Now We Know Why Amazon Has Rejected Kodi
#31
(2015-06-20, 15:58)JerzeyDawg Wrote: It's quite simple ......Amazon wants to keep you on the Amazon Plantation.
Yes that's exactly it, plus probable pressure from content providers to nail a high profile target like Kodi.
Amazon are not exactly selling their Hardware to make a profit, its all revenue from consumed content through the device.

This really is the problem with devices running on closed Firmware that cannot be jailbroken, you are at the mercy of the Hardware provider to even allow anything to be installed or even run in the first place. They can change their mind on a whim.

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#32
I've emailed Amazon, asking why they have removed a fully legitimate application from their store, yet still provide for sale apps and hardware that advertise piracy and illegal content.

Also asked if they should also be fined, etc as they are promoting piracy by selling the products

Not sure, but UK users could fill this in http://www.fast.org.uk/what-piracy/illeg...-downloads and mention Amazon
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#33
I really really hate Amazon Apps and all apps for that matter that Hijack the Open Source XBMC / Kodi devs. good work and give Kodi a bad name so...

Quote:To: copyright@amazon.com

Hello Amazon,

Recently I was browsing your App store looking at Media players and came across an App called TVMC. Get stuff for free was the description - well until I looked a little deeper.
The entire purpose of this App is to Hijack a well known Open Source Project called XBMC/Kodi and load it up with plugins to facilitate video streaming of Pirate Web channels and hence violate Copyright provisions.

A quick google search turns up this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/...d-t2904878

The first sentence of the description:
"* Watch Content from PrimeWire (1Channel), Project Free TV, IceFilms, USTVnow, Veetle, NFL.com, International Content, Live TV, Sports and Much More! *"

Another Google search:
http://www.1channel.so/

If I search for IceFilms, I find a similar setup.
http://www.icefilms.info/movies/a-z/1

Surely this must be a clear breach of the Amazon App Store for Android, Terms and Conditions ?
TVMC appears to be a pretty blatant Piracy facilitating App by the look of it.

Ironically from what I have read recently you appear to have removed the wrong app from your Store as the Kodi App had no such Piracy plugins installed and was actually akin to a blank canvas. Very similar to a Web Browser viewing whatever Web content the user points and clicks to.

I ask you review the TVMC App.

Thank You

Yes I'm on a mission to stop this Tarnishing Devil of the Kodi's good name and Newbie's coming on here asking for help for this Banned Addon crap.

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#34
Sent to Amazon

Quote:2. Software/Game name:
TVMC, PLEX, XBMC4U, XBMC Media Player, Firefox, Chrome, etc, etc, etc,

3. Describe the question or issue:
I have noticed you have removed a legitimate product (Kodi) from your service because users can use 3rd party add-ons to download pirate products. The software I have listed above is still available on your product list and they too can all be used to download illegal content, so require removing from your store. Some of these products are infringing on the copyright of the original owners of Kodi and thus should not be available.

Also noticed that all the media playback devices you offer allow the download of pirated products and are also reading some of the descriptions even state you can download these. It should also be noted that your own Fire TV and Stick can be used to stream illegal content, the same as Google Chrome and any PC related product you sell.

If you are going to remove a legitimate product because of 3rd party sellers abusing the original product, then their products should be removed.

It should also be noted that every web browser can be used to download illegal content so these also need to be removed from your app store as well

Their reply
Quote:I'm sorry to hear that you're not happy as the app Kodi is no longer available on Amazon Appstore. I apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Unfortunately, I do not have any information on why this app was removed from the website and a lot of factors are considered before removing an app from the website.

To help you with this, I've forwarded this as feedback to the appstore team for consideration as we make future improvements.

This kind of feedback is invaluable to us, as it helps us continue to improve and provide better service to all of our customers.

I appreciate your patience and understanding in this regard. We look forward to seeing you again soon

So have asked them how the relevant authories, etc would be happy that they themselves are promoting piracy but selling products advertising the free stuff
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#35
There, posts deleted. Let this be the end of that weird argument getting out of control.
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#36
But we still don't know why Amazon has rejected Kodi, so maybe change the subject to:

Why has Amazon rejected Kodi?
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#37
Thanks Ned. Now back to the important matters with Intelligent discussions about Amazon. Smile

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#38
There was only one person getting out of control. And apparently him shouting 'FOOK OFF' was enough to get my point removed too.
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#39
I don't care... just both of you shut up about it or I'll ban everyone everywhere and burn the server down.
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#40
Ned, is there anything we, the users can do? Should we try and send emails to Amazon support? I've been a prime customer for many years and I have two fire sticks and an echo, all of which control or run kodi in one form or another
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#41
(2015-06-21, 16:19)aptalca Wrote: Ned, is there anything we, the users can do? Should we try and send emails to Amazon support? I've been a prime customer for many years and I have two fire sticks and an echo, all of which control or run kodi in one form or another

You're welcome to send them a note saying whatever you like right here. https://developer.amazon.com/appsandserv...contact-us
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#42
(2015-06-21, 21:37)natethomas Wrote:
(2015-06-21, 16:19)aptalca Wrote: Ned, is there anything we, the users can do? Should we try and send emails to Amazon support? I've been a prime customer for many years and I have two fire sticks and an echo, all of which control or run kodi in one form or another

You're welcome to send them a note saying whatever you like right here. https://developer.amazon.com/appsandserv...contact-us

Sent a note. Thanks
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#43
More bad news with TorrentFreak keeping associating Kodi/XBMC with piracy by mentioning it in these types of news stories, and while TorrentFreak probabbaly do not mean to gain users from Kodi unlike some others out there, this repetetive association is still most likley bad publicity for Kodi.

http://torrentfreak.com/when-piracy-gets...se-150620/

I think that articles like these that can make anti-piracy lobby groups such FACT and BREIN blacklist Kodi in general and then go out of their way to activly report it to try to get it banned from app stores or worse such as even take direct or indirect legal actions against Kodi.

(2015-06-18, 20:08)Ned Scott Wrote:
(2015-06-18, 19:26)sdsnyr94 Wrote: In my opinion, within the Kodi software there are no deterrents or disclaimers AGAINST add-ons that advocate piracy. If Kodi, by default, blocked third party repositories/addons.... but added a setting, or as Amazon has it labeled a 'Developer Option', to allow third party repositories/add-ons, which when enabled displays a disclaimer opposing piracy /warning of risks of third party software, would it help distance Team-Kodi from the 'facilitating piracy' label, and place responsibility back into the users hands?
That still wouldn't make any difference. The biggest issue we face is the venders selling pre-configured boxes/installs that already have the add-ons, and then market it as a "Kodi thing". I also don't like the idea of intentionally making Kodi harder to use just to make some group like Amazon happy.
But might not pop-up warning on each first time third-party install be good for Kodi users regardless and as a plus also make a difference in allowing Kodi's available via Amazon Appstore?

Just follow the arguments in this feature request http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=229648

Adding simple warnings and acceptance or decline option when installing third-party addons/repositories for the first time would not make Kodi harder to use, it would be more informative. Remember that this is the exact type of mechanism that the Android OS deployed, where the user just have to enable "Unknown Sources" in the settings, close warning and be done.

Such a one-time warning for first-time install of each third-party addon and repository would not be a lock or restriction, as it again would only be informative:

"Warning! You are about to install third-party addon that have not been scrutinized by the Kodi team, do you want to proceed? In doing do you understand that you will get no support".
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#44
@RockerC
reading the documents from the legal action from BREIN it mentions Kodi and XBMC Foundation but nowhere does it state that it promotes piracy.

Quote:2.6.

[gedaagde] heeft op de filmspeler de open source software XBMC geïnstalleerd. De XBMC software maakt het mogelijk om in een eenvoudig bedienbare grafische schil (user interface) via menustructuren bestanden op te starten. De XBMC software is tot stand gebracht door de XBMC Foundation en is - met inachtneming van bepaalde licentievoorwaarden - door een ieder te gebruiken en te bewerken.
2.7.

Op de filmspeler heeft [gedaagde] ook add-ons geïnstalleerd. Add-ons zijn losse software bestanden, die door derden worden gemaakt en vrijelijk te verkrijgen zijn op het internet.
2.8.

[gedaagde] heeft add-ons op de filmspeler geplaatst waarin zich hyperlinks bevinden, die, indien aangeklikt, linken naar websites die door derden worden beheerd (verder ook te noemen “streamingwebsites”). Op deze streamingwebsites zijn films, series en (live)sportwedstrijden vrij toegankelijk gemaakt, al dan niet met toestemming van de rechthebbenden. De add-ons zorgen er voor dat de benodigde afspeelinformatie wordt opgehaald van de streamingwebsites en dat de films, series en (live)sportwedstrijden automatisch beginnen te spelen zodra deze worden aangeklikt.
2.9.

De add-ons die [gedaagde] op de filmspeler heeft geïnstalleerd zijn niet door [gedaagde] beïnvloed of veranderd. De add-ons zijn door [gedaagde] wel geïntegreerd in de user interface van de XBMC software.
2.10.

[gedaagde] heeft zowel add-ons uit officiële als onofficiële repositories op de filmspeler geïnstalleerd. Veertien add-ons die [gedaagde] in de filmspeler heeft opgenomen linken naar websites waarop films, series en (live)sportwedstrijden toegankelijk zijn gemaakt, zonder toestemming van de rechthebbenden. Het betreft hier de add-ons 1Channel, Glow movies HD, Go Movies, Icefilms, Mashup, Much Movies, Much Movies HD, Istream, Simply Movies, Simply Player, Yify Movies HD, Ororo.tv, Teledunet.com en Go TV. Naast deze add-ons heeft [gedaagde] ook diverse add-ons op de filmspeler geïnstalleerd, die verwijzen naar streamingwebsites waarop films, series en sportwedstrijden mét toestemming van de rechthebbenden toegankelijk zijn gemaakt, zoals Youtube, Sports illustrated, uitzending gemist, Music video box, Vimeo, ESPN 3, RTLXL, SkyFM em Soundcloud.

Full source:
http://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/inziend...:2015:4343

In short the suspect has pre-installed add-ons which provide unauthorised access to streams without the consent of the content owner such as 1Channel and so on.
There are also other add-ons installed that provide access to streams that are made public with authorisation of the owner like YouTube, ESPN3, SoundCloud.
So they make a very clear distinction that Kodi as software does not in itself provide access to "piracy" but the third-party add-ons are the problem.

I agree that in most cases the blogs don't make it obvious there's a clear distinction.
Read/follow the forum rules.
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#45
Yes, a media player should put up license agreement screens, even if they are distributed entirely without end user facing licensing at all - because DRM based gating IS the new default, and not only most people are very challenged to understand that there is an entire software development tradition that is profoundly against limiting its use for commercial interests - its also the executives that ar especially challenged by this complex world we live in, and that would very much care for a postit note explaining it to them - which we like conceptually, because really all we want is neverending calmness, and once in a while wave at one of our puppies, when it gets slaughtered.

Hm...

Could you describe to me, as someone who doesnt see anything "naive" or "unintended" in Amazons actions at all, how exchanging open source ideals for fliers that state that we have the right to produce something free and open source, and distribute them without naming it a licensing agreement is solving the problem?

As we speak, Amazon is promoting PLEX on their start page. And Kodi is scrambling to get their public image under control again. Make yourself look better, and hope that you wont get killed off from the next storefront, and the next, and the next -- because there was almost no standing against Amazons move on grounds that it was - hmm, anti competitive and therefore illegal?

Their contractual argument not only was weak it was highly questionable to non existent. The problem being, you have no rights, when it comes to app stores. At all. You are signing all of them away voluntarily so companies get a risk free environment they can develop in any way they want (the Web 2.0 contract). You may make some money from it - yeah, party like its 2015 and everyone STILL tries to get an app to "become viral".

This is really the new gold rush as in - people have rejected any idea of balance of power, consumer rights, and independent analysis in the media - entirely. Go get some makeup, make yourself look pretty - and throw your legs high at the saloon, baby.
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