INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and eBay CEO Devin Wenig asking their companies to
help remove the listings for fake pay TV boxes from their respective websites
These boxes often falsely bear the FCC logo, the letter informed, and are used to perpetuate &intellectual property theft and consumer
fraud.
With the rise in cord cutting, a number of consumers have found it just as easy to use a software app like Kodi on a cheap streaming
media device to gain access to content — like TV shows and movies — that they would otherwise miss out on by dropping their pay TV
As an added perk, various software add-ons enable consumers to stream movies still in the theaters, too
It an easier way to access pirated content than visiting The Pirate Bay and downloading torrent files.
While Kodi open-source software
itself doesn''t facilitate piracy, through a number of downloadable add-ons, it relatively easy for consumers to figure out how to stream
pirated content thanks to online tutorials and YouTube videos.
It not clear if people know that they&re doing something illegal, or just
don''t care because there are seemingly no repercussions related to their behavior.
Amazon, Netflix and major Hollywood studios have gone
after these box makers through the court system already
In January, for example, aUnited States District Court judgehanded down a preliminary injunction against TickBox TV, a Georgia-based
set-top box maker that was profiting from the sale of its so-called &Kodi boxes.
Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Disney, 20th
Century Fox Film, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros
were also plaintiffs in that case, along with Netflix and Amazon.
Amazon and eBay also proactively remove devices facilitating piracy
from their websites, the FCC acknowledged in its letter.
Amazon, for example, prevented the sale of ''tens of thousands of unlawful
devices& through its &automated proactive detection, preventative investigations, and notices of infringement from rights holders,& the
Ebay, meanwhile, also removes devices reported as infringing and removes those that say things like &never pay another cable bill& or &fully
loaded& in their descriptions.
But the FCC wants the companies to do more, and faster, it seems.
Unfortunately, despite your good work in
this area, devices continue to make it to consumers through your website,& writes FCC Commissioner Mike O&Rielly
&Many of these devices contain harmful malware that will most certainly be passed on to the consumer
Moreover, the consumer may unwittingly believe that the device is lawful since they were able to purchase it from a legitimate company.
The
FCC is additionally concerned because many devices use the FCC logo to aid in their attempt to defraud consumers.
It notes that nine set-top
box distributors were referred to the FCC in October for streaming pirated content, and seven of those displayed the FCC logo even though
there was no record of their compliance with the commission requirements.
The letter specifically asks both Amazon and eBay to step up their
enforcement, by &swiftly removing& devices the FCC alerts them to; it also asks the companies to provide the FCC with information about the
manufacturers, distributors and suppliers, when requested.
The move not only pushes Amazon and eBay to more quickly and thoroughly cooperate
with the FCC, it also serves as a warning about the United States government plan to further its crackdown on these fake pay TV boxes.
Of
course, there a bit of irony here regarding Amazon participation in this fight — its Amazon Fire TV Stick, or &firestick& as consumers
tend to refer to it, is one of the most popular devices out there today for enabling piracy.
People either buy the &firestick& themselves
and install Kodi and various add-onsor they buy a slightly more expensive, hacked firestick from a local reseller who hawking them on
under-the-radar backchannels, like Facebook Groups or online message boards
The hacked firestick is set up with Kodi pre-installed and the various add-ons for free streaming already configured
(A search for &kodi box& on Amazon.com also returns the Fire TV Stick and Fire TV as the top two results thanks to &sponsored& placements by
Hmmm.)
The United States is not alone in its Kodi box crackdown
Recently, business owners in Wales who sold fully loaded Kodi boxes were sentenced to prison,for example, and its courts have ruled Kodi
Canada has gone after websites that enable piracy through Kodi, as well.
In response to the letter, eBay says it plans to cooperate with the
FCC:
We&re committed to working in collaboration with the FCC to prevent the sale of these illegal products
As outlined in the letter, eBay utilizes a variety of measures to prevent these products from being sold on our platform
These include proactive filtering and manual site reviews to identify illegal products, as well as taking action on direct referrals
We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with the FCC to keep these illegal products off our site.
Amazon has not yet responded
to a request for comment.
Amazon has shared its statement, which was written in its own letter to the FCC.
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