Online auction website eBay will remove listings for Kodi-powered streaming devices, it has been revealed.The crackdown comes as US retail company Amazon revealed it would ban any media players that actively “promote” or “suggest” the easy facilitation of piracy. Amazon never explicitly permitted the sale of these copyright-infringing set-top boxes, however, it was possible to find sellers within the online marketplace trying to sell them through the retail portal. eBay had a similar issue, with sellers using the online auction site to promote devices that enable free access to copyrighted material.
Kodi is just one example of software that can be used to power these “pirate” media players. For those who don’t know, Kodi is a neutral, open-source media player software that can be installed on a broad range of devices. This legal software can be combined with third-party add-ons which enable users to access copyright-protected material for free – uploaded, shared or streamed from other users across the globe. Set-top boxes, manufactured by a range of different brands, running the Kodi media player with a slew of third-party add-ons, are colloquially known as Kodi Boxes.
Kodi is not the only software that enables these types of “pirate” streaming devices – but it is one of the most well-known.
