Kodi Community Forum

(2016-09-25, 20:01)Denny Wrote: [ -> ]It seems to me that there is a lot of legally available media online, both free and paid. But the LEGAL Kodi addoons seem to handle it piecemeal. Use one addon for Fox News, another for Euronews. Or Bravo. Or yadda, yadda, yadda.

The pirate addons are popular because they consolidate a lot of content - legal or illegal - in one place and make it easy to find things. If the Kodi community were to make an official addon that brought as much of the legal content together as possible and organized it in an easy to navigate manner, then a lot of the appeal for pirated media would fall away.

absolute nonsense!

(2016-09-25, 19:57)Fail$tyle420 Wrote: [ -> ]they have given their consent (by not issuing a take down notice, which they know they can do) for the library to hold/distribute it for free.

I thought it was just an act but you really, truly, have no idea how copyright on the Internet works. Not asking for copyright material to be removed is, according to you, the same as giving consent for it to to distributed for free. All those big Hollywood studios sending out take-down notices, well if they miss a film here and there that's OK.....since they haven't specifically asked for it to be taken down that means it's OK with them. And you're call ME the noob!!!

But you missed the entire point of the posting which is this......

Add-ons like Exodus and Genesis are banned because they allow for the distribution of copyrighted material without permission.
Add-ons like the ROM Launcher are not banned even though they allow for the distribution of copyrighted material without permission.

I've stated my case, either allow discussion of both or ban both. Ignoring the questions about source what do you say about supply?

(2016-09-25, 19:27)Stoofer Wrote: [ -> ]S'funny....I don't remember giving permission for some of my game ROMs to be given away free on archive.org - especially since (technically) I should be getting royalty payments for them even after all this time. And I know with 100% certainty that at least one of the companies involved has specifically refused permission for the distribution and supply of their ROMs for free in any way shape or form (there's still money to be made off them apparently, even the old 8bit stuff.)

Look up "safe harbor". Copyright infringement only occurs after the copyright owner notifies the host and requests the material be taken down.

Also look up "fair use". Congress has included DMCA exemptions for vintage software and video games.

(2016-09-25, 20:29)garbear Wrote: [ -> ]Also look up "fair use". Congress has included DMCA exemptions for vintage software and video games.

But we don't all live in the USA and thus have different ways of handling copyright. In the UK "fair use" means "it may be possible to use quotations or excerpts where the work has been made available to the public" (I did indeed look it up.) As to exemptions for vintage software and video games I don't recall our government passing such a law - but stand to be corrected.

Not knowing anything about American DMCA can I ask, is there a time limit on what is classed as "vintage software?" i.e games xx years old are OK for distribution while games less than that are prohibited, that kind of thing?

(2016-09-25, 20:40)Stoofer Wrote: [ -> ]

(2016-09-25, 20:29)garbear Wrote: [ -> ]Also look up "fair use". Congress has included DMCA exemptions for vintage software and video games.

But we don't all live in the USA and thus have different ways of handling copyright. In the UK "fair use" means "it may be possible to use quotations or excerpts where the work has been made available to the public" (I did indeed look it up.) As to exemptions for vintage software and video games I don't recall our government passing such a law - but stand to be corrected.

Not knowing anything about American DMCA can I ask, is there a time limit on what is classed as "vintage software?" i.e games xx years old are OK for distribution while games less than that are prohibited, that kind of thing?

Internet Archive is a US company and I'm a US developer. I have no interest in UK law.

Congress defined vintage to mean any formats that need the original hardware. So basically every rom on that entire site.

BTW the internet archive was the one who wrote that DMCA exemption. So I have full faith that any software of theirs I link to is free of copyright infringement.

(2016-09-25, 20:24)Stoofer Wrote: [ -> ]I thought it was just an act but you really, truly, have no idea how copyright on the Internet works. Not asking for copyright material to be removed is, according to you, the same as giving consent for it to to distributed for free. All those big Hollywood studios sending out take-down notices, well if they miss a film here and there that's OK.....since they haven't specifically asked for it to be taken down that means it's OK with them. And you're call ME the noob!!!

You're absolutely correct! I have no idea about copyrights on ANYTHING! No, everything you said after the first two sentences are putting words in my mouth. I SPECIFICALLY mentioned Nintendo since that is what YOU brought up. Again, still doesn't change the fact that if they have material on there that the copyright holder doesn't want up there, it takes a SIMPLE email. If you can code a game, you can send them an email asking to remove your content, so yes....you are a noob.

(2016-09-25, 20:24)Stoofer Wrote: [ -> ]But you missed the entire point of the posting which is this......

Add-ons like Exodus and Genesis are banned because they allow for the distribution of copyrighted material without permission.
Add-ons like the ROM Launcher are not banned even though they allow for the distribution of copyrighted material without permission.

No, the original post had to do with asking about banned addons and how to identify illegal content....it's geniuses such as yourself that bring up other things such as internet archive and nintendo. I've simply replied to the offtopic jibber jabber. Add-ons like rom launcher are retrieving from a LEGAL source. You can cry and complain all day if you want, but it doesn't change the facts. Learn2web noob

(2016-09-25, 20:24)Stoofer Wrote: [ -> ]I've stated my case, either allow discussion of both or ban both. Ignoring the questions about source what do you say about supply?

Wtf are you talking about? You've stated your case and you've been given the answers....now you just want to keep crying. I'm not here to debate or argue with you, I've replied to what you have said with facts, take it or leave it, won't change em.

(2016-09-25, 20:50)garbear Wrote: [ -> ]BTW the internet archive was the one who wrote that DMCA exemption.

I had no idea! Cool to learn!

(2016-09-25, 20:51)Fail$tyle420 Wrote: [ -> ]Wtf are you talking about?

You know if you can get the other person to swear at you then you've hit a nerve

Thanks for a great Sunday evening conversation....I look forward to chatting with you again...calm down and don't take things so seriously!

All the best.

(2016-09-25, 19:27)Stoofer Wrote: [ -> ]....
How much are Team Kodi going to pay me and my colleagues for supporting an add-on that allows our copyrighted games to be pirated to others? I accept Paypal BTW.

are you serious, or just trolling ?

I apologize if I made it seem like you "hit a nerve", I honestly didn't know what you meant past "I've stated my case" as the rest didn't make any sense. I mean....nothing you said was getting deleted or "banned" so what were you talking about?

Again, I wasn't trying to pick a fight. You spoke up without knowing what you were talking about just like the guy who first brought up internet archive and I've simply replied.

(2016-09-25, 20:09)Ed76 Wrote: [ -> ]

(2016-09-25, 20:01)Denny Wrote: [ -> ]It seems to me that there is a lot of legally available media online, both free and paid. But the LEGAL Kodi addoons seem to handle it piecemeal. Use one addon for Fox News, another for Euronews. Or Bravo. Or yadda, yadda, yadda.

The pirate addons are popular because they consolidate a lot of content - legal or illegal - in one place and make it easy to find things. If the Kodi community were to make an official addon that brought as much of the legal content together as possible and organized it in an easy to navigate manner, then a lot of the appeal for pirated media would fall away.

absolute nonsense!

Nonsense? Really? Most people don't want EVERYTHING. They know they'll never watch all of it. But they do want enough to keep it interesting. And there is plenty of free content out there.

Take ABC as an example.

THEY HAVE A FREE ONLINE LIVE STREAM. On YouTube it seems that some of the most popular Kodi unofficial addons is an EPG that can link to other unofficial addons that gather together various live feeds, giving you live TV comparable to cable. Why can't there be an "official" EPG that links to legal live streams from the IP owner?

ABC also has recent episodes of all of their shows (Once Upon a Time, black-ish, Designated Survivor, Grey's Anatomy, Marvel's Agents of Shield, How to Get Away With Murder, Modern Family, etc) available on demand. Why can't there be an addon that allows those shows to be integrated into the Kodi TV library (like a certain "unofficial" addon does thru the traktd.com website)?

Other networks like CBS, Fox, NBC, Bravo, A&E, etc, have their own content available as well.

Other "official" Kodi addons make a lot of movie content available as well - public domain or freely supplied by the IP owner. Classic Cinema Online, Comet TV Live, Crackler, Popcornflix, Sundance TV, etc. If all of that content was to be consolidated and made easily searchable, such an addon would rival any of the "unofficial" addons offering pirated content.

The same applies to sports. There are official addons for ESPN, NBCSN, the NFL, the NHL, the NBA, MLS Live, Sports Illustrated, and Sportsnet Now. Aggregate all of that content and you have a viable LEGAL alternative to a certain "unofficial" addon that has a smiling soccer ball as a logo.

News too. We have addons like euronews and Fox News. MSNBC has a live stream. So does CNN.

Why can't the Kodi community simply make legal addons that work the same way as the pirate addons, but with legal content?

For me - and I'm willing to bet there's a lot of other users like me - Kodi isn't a tool for controlling all of my video catalog that I have painstakingly transferred from DVD/blueray to a huge HHD. I use it as an OTT to stream TV shows and movies to my TV. I disconnected that external hard drive and tossed it in a drawer.

The Kodi community needs to recognize that streaming is the direction EVERYONE is going in and try to encourage users to do so legally. Trying to chase down pirates and pirate box sellers all around the world and sue them out of business is a fool's errand. Ruining the pirates' business by making it easy to get content legally is a much more workable solution.

(2016-09-26, 18:04)Denny Wrote: [ -> ]

(2016-09-25, 20:09)Ed76 Wrote: [ -> ]

(2016-09-25, 20:01)Denny Wrote: [ -> ]It seems to me that there is a lot of legally available media online, both free and paid. But the LEGAL Kodi addoons seem to handle it piecemeal. Use one addon for Fox News, another for Euronews. Or Bravo. Or yadda, yadda, yadda.

The pirate addons are popular because they consolidate a lot of content - legal or illegal - in one place and make it easy to find things. If the Kodi community were to make an official addon that brought as much of the legal content together as possible and organized it in an easy to navigate manner, then a lot of the appeal for pirated media would fall away.

absolute nonsense!

Nonsense? Really? Most people don't want EVERYTHING. They know they'll never watch all of it. But they do want enough to keep it interesting. And there is plenty of free content out there.

Take ABC as an example.

THEY HAVE A FREE ONLINE LIVE STREAM. On YouTube it seems that some of the most popular Kodi unofficial addons is an EPG that can link to other unofficial addons that gather together various live feeds, giving you live TV comparable to cable. Why can't there be an "official" EPG that links to legal live streams from the IP owner?

ABC also has recent episodes of all of their shows (Once Upon a Time, black-ish, Designated Survivor, Grey's Anatomy, Marvel's Agents of Shield, How to Get Away With Murder, Modern Family, etc) available on demand. Why can't there be an addon that allows those shows to be integrated into the Kodi TV library (like a certain "unofficial" addon does thru the traktd.com website)?

Other networks like CBS, Fox, NBC, Bravo, A&E, etc, have their own content available as well.

Other "official" Kodi addons make a lot of movie content available as well - public domain or freely supplied by the IP owner. Classic Cinema Online, Comet TV Live, Crackler, Popcornflix, Sundance TV, etc. If all of that content was to be consolidated and made easily searchable, such an addon would rival any of the "unofficial" addons offering pirated content.

The same applies to sports. There are official addons for ESPN, NBCSN, the NFL, the NHL, the NBA, MLS Live, Sports Illustrated, and Sportsnet Now. Aggregate all of that content and you have a viable LEGAL alternative to a certain "unofficial" addon that has a smiling soccer ball as a logo.

News too. We have addons like euronews and Fox News. MSNBC has a live stream. So does CNN.

Why can't the Kodi community simply make legal addons that work the same way as the pirate addons, but with legal content?

For me - and I'm willing to bet there's a lot of other users like me - Kodi isn't a tool for controlling all of my video catalog that I have painstakingly transferred from DVD/blueray to a huge HHD. I use it as an OTT to stream TV shows and movies to my TV. I disconnected that external hard drive and tossed it in a drawer.

The Kodi community needs to recognize that streaming is the direction EVERYONE is going in and try to encourage users to do so legally. Trying to chase down pirates and pirate box sellers all around the world and sue them out of business is a fool's errand. Ruining the pirates' business by making it easy to get content legally is a much more workable solution.

Agreed with most of this. Because of the need for multiple addons for pretty much every example given, I dismiss them. I can access everything those plugins can, but quicker through a browser. I would prefer to use kodi to access those examples, but If I have to keep clicking in and out of different plugins, what's the point? Obviously this would be a big task and would probably require a lot of maintenance, but if the piracy addon creators can do it, the skilled kodi community could pull it off!

Now, as far as streaming being a default....no, I have to disagree. Plenty of people love to own hard copies of anything/everything. None of the streaming sites (Paid or not) offer the bonus features found on the dvd/bluray, so that's a no go for lots of people. I'm sure there are plenty of homes like mine where we have about 6 PCs, many different gaming consoles, phones and other entertainment devices are CONSTANTLY online and running the bandwidth down. Don't get me wrong, there are just as many people if not more that could care less about my examples and streaming is all they do I'm sure, but it'll be a :LONG time before everything/everyone is going digital.

As for the piracy, no matter what anyone does it will be there. When there's a will, there's a way plain and simple.

sad fact is that providing piracy content seems to be way way easier than legal content thanks to pointless DRM

(2016-09-26, 22:18)da-anda Wrote: [ -> ]thanks to pointless DRM

Nail on the head!