hurt it more than they help it  and expose non pirates  too it , If it were not  for a news sites  like TorrentFreak i would of never learned about piracy  back in 2001  . stuff was not so easy to find back then  as it is now  you found out from the media and word of mouth .

 

It's really over rated  i been downloading tv shows and movies for years id much rather download my file save it and watch when i fell like it than fool witch a bloated Kodi box  if i want to watch something 3 years from now i can only reason i like fooling with  it that it takes some of the heat off the  websites  that post movies and TV shows and puts the heat somewhere else  its not even needed to watch TV shows or movies  all you need is a  web browser  and a video player . People who have crappy internet cant even benefit from streaming really     .