The maker of a third-party Kodi add-on believes most developers will not be put off by ramped up legal threats from the entertainment industry.
The anonymous developer, speaking to TorrentFreak said the recent hand-delivered “cease and desist letters” to those behind The Alpha and Ares Project add-ons were designed to scare the community.
The developer called the letter, signed by over 30 major players in the entertainment industry, “a show of force.”
“There’s no doubt in my mind that they’re turning up mob-handed to put the shits up people like Alpha and the rest of us,” the developer said.
“It’s hardly a fair dust-up is it? What have we got to fight back with, a giro [state benefits]? It’s a show of force, ‘look how important we are’!”
Related: Kodi updates
The letter, from the ACE partnership, includes all the major film studios (Columbia, Disney, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, and Warner) as well as Netflix, Amazon, Sky TV and the Premier League.
Despite the added threat of the latter two companies, the developer believes most companies will forge ahead with streaming.
The developer said: “Having Sly [meaning Sky TV] and the Premier League on the letter makes it much more serious to me than seeing Warner or whatever,” he commented.
“I don’t get involved in footie but Sly is everywhere round here and I think it’s something the Brit dev scene might take notice of, even if most say ‘f**k it’ and carry on anyway.”
Nothing to lose?
While the warning may be able to tackle some of the bigger players out there, the ‘scattered’ nature of the development community means Kodi add-ons will still thrive under the increased scrutiny, the developer said.
“If you want a good example of a scattered pirate scene, I give you Kodi. They can bomb the base or whatever but nobody lives there,” he explained.
“There’s some older blokes like me who can do without the stress but a lot of younger coders, builders and YouTubers who thrive on it. They’re used to running around council estates with real-life problems. A faffy letter from some toff in a suit means literally nothing. Like I said, all they have to lose is a giro.”
Do you think the Kodi platform will continue to thrive? Or will copyright owners eventually get a grip on the scene? Drop us a line @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
