Beware. Now Kodi Add-ons can get you sued.

Kodi Add-Ons Users Sued For Copyright Infringement | TorrentLawyer

2020 UPDATE: You CAN be sued for using Kodi Add-ons!

I almost fell off my chair when I read this. Kodi users are being sued for copyright infringement?!? The answer is yes, Kodi users who are tweaking the Kodi software to run Kodi Add-ons which provide copyrighted movies using IP address sharing background software are 100% at risk of getting sued for copyright infringement.Click to Tweet!

Kodi Add-Ons Users Sued For Copyright Infringement | TorrentLawyer

Didn’t I write many articles saying that Kodi users wouldn’t get sued?

Yes.  I have been watching this topic for YEARS now on whether it is possible for someone streaming movies to get caught — not in the context of Kodi Add-ons, but in general.  Until recently, the answer was “no, the copyright trolls have not yet caught up with technology, and there is no way a person will get sued for streaming movies.”  

Today I change my opinion, but as you’ll read, I do so cheaply because the cause of getting caught using Kodi is the fault of Kodi Add-ons developers who incorporated IP address-sharing features into their plug-ins.

My opinions over the years on whether you can get sued for Kodi use have changed.

2015 – “No, you CANNOT get sued streaming videos.”

Jumping back a bit, the first time I wrote about the possibility of internet users getting caught streaming was in October, 2015.  Fresh in the mind of the internet was the Ashley Madison hack exposing millions of internet users who had an account on their “let’s cheat” website.  The topic of whether it was possible to have your adult film viewing habits exposed to the public was fresh on the minds of internet users.  

My opinion back then was that “you likely CANNOT get caught streaming adult films.”  Then in 11/2015, I was asked whether an internet user can get caught viewing “You Tube” like videos, and my opinion was, “maybe, but it likely would not happen because there are too many steps.”

2017 – “It’s possible to get sued, but the technology needs to advance and the trolls are still stuck on IP address sharing lawsuits.”

Jumping ahead to 3/2017, I was searching for a common copyright troll behind each of the movie lawsuits, and I wrote a quick article entitled, “Can I Get Caught Streaming Movies Over The Internet?”  My point of this article was to say, “yeah, it is possible, but unlikely that someone would get caught streaming movies,” parroting my 11/2015 article.

As a response, a viewer asked me to analyze Kodi and the Amazon TV Fire Sticks, and again in 3/2017, I wrote a second article on Why I would NOT put Kodi on an Amazon Fire TV Stick.

At the time, I was still of the opinion of “you likely won’t get caught, but Amazon would likely turn you in.”  

[Again, this opinion had nothing to do with the Kodi Add-ons, as I did not suspect any developer would create Kodi Add-ons which connected to the file sharing networks.  That would have been silly, and any developer that knew anything about IP address-based copyright lawsuits wouldn’t be reckless enough to expose their users to these networks.]

Then in 4/2017, the Pornhub lawsuits happened, and thinking about the lawsuit (and the way the plaintiffs went about it all wrong), it occurred to me that Google Analytics could expose an internet user to a copyright infringement lawsuit.  This was possibly the first time I had the opinion that “yes, in the future, you can get sued for streaming movie content.”  Again, in the future when technology advanced further and copyright trolls moved past bittorrent lawsuits.  

2020 UPDATE: I focused most of my articles on Google Analytics because they seemed to be the best way to track which internet user visited which website. I did not consider that in 2020, copyright trolls would use CloudFlare to expose the identity of accused internet users. This is what is behind the movie sharing fiasco and Kerry Culpepper of Culpepper IP sending subpoenas to disclose the identity of internet users (so that he can ask for $1,000 per alleged download as a settlement).

[Click to Tweet.]

In 5/2017, I applied this line of thought to write an update on the risks of using Kodi on an Amazon Fire TV stick, and I wrote that “there is another way to get sued using Kodi on an Amazon Fire TV Stick — via Google Analytics.”  So while my answer was now “yes, you can get caught,” my thought was “it was the Google Analytics plug-in.”  As far as copyright trolls suing Kodi users based on these revelations, well, this was far into the future.  Once again, no mention of Kodi Add-ons.

What changed? Kodi developers started using Kodi Add-ons without telling their users.

What I did not anticipate is that there are a number of Kodi Add-ons which use file sharing networks to provide copyrighted content to their users. Obviously if certain Kodi Add-ons are using these networks — and the assumption is that the Kodi Add-ons user is using Kodi without any privacy protections — then YES! Someone using Kodi Add-ons which connect to streamed content file sharing networks can certainly get caught!

Why using Kodi Addons can be the same as using a IP address sharing client

Let’s simplify this.

If you use Kodi with privacy in mind, and the Kodi Addons plug-in that you enable provides content to you via some background file sharing software, *THEN YOUR KODI SOFTWARE IS NOTHING OTHER THAN YET ANOTHER FILE SHARING APPLICATION*.

What this means is that when your Kodi Add-ons connect to the online swarm, it is *YOUR* IP address that shows up in the list of participants of that swarm. Thus, when the copyright troll or their so-called “investigators” download the list of IP addresses who have downloaded a particular movie, your IP address will show up.

At that point you have been caught downloading or streaming the copyrighted movie without a license, and you should not be surprised if you receive a subpoena notice from your ISP informing you that you have been implicated as a John Doe defendant in a copyright infringement lawsuit.

It really does not matter that you were using Kodi, because using Kodi with Kodi Add-ons which download movies for you using file sharing is the SAME as you downloading that same movie from any other file sharing website using a file sharing client.

Which Kodi Add-ons can get you sued?

So, the next question is… which Kodi Add-ons use such file sharing networks? (Kudos to Sam Cook, my source for this information. If anyone knows of others, please feel free to add them to the comments below this article, and I will update this list.)

As of a few months ago, the following Kodi Addons use file sharing networks:

[BECAUSE OF ONLINE CENSORSHP INCORRECTLY FLAGGING THIS ARTICLE AS ENCORAGING THE USE OF THESE WEBSITES, I HAVE REMOVED THE NAMES FROM THIS ARTICLE.]

NOTE: Why some of these Kodi Addons might no longer exist

My thoughts: Kodi Add-ons recently suffered a huge loss after a large number of them shut down in response to a few prominent lawsuits. Thus, these addons I pasted here from Sam Cook’s article possibly no longer exist.

SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO NOT TO USE KODI

NOTE: Obviously using Kodi Add-ons to stream movies or copyrighted content was not why Kodi exists. However, for the purpose of this article, assume you are tweaking Kodi to stream movies.

Before you use one of the Kodi Add-ons, check to see whether it uses some form of file sharing to download content for its users. In this article, I keep referring to the add-ons which use IP address-leaking networks as “Kodi Add-ons,” but as you see from the list above [all of which use these networks], *NONE* of them identified themselves as such an add-on. Assuming you will be using Kodi Add-ons for the purpose of acquiring or viewing copyrighted movies without a license (again, not my recommendation), avoid these plug-ins and any plug-ins which connect you unwittingly to file sharing networks. [Click to Tweet!]

Advice from a Kodi reddit user:

Generally speaking, if the setup or configuration of an add-on requires you to make significant changes to your environment, it’s probably to support the transfer of such files. If the setup installs and then starts showing you sources to stream from immediately without having to add/configure a bunch of extra crap, it’s just direct streaming from a web source and has no upload component to it. The only 2 I’ve seen that are “recommended” by certain people and are [REDACTED]. anything else just blatantly calls itself “[REDACTED] stream” or “best [REDACTED] addon” or “[REDACTED] streams” which should all be no-go’s if you don’t already have experience masking your location.

My Opinion: Kodi Add-Ons can get you sued.

In sum, back to Kodi itself. It is no longer my opinion that you cannot get sued for using Kodi. If you are using one of the many Kodi Add-ons which connect a user to copyrighted content using a file sharing network — whether you are aware of it or not –, then of course you can get sued. The reason for this is such networks expose the IP address of the user using those Kodi Add-ons. Personally, it is careless for programmers to make Kodi addons which use such file sharing networks, which is not what the Kodi software was meant to do.

[One last time… Please “Click to Tweet!” This will help share this information with others who can benefit from it.]

KODI LAWSUIT ARTICLES:

GOT WARNING LETTER FOR USING KODI?” written on 7/20/2017 by The [REDACTED] Guru
Kodi BAN – Kodi Add-On users panic over WARNING letter from US Department of Justice” written on 4/8/2017 by Express
“Kodi Addons – 2017 Updates for Kodi Users” written on 3/28/2017
Who’s behind the Kodi TV streaming stick crackdown?” written on 2/8/2017 by The Register
Comcast Starts Issuing Copyright Infringement Notices to Kodi Users” written on 10/21/2015 by Cord Cutters News


[CONTACT AN ATTORNEY: If you have a question for an attorney about a Kodi copyright case and options on how to proceed (even specifically for your circumstances), you can e-mail us at info[at]cashmanlawfirm.com, you can set up a free and confidential phone consultation to speak to us about your Kodi copyright lawsuit, or you can call us at 713-364-3476 (this is our Cashman Law Firm, PLLC’s number].

CONTACT FORM: If you have a question or comment about what I have written, and you want to keep it *for my eyes only*, please feel free to use the form below. The information you post will be e-mailed to me, and I will be happy to respond.

    NOTE: No attorney client relationship is established by sending this form, and while the attorney-client privilege (which keeps everything that you share confidential and private) attaches immediately when you contact me, I do not become your attorney until we sign a contract together. That being said, please do not state anything “incriminating” about your case when using this form, or more practically, in any e-mail.

    Future-Pacing Copyright Infringement Tracking Amazon Fire TV Devices.

    Identifying the risks of installing and using Kodi software on an Amazon Fire TV device, and specifically, how a copyright holder can sue for copyright infringement is the subject of this article.

    amazon-fire-tv-image

    We are able to forecast and predict with accuracy what movies will be the subjects of future lawsuits.  We are able to predict trends based on filing patterns of which copyright holders have sued, where they have sued, and how their attorneys will react based on legal precedents in a particular court or with a particular judge.

    And, we have been proactive with developers of software, even getting into public heated arguments with the developers (e.g., with certain file sharing software developers as to why they put their customers at risk for being sued (at the time, for promoting a fake privacy feature which masked the browsing of copyrighted titles, yet exposed the IP address of a user of that software during the actual acquisition or streaming of that same movie).

    This ability to forecast the future with some accuracy is not based on genius, insight, or brainpower, but it is simply based on hard work, analyzing the data, watching the trends, and understanding the technology and seeing where things can go wrong causing people to be sued.

    In March of this year (2017), I wrote about the Dangers of Using Kodi on an Amazon Fire TV Stick device.  I actually did this analysis as a favor to one of my readers who asked me whether it was safe to do so.

    For the last 60 days, literally thousands of you have read my article, either because you were interested in the topic, or were considering doing so on your own Amazon Fire TV device.  The conclusion of the article was that you likely would not be sued for copyright infringement from using Kodi on your Amazon Fire TV device, but doing so (even implementing basic privacy precautions) still exposed your identity to copyright holders because Amazon.com tracks every device of theirs and links them to the account holder who made the purchase of that device.  And, even IF Amazon was trustworthy in that it protected the privacy interests of its users, I expect that they would comply with a subpoena for that same information when it is signed by a federal judge in a copyright infringement lawsuit.

    Yet some of you have asked me to further elaborate on the topic, namely, how can someone actually get caught using Kodi on an Amazon Fire TV device.

    Pornhub lawsuit exposes the dangers of Google Analytics

    FACTOR #1: GOOGLE ANALYTICS

    It took me a few seconds to think through your good question. My whole premise in the “WHY INTERNET USERS CAN GET CAUGHT VIEWING STREAMED TUBE-LIKE CONTENT” article is that copyright holders can make use of Google Analytics to determine the IP addresses of those who have viewed and streamed copyrighted video. One of the features that makes Google Analytics dangerous is that it can tell a lot of information about what kind of ‘machine’ was used to connect to the offending web page containing the copyrighted content. Was it a PC? a Laptop? a Tablet?

    The “Why I would not put Kodi on an Amazon Fire TV Device” article was a bit forward thinking, in that I am addressing a problem that has not yet happened (some would say this has been the strength of our entire site — seeing a problem and reacting to it before it actually becomes a problem).

    So far, I don’t think you WOULD get caught using Kodi on an Amazon Fire TV Device. But because your Fire TV device uses your internet connection, it exposes your ISP and your IP address to the copyright holders. Through that, they can subpoena the ISP to obtain the account holder who was assigned that IP address, along with other information RELATED TO the offending device. E.g., the MAC ADDRESS of the device used to make the connection to the pirate site.

    While Google Analytics does not yet identify specific devices other than “Computer,” “Tablet,” “Phone,” they are always advancing their technology to provide ever more specific demographic information about the internet user who is visiting a particular site. And as much as I love the Google Analytics platform, I trust Google ‘as far as I could throw them.’ Meaning, I wouldn’t think twice before being cautious that Google would respond to a subpoena from a copyright holder and provide demographic and device-specific information in response to a subpoena signed by a federal judge.

    Amazon Tags Devices With User Accounts
    geralt / Pixabay

    FACTOR #2: AMAZON TAGS ALL ITS HARDWARE AND ASSOCIATES ALL TAGS WITH AN AMAZON ACCOUNT.

    Also, in the above paragraph, I mentioned the MAC ADDRESS of the Amazon Fire TV device. With the MAC ADDRESS, you can identify what make and model of the device is being used. Is the device a network card in a computer? A USB dongle attached to a computer? An Amazon Fire TV device? See my point?

    Lastly, as much as I love Amazon for their amazing services offered to their Prime membership members, I also wouldn’t trust them with my personal information. Specifically, they tag EACH AND EVERY AMAZON DEVICE THEY SELL. Thus, if my Echo (“Alexa”) device were stolen and found, they know that device was sold to me. They also link my account information to each and every Fire TV device and E-book reader I purchase, so even if I wipe the device, root it, and reprogram it with a better operating system, the HARDWARE (INCLUDING THE MAC ADDRESS) would not change. Thus, if I committed a crime with that Fire TV device (or stick, or e-book reader, etc.), Amazon would immediately know that device that was involved in the ‘crime’ was sold to me via my Amazon.com account.

    In sum, I am not saying you will be caught today if you put Kodi on your Amazon Fire TV device. I am saying that the technology is lining up in a way that a person CAN be caught using Kodi on their Amazon Fire TV device in the near future. The tech is already in use. The companies already are known to be working with authorities to comply with subpoenas and other identifying information about their users. It is only a matter of time before Amazon Fire TV stick users start calling me (like Popcorn Time users are now) asking me to represent them in a lawsuit because they have been sued for copyright infringement.

    How, hypothetically, could I get tracked and sued using Kodi on my Amazon device?

    NOTE: I don’t like doing this kind of analysis, because invariably, some enterprising ‘troll’ attorney will follow my instructions and will start suing based on how I said it could be done.  However, because the steps to do this are tedious, and since a federal judge would be reluctant to allow a copyright holder to engage in what is called a ‘fishing expedition,’ obtaining the approval to send out these subpoenas would no doubt be met with skepticism and resistance.

    If I were a copyright holder, I would identify the Kodi links to the servers or websites which are sharing my copyrighted content.  I would then file a lawsuit naming those companies or websites as defendants, and ask a judge to have them turn over the Google Analytics data surrounding those particular pages sharing my client’s copyrighted content.  Step 1.

    Then, using the Google Analytics IP address data (technology currently available and in use), I would see the IP addresses and the demographics of which IP addresses are visiting that particular page (or downloading copyrighted content from it).  Seeing the IP addresses, I would have the judge authorize me to send subpoenas to the ISPs to discover the identities of the subscribers that were assigned those IP addresses on those particular dates and time.  Step 2.

    I would then have the ISPs provide the MAC ADDRESSES of the network cards assigned to each subscriber (I do know ISPs have the capability to provide this, as 1) I have seen it provided in certain bittorrent lawsuits over the years, and 2) my own Comcast ISP goes so far as to have “Station IDs” or names of computers which have connected to their network routers, along with identifying information about the machines which have connected to their router.  I know this when I was troubleshooting a connection issue on my own router.)

    From there, I would sort and identify the device as an Amazon Fire TV device (or an Apple TV device, etc.) based on the MAC ADDRESS or identifier of the device.  I would then (with authorization of the court) send a subpoena to Amazon requesting each individuals’ account information, specifically asking 1) who purchased that device, and 2) which e-mail addresses or Amazon.com accounts have registered the device since the purchase.  Step 3.

    If Step 2 is not allowed, or if the ISP no longer has the information (e.g., if they purged the subscriber data according to their IP address retention policy), I would alternatively get the identifying information of the infringing device from Google Analytics.  [As far as I know, as of writing this article on 5/5/2017, this information is not yet available, but the technology to capture it is present.]  I would then contact Amazon.com and follow Step 3, above.

    In Summary

    No I don’t think you would get caught using Kodi on an Amazon Fire TV device.  But because you COULD get caught and sued (now, AND in the future when technology advances, even slightly), why risk it when there are ways of obtaining the same content but taking Amazon 100% out of the picture (eliminating all risk of exposure)?  As soon as you introduce the Fire TV stick (or any device registered to a company, whether that is Amazon, Apple, Samsung, or any other manufacturer), you increase your exposure to be sued.  This is true, even if you are implementing basic privacy protections (because the manufacturer still knows that device is registered to YOU).

    Unintended consequences of winning the war against trolls.

    [2017 UPDATE: Little did I know that I accurately predicted what would happen, but I got the entities wrong.  Since the April 2016 breakup of the Lipscomb/Guardaley relationship, new Guardaley kingpin Carl Crowell has created a new entity called RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT which has reverse-engineered CEG-TEK’s proprietary DMCA copyright infringement notice system.  Many of you have visited this link thinking that RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT was somehow related to CEG-TEK (at first, I thought so too), but really it is an ‘evil twin’ competitor.  In sum, apparently my concerns about CEG-TEK becoming corrupted where one bittorrent click would result in tens/hundreds of infringement notices may have actually have happened, but I got the entity wrong.  It wasn’t CEG-TEK, it was Crowell’s reverse-engineered ‘evil twin’ copy of CEG-TEK which we now see in RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT. Still, read on so that you’ll understand the issues.]

    Every downloader knows the only way to prevent the copyright trolls from identifying their true IP addresses (and thus sending out DMCA copyright infringement notices, as outfits such as CEG-TEK have been known to do).

    In recent weeks, I have heard from various copyright trolls that downloaders are “winning the piracy war,” in that their activities have thwarted the copyright holders from learning who they are. Armed with what is becoming common knowledge of free software which can be configured to stream unlicensed content (e.g., Kodi, formerly XBMC), internet users who wish to “unplug” from the cable companies are able to do so in a way in which it becomes difficult if not next to impossible to be monitored while viewing streamed content**. Not only this, but many have even purchased Amazon Fire sticks which can be altered to allow the Kodi software to be installed on it, and they are watching unlicensed videos from their HDTV without even needing a computer.***

    But what is the effect of “winning the war” on those who are left behind and don’t realize they cannot just view their favorite movie, software, or video game? This is the point of the article.

    The unintended consequence of end users learning to use basic privacy tools, or migrating away from IP address-sharing networks and towards free streaming services is that copyright holders [who for three years now have enjoyed easy settlement money] are realizing that there simply are not enough people to send DMCA / copyright infringement notices to in order to line their pockets with gold and dirty cash. As a result, it is my experience that they are becoming “less nice” and they are trying to make more money from fewer downloaders. Case-in-point: Girls Gone Wild DMCA notices used to ask for one $300 settlement for a whole page of 60+ videos, but now they are asking for tens of thousands of dollars for that same “click” of a tracker file.

    I am also noticing that CEG-TEK is acting differently, perhaps in response to what has been described to me as a steep decline in numbers of “infringers” to whom they can send DMCA notices. In the past few weeks, it has been my experience that Copyright Enforcement Group (CEG-TEK) is now sending multiple notices out to the ISPs for the same download. In one case regarding their Girls Gone Wild client that I mentioned above, CEG-TEK sent literally over 1,000 notices to one ISP for the alleged download of one shared file.

    At first I thought this was a glitch in their computer system, but then it occurred to me that maybe CEG-TEK somehow benefits from keeping the numbers of DMCA notices sent to the ISPs artificially high. Is there any benefit to them to be doing this? I have been racking my brain on this topic and I still cannot come up with a reason.

    Honestly, here is my concern. When an animal is backed against the wall, what does it do? It attacks. If indeed we are winning the privacy war, I am concerned that CEG-TEK will begin taking on new clients who thrive on stacking their shared files with hundreds of adult films. Those who are sophisticated will understand exactly who I am speaking about.  

    They will then trap the unsuspecting internet user who “clicks on a file” in their spider web, and that user will receive hundreds of DMCA notices which will scare the b’jeebies out of him.  Then they will give in to the urging of their less-than-ethical client, and they will agree to start charging more than the $300 per title that they currently do (remember, at one point, CEG-TEK used to charge $200 per title, and then at what I understood to be the urging of their client, they raised the settlement amount to $300 per title).  So they are pliable, as we have seen in the past.

    In the end, just as we saw hints of this with the recent Girls Gone Wild debacle, CEG-TEK will morph from a $300 per title copyright enforcement outfit (lamb) into a $3,500 per title shakedown outfit (wolf) where they base their settlement amounts on the client’s ability to pay rather than what they believe is a “fair” amount to compensate the copyright holders.

    Last, but not least, I learned that CEG-TEK threatened an accused downloader with criminal prosecution this week. For those of you who know me, I have spent almost every day since 2010 working on copyright infringement cases. NEVER until last week have I seen a copyright holder threaten an accused internet user with criminal charges for a copyright infringement matter.

    In sum, the times they are a changin’. If we are indeed winning the war, what will CEG-TEK turn into in order to survive?  And, what will their copyright holders (who for the most part have been docile and lazy these past few years) do when their easy income stream dries up?


    CONTENT CUT FROM THE ARTICLE:

    *[UNRELATED PERSONAL NOTE: I am a fan of such privacy tools not because they make illegal file sharing more difficult to detect, but because I believe strongly in a person’s right to be private. The amount of snooping that happens with internet trackers, cookies, and newer methods literally sickens me, and I do not believe that advertising companies and ISPs should have so much knowledge about their customers. For this reason, I have nothing wrong with internet uses making use of these privacy tools. Just be sure to have some mechanism in place that if your connection goes down, even for a second, that your real IP isn’t exposed to whatever site you happen to be visiting, or to whatever server you happen to be connected to. This is called a “DNS leak,” and there are easy ways to configure your system to lock down the connection if or when the internet goes down, even for a second.]

    ** NOTE: There is a popular software which I am sad to share has given our firm many clients who have been caught downloading mainstream movies (e.g., The Dallas Buyers Club cases, Voltage Pictures’ Fathers & Daughters Nevada, LLC cases, and most recently, Millennium Film’s London Has Fallen (“LHF”) movie cases, etc.). Most recently, I have been seeing new CEG-TEK notices for Millennium Film’s “Criminal” movie which the copyright holders have already started suing in “Criminal Productions, Inc. v. John Doe” copyright infringement lawsuits . The reason for so many getting sued is that such software allows you to stream video content, but it employs file sharing as its back-end to download the movies.

    *** NOTE: The Amazon Fire sticks which have Kodi installed in my opinion can still get you caught for copyright infringement. The reason for this is that they connect directly to the internet sharing your IP address.

    [2023 UPDATE: Unfortunately because of online censorship by those who list our websites on the search engines (and who employ methods of de-listing websites), I had to edit out a lot of useful [and in my opinion, innocent common sense] content from this article. I apologize for doing this; I am simply trying to get my censored articles back online, even if they are now missing my unedited thoughts on what is common knowledge today.]


    CONTACT FORM: If you have a question or comment about what I have written, and you want to keep it *for my eyes only*, please feel free to use the form below. The information you post will be e-mailed to me, and I will be happy to respond.

      NOTE: No attorney client relationship is established by sending this form, and while the attorney-client privilege (which keeps everything that you share confidential and private) attaches immediately when you contact me, I do not become your attorney until we sign a contract together.  That being said, please do not state anything “incriminating” about your case when using this form, or more practically, in any e-mail.

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