

When Amazon removed Kodi from their Android appstore earlier this year, it was likely an attempt to distance the Fire TV and Fire TV Stick from their growing reputation of being good devices for consuming pirated content. That reputation is now being propagated on Amazon’s own site. Over the past few days, an influx of third-party sellers (1) (2) (3) have managed to list Fire TVs and Fire TV Sticks on Amazon.com that come pre-installed with Kodi, as well as several third-party piracy add-ons that illegally stream copyright content. These listings are not shy about advertising the fact that buyers can watch “ALL TV shows, ALL movies and many many PPV events” with “No monthly fee!” Of course, they conveniently fail to mention that using any of these pre-configured devices is illegal under US copyright laws.

Should copyright holders bar Amazon from selling Fire TV devices altogether due to the actions of these third-party sellers? Of course not. I’m sure Amazon is unaware of the true nature of these listings and that they’ll likely be removed now that I’ve brought attention to them. However, it’s hypocritical for Amazon to punish Kodi for the actions of unsanctioned third-party individuals, who are out of Kodi’s control, when Amazon themselves can’t keep these nefarious third-party piracy advocates off of their own website, which is completely within their control. Just as copyright holders should not take down Amazon for the actions of a third-party seller, Amazon should not take down Kodi for the actions of third-party add-ons. #FreeKODI

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