[flekz]

I know this forum doesn't want to be seen to promote piracy etc etc, but come on guys!! Let's be honest here, most of people the people on this site have 'banned' addons or have downloaded their media via torrents.

I see a number of posts recently where the OP is asking a completely valid question regarding hardware, with no mention of any addons or what they are streaming and yet they get the rules rammed down their throat as if they have done something wrong. This is usually just because they have indicated they have an MBox/M8/MXQ. Why does it matter what people do with their equipment - why do the forum police feel the need to push such posters into admitting to what they are streaming when it is not relevant to their questions?

Why such a tough stance all of a sudden?

[Lunatixz]

I know this forum doesn't want to be seen to promote piracy etc etc, but come on guys!! Let's be honest here, most of people the people on this site have 'banned' addons or have downloaded their media via torrents.

I see a number of posts recently where the OP is asking a completely valid question regarding hardware, with no mention of any addons or what they are streaming and yet they get the rules rammed down their throat as if they have done something wrong. This is usually just because they have indicated they have an MBox/M8/MXQ. Why does it matter what people do with their equipment - why do the forum police feel the need to push such posters into admitting to what they are streaming when it is not relevant to their questions?

Why such a tough stance all of a sudden?

The hardware re-sellers you mentioned do not promote Kodi in a positive way... They bundle Kodi with illegal plugins as if the two are paired at the hip! If it was up to me I'd sue them all!

[ronie]

mind providing a few links to such posts?

[da-anda]

only because these add-ons exist it doesn't mean every one is using them - so please no assumptions here that you can't proof. Also, we don't care how people aggregate their media, as it's up to the users if they want to go illegal or not, but we don't give support for illegal stuff, nor do we help in promoting it. Like it or not, that's how it is.

Also, these add-ons cause nothing but trouble. We have to deal with tons of support crap because one of these shitty add-ons is broken, subtitles don't work anymore, picture quality is shit or what not. We don't care about these add-ons - period. If you have issues with them, go and bug the authors of these add-ons. If you have playback issues with them, go and bug the hosts that provide borked streams or are just down. We will only have a look at an issue if it can be recreated using add-ons from our repo or via a sample - don't force a dev to become a pirate only to recreate your particular issue (which is in most cases related to the bad quality of the add-ons or server issues anyways).

And about the M8 threads - I think I read one or two of them. IIRC they asked why stuff doesn't work anymore after they had reset stuff or installed a stock Kodi version. All this is about is that their illegal add-ons are either gone, the shitty wizards from random pirate sites are gone or what not - nothing we care about or are responsible for. If box sellers sell non-stock Kodi versions bundled with piracy stuff to make a quick buck, they have to do the support work as well, easy as that. If users have issues with stock Kodi functionality of official add-ons, they are welcome to ask for help here, but if it's related to modified Kodi versions bundled with illegal add-ons - no thanks, also how could we help with modified Kodi versions? Those box sellers do nothing but harm our project, and if the current trend continues I'm no longer willing to spend my time on the project. I don't want the work I do be associated with piracy and I don't want to support piracy.

[Lunatixz]

only because these add-ons exist it doesn't mean every one is using them - so please no assumptions here that you can't proof. Also, we don't care how people aggregate their media, as it's up to the users if they want to go illegal or not, but we don't give support for illegal stuff, nor do we help in promoting it. Like it or not, that's how it is.

Also, these add-ons cause nothing but trouble. We have to deal with tons of support crap because one of these shitty add-ons is broken, subtitles don't work anymore, picture quality is shit or what not. We don't care about these add-ons - period. If you have issues with them, go and bug the authors of these add-ons. If you have playback issues with them, go and bug the hosts that provide borked streams or are just down. We will only have a look at an issue if it can be recreated using add-ons from our repo or via a sample - don't force a dev to become a pirate only to recreate your particular issue (which is in most cases related to the bad quality of the add-ons or server issues anyways).

And about the M8 threads - I think I read one or two of them. IIRC they asked why stuff doesn't work anymore after they had reset stuff or installed a stock Kodi version. All this is about is that their illegal add-ons are either gone, the shitty wizards from random pirate sites are gone or what not - nothing we care about or are responsible for. If box sellers sell non-stock Kodi versions bundled with piracy stuff to make a quick buck, they have to do the support work as well, easy as that. If users have issues with stock Kodi functionality of official add-ons, they are welcome to ask for help here, but if it's related to modified Kodi versions bundled with illegal add-ons - no thanks, also how could we help with modified Kodi versions? Those box sellers do nothing but harm our project, and if the current trend continues I'm no longer willing to spend my time on the project. I don't want the work I do be associated with piracy and I don't want to support piracy.

I understand its against the spirit of this project to add restrictions to Kodi (in this case blocking questionable plugins) but I see no harm in requiring developers to register their plugins.

Future developers would be required to signup similar to api key requests, Not only would Kodi be able to revoke plugin/Kodi interaction (only if the occasion every arises).. But most importantly Kodi can setup a TOS agreement between developer and Kodi, protecting itself from future litigation.

[Milhouse]

I understand its against the spirit of this project to add restrictions to Kodi (in this case blocking questionable plugins) but I see no harm in requiring developers to register their plugins.

Future developers would be required to signup similar to api key requests, Not only would Kodi be able to revoke plugin/Kodi interaction (only if the occasion every arises).. But most importantly Kodi can setup a TOS agreement between developer and Kodi, protecting itself from future litigation.

So what you are suggesting is a form of DRM for addons. DRM hasn't worked out for the copyright holders, why do you think it would work any better for Kodi?

With Kodi being fully open source it would take 5 minutes for the hardware vendors that push these pirate boxes with custom Kodi builds to work out a patch that disables whatever DRM/authentication checks we put in place.

[Lunatixz]

I understand its against the spirit of this project to add restrictions to Kodi (in this case blocking questionable plugins) but I see no harm in requiring developers to register their plugins.

Future developers would be required to signup similar to api key requests, Not only would Kodi be able to revoke plugin/Kodi interaction (only if the occasion every arises).. But most importantly Kodi can setup a TOS agreement between developer and Kodi, protecting itself from future litigation.

So what you are suggesting is a form of DRM for addons. DRM hasn't worked out for the copyright holders, why do you think it would work any better for Kodi?

With Kodi being fully open source it would take 5 minutes for the hardware vendors that push these pirate boxes with custom Kodi builds to work out a patch that disables whatever DRM/authentication checks we put in place.

Well is it Kodi's interest to protect its trademark? or its reputation? can't have both...

My interpretation of the teams actions over the last few years (xbmc to Kodi) was the protection of the new name, and the mission against banned plugins as a means to keep it clean.

If a pirate chooses to edit the opensource it is no longer Kodi but a fork of Kodi, meaning the trademark is free from litigation.

[trogggy]

I understand its against the spirit of this project to add restrictions to Kodi (in this case blocking questionable plugins) but I see no harm in requiring developers to register their plugins.

Future developers would be required to signup similar to api key requests, Not only would Kodi be able to revoke plugin/Kodi interaction (only if the occasion every arises).. But most importantly Kodi can setup a TOS agreement between developer and Kodi, protecting itself from future litigation.

Wow.
In about 8 years of using xbmc / kodi this has to be the worst suggestion I've ever heard. Seriously.
It's wrong on so many levels I don't know where to start.
It wouldn't work.
If it did work it would be immediately bypassed by forks. Which no doubt would be still called kodi in many cases.
If it did work it would stifle development.
It would take functionality away - and I'm not thinking about piracy there.
It would stop me using my system as I want - and I'm not talking piracy there either.
Why does Kodi need protection but Mozilla / Microsoft / Google etc don't?

[Lunatixz]

Tapping out, topic is too sensitive for some... There is no harm in making suggestions.

[Ned Scott]

The problem is that forks are already made, but without rebranding. It's easier to just change code and not replacing "Kodi" and logos.

Actual litigation is not as big of a concern as just public reputation. However, Kodi's reputation regarding open source snd consumer freedoms is more important than the piracy image. None of the pirate stuff matters if Kodi is seen as anti-user.

[Ned Scott]

I see a number of posts recently where the OP is asking a completely valid question regarding hardware, with no mention of any addons or what they are streaming and yet they get the rules rammed down their throat as if they have done something wrong. This is usually just because they have indicated they have an MBox/M8/MXQ. Why does it matter what people do with their equipment - why do the forum police feel the need to push such posters into admitting to what they are streaming when it is not relevant to their questions?

Why such a tough stance all of a sudden?

Mostly because there are ignorant consumers who don't know this. I agree that there should be less assumption of wrong doing on the forum, but it's hard when faced with thousands of sellers who are making a huge amount of money to market Kodi as a "free TV" box. We're outnumbered, so we try to yell louder. We try to make it known to as many people as possible what Kodi is.

It doesn't matter how many people want to use Kodi in that way. What matters is how many people don't even know that Kodi can be used for legal purposes, and was designed to do so.