[Inglewood]

I worked for a major Canadian retailer in the 90's that sold grey/black market U.S. satellite dishes, and as a sales rep we were told to openly sell them as "free" and we even updated smart cards in the store for customers when there boxes would go down.

The store had a display where customers could play with a box, see what channels came with it, and we went through the process of how to get there cards working again if they went down.

I'm assuming nothing has changed in 20-25 years.

A hammer can be used for many legitimate uses also, but if the sales rep at a hardware store tells you how to use it to break into cars and kill someone instead of hitting a nail, there is some culpability...

 

[As Is]

What a joke. They don't seem to know much about the internet.
Google " how to pirate movies" and see all the videos and websites explaining all you need to know.
Then go to Best Buy and ask for the device that google, reddit, youtube etc recommend. That's probably where they got their information to begin with. Sue google.

My firestick does all that and more. Do I have to destroy it?

 

[NeilN]

If you read post 778, it discusses how this was handled by the businesses in question.

That's nowhere close to "The investigation also revealed that selling the devices preloaded with Kodi software enables pirating of copyrighted content right off the shelf..."

If I walk into Best Buy and have the salesperson show me how to install whatever software hooks into these pirate streams on a HP computer that does not mean HP are going to get their computers destroyed because they are preloaded with software enabling pirating of copyrighted content right off the shelf.

 

[ExDilbert]

I believe that items that are used in the commission of a crime can be confiscated and destroyed. Proceeds from criminal activities can also be confiscated. That may include many items such as buildings, automobiles, boats, etc. If the law is strictly enforced, that could theoretically include entire businesses if their assets were primarily obtained through criminal activities. Why not computers that have been modified for piracy and put on a shelf for sale?

 

[NeilN]

Why not computers that have been modified for piracy and put on a shelf for sale?

I'm disputing the companies/employees modified the devices for piracy and put them on the shelf to be sold. Pre-loading the device with Kodi (either by the manufacturer (likely) or employees (doubtful)), which was the assertion made, is not illegal or make them "pirate devices".

 

[bev fan]

I know from my own experience that Canada Computers employees have been encouraging customers to buy hardware and were informing them how to get the apps to watch free tv.
What is very funny to me is that Vmedia, Tv and internet provider has been informing their customers on their forum how to download those apps on their android players and Teksavvy has gone to court to protect the rights of pirates.
This is what I am always talking about that piracy is seen as something normal in this country and is being encouraged by family members, coworkers friends and now even by big business. LOL.

 

[ExDilbert]

It's NOT illegal to put Kodi on an Android box and sell it. Kodi is a legal media player similar to Windows Media Center that Microsoft bundled with Windows for years. What IS illegal is to also install a Kodi plugin designed to pirate copyrighted material or to sell subscriptions to illegal pirating services. Kodi is not required to download or watch pirated programming. There are a other ways to do that without Kodi and without Android.

Android boxes are used because they are cheap, easy to modify and provide a big markup. Banning Android TV boxes would be like banning cars because bank robbers use them as getaway vehicles. Licensed BDUs also use Android boxes for their IPTV services and their software is similar in concept to Kodi.

Kodi gets picked on because people see it running pirate software plugins and don't know enough about the technology to differentiate the two. It's like saying Windows Media Player should be banned because they saw someone playing an illegally downloaded movie with it. They didn't see the movie being downloaded from the pirate site so they think Windows Media Player is the culprit.

 

[bev fan]

They were recommending apps at Canada Computers that don’t need Kodi to watch movies and shows. Some of those apps have similar interface to Netflix.

 

[bev fan]

New approach to fight piracy in Canada.

https://torrentfreak.com/federal-court-approves-first-pirate-site-blockade-in-canada-191118/

 

[NeilN]

Which is good, and there should be more of these, as long as the process is in no way automated.

 

[metalhawk]

New approach to fight piracy in Canada.

https://torrentfreak.com/federal-court-approves-first-pirate-site-blockade-in-canada-191118/

Absolutely useless, as shown in Australia. Easily by-passed by anyone with two brain cells as far as technology is concerned, which is anyone who knows about IPTV in the first place.

Oh, and GoldTV is already back as SilverTV, and operating as if nothing happened.

As I said, useless.

 

[bev fan]

Absolutely useless, as shown in Australia. Easily by-passed by anyone with two brain cells as far as technology is concerned, which is anyone who knows about IPTV in the first place.

Oh, and GoldTV is already back as SilverTV, and operating as if nothing happened.

As I said, useless.

They haven’t started blocking Gold tv yet. It should start 15 days after the court order.
It is not useless as it creates extra work and expense for the pirates. If it does not curb piracy in Canada then I am pretty sure they will ask courts to allow telcos to implement other counter measures. It could be going after IPTV service providers or VPN’s

https://torrentfreak.com/gears-reloaded-fbi-took-everything-says-iptv-boss-omi-in-a-hellcat-191121/
https://torrentfreak.com/bell-asked-canadian-government-to-ban-certain-vpns-190129/

 

[metalhawk]

They haven’t started blocking Gold tv yet. It should start 15 days after the court order.
It is not useless as it creates extra work and expense for the pirates. If it does not curb piracy in Canada then I am pretty sure they will ask courts to allow telcos to implement other counter measures. It could be going after IPTV service providers or VPN’s

https://torrentfreak.com/gears-reloaded-fbi-took-everything-says-iptv-boss-omi-in-a-hellcat-191121/
https://torrentfreak.com/bell-asked-canadian-government-to-ban-certain-vpns-190129/

These days, the costs (new domain name, maybe switch servers) are minuscule compared to the amount of money those shady companies are making. And it's just the cost of doing business.

And I guess I didn't word it properly above. Obviously they aren't blocked yet, but within 24 hours they were already ready to go under a new name and domain name.

 

[MCIBUS]

IPTV companies will simple change their IP Address/portal and if you got a reseller they'll simply just e-mail the new portal for the service?

 

[metalhawk]

Yep. That's a game of whack-a-mole that the big companies can't win. The solution is to offer a product that people want at a price people want to pay. We were well on the way with Netflix, Prime and Crave (or Hulu in the US) but greed has derailed this at the moment (but that's a discussion for another thread).

 

[bev fan]

IPTV companies will simple change their IP Address/portal and if you got a reseller they'll simply just e-mail the new portal for the service?

I agree it may not be as effective but it could create headaches for pirates.
More effective way would be to follow in Dish Network’s or others footsteps.

https://torrentfreak.com/dish-sues-multiple-pirate-tv-streaming-sites-191122/
https://torrentfreak.com/millions-in-crypto-cash-seized-in-movie-piracy-investigation-191124/

 

[bev fan]

Another article about useless Canadian anti-piracy laws.
https://torrentfreak.com/european-commission-calls-out-canadas-lacking-copyright-policy-200101/

 

[NeilN]

One of the last groups Canada should listen to on copyright is the EU: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/.../european-copyright-directive-what-it-and-why-has-it-drawn-more-controversy-any

Heck, many of their member countries have a ludicrous "panorama copyright", meaning you can't take and publish a picture for commercial purposes of a public place without obtaining a license.

 

[ExDilbert]

The repeated use of the term “stakeholder” shows that the Commission heavily relies on input from copyright holders. While this is common, it may not be the most balanced approach.

I hope they don't come after me for quoting the article. I seems like that's what copyright holders want to be able to do.

 

[bev fan]

One of the last groups Canada should listen to on copyright is the EU: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/.../european-copyright-directive-what-it-and-why-has-it-drawn-more-controversy-any

Heck, many of their member countries have a ludicrous "panorama copyright", meaning you can't take and publish a picture for commercial purposes of a public place without obtaining a license.

It is not only EU that complains about luck of anti-piracy laws in Canada. US has complained about it for years and has placed Canada many times on the watch list of 10 countries that fail to deter piracy.