I haven't looked at this in a while but I don't think the situation has changed. As far as I could ever see simply downloading copyright material freely available on the internet is not against the law, sharing it is, enabling others to do it is and making money from it or paying to do it definitely is.
Simply downloading content, even illegally copied films, is not illegal on the part of the downloader and there is no action to be taken, though ISPs used to put effort into throttling it because of the bandwidth it uses. Obviously not the same for the uploader.
Uploading, distributing or sharing copyright content is *absolutely* illegal and if they find you they can take action.
The problem with torrenting is that it's a p2p arrangement for file sharing and you are not simply downloading you are also uploading. Very naughty and certainly against the law. Also because a torrent is shared so widely it could be said that each individual sharer is responsible for all the losses suffered by the copyright owner. Hence the threats of massive fines.
Supplying, distributing, enabling or selling anything to enable that unauthorised downloading is illegal.
The torrent trackers tried to point out that they don't store or distribute anything, they simply have users who post where the stuff is. This makes them difficult to attack. However, I imagine that if Section 230 is repealed then they will be right in the cack because they will become legally liable for content posted by their users and thus will be deemed to enabling the distribution of copyright material.
IT could be argued that using a tracking site makes you part of the act, an accomplice, but I don't think that has ever been tried.
Your ISP has two concerns; bandwidth addressed my throttling is the easy one. However, if they do not try to stop illegal sharing and do not cooperate with whatever copyright owner is on the case, then they are enabling the distribution of illegal content which is why (and legally how) they will hand over your details at the drop of a hat.
Copyright owners are very careful who they go after and who they take to court, for much the same reason as car parking companies - they don't want the case law / precedent to go against them. Consequently when they go after someone in court then it is for uploading and sharing, not downloading.
Using Kodi is not breaking the law if you're downloading, whatever you are downloading.
So the makers of Kodi are fine, the suppliers of the repositories are not because they are distributing or enabling the distribution of illegal content. If the repository is making money through advertising that you are watching, then that becomes more difficult and may change the situation.
Of course it also matters what you're doing with downloaded content. Allowing someone else to watch it is sharing and against the law. Charging someone to watch it is *really* against the law.
In the case of Kodi I think using a VPN is protecting the repository rather than yourself from the law. It is protecting you from your ISP who will [or should] shut you down if they work it out.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sun 3 Jan 21 at 14:02
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