Kieron Sharp, the chief executive of the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), says authorities could soon target ordinary Kodi users and not just sellers and developers.
“What we’ve been looking at in conjunction with many of our clients and members are the different levels of crime being committed,” Sharp told the Independent.
“There’s the manufacture and importation of devices, and then the distribution and selling of those. We’re also looking at the people who are providing the apps and add-ons, the developers.”
“And then we’ll also be looking at, at some point, the end user. The reason for end users to come into this is that they are committing criminal offences.”
So how will they find you? “When we’re working with the police against a company that’s selling IPTV boxes or illicit streaming devices on a large scale, they have records of who they’ve sold them to,” said Sharp.
“I don’t think [users of illegal Kodi add-ons] have anything to fear from the fact that the sentencing has gone from two years to 10 years because at that level, if people get into trouble with the law, they will still be dealt with on the basis of the level of the crime they’re committing. And that would still be at the bottom end of the sentencing scale.”
Now Kodi itself is legal, it is the third-party add-ons built by developers that can enable users to illegally access copyrighted content through it. Sadly that has become for many the reason they use Kodi.
Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more news, tips, and reviews.
Need cord cutting tech support? Join our new Cord Cutting Tech Support Facebook Group for help.