While Kodi’s name is regularly dragged up in media reports on illegally-streamed content, Kodi software itself is not illegal to use.
However, the software can be utilized in such a way as to perform illegal activities, such as accessing live, copyright-protected sports broadcasts, or watching pirated copies of Hollywood films or the latest can’t-miss TV series without paying.
This is made possible by a number of downloadable add-ons and plug-ins, themselves enabled by the open nature of the Kodi platform. These nefarious uses have become a key draw for a number of law-flouting users, with Kodi becoming a prevalent tool for illegal activity.
Enabling and expanding these illicit applications, users and sellers are loading the software onto dedicated hardware devices known as ‘so-called Kodi boxes’. While Kodi doesn’t make any such hardware itself, these boxes have become readily available, although online retailers, including Amazon and eBay, have starting cracking down on their sale.
Such devices are illegal, and
a number of arrests of individuals who were openly selling the doctored hardware have been made recently. As well as being pitched to private users, such devices have been increasingly sold to bars and clubs, granting their customers illegal access to live sports action.
But, as we’ve mentioned, despite being tweaked to enable some legally questionable uses Kodi is actually perfectly legal software – software that offers plenty of impressive features.