Kodi addons could spy on users to work out if they're watching films and TV illegally

Kodi addons can secretly be used to spy on users, the project manager of the foundation says.

They can collect and share information such as your IP address and usage habits without you realising, and feed it back to organisations like anti-piracy groups.

Using Kodi addons to stream copyrighted content for free is illegal, but it has become extremely popular over recent months.

Though authorities have tried to turn people away from piracy with repeated warnings, they’ve admitted that it can be tough to work out who is using Kodi for legal purposes and who is using it for illegal purposes.

This could change everything.

Three domains previously operated by TVAddons – a leading library for Kodi add-ons, which recently shut down – have been transferred to Canadian law firm DrapeauLex, reports TorrentFreak.

According to Kodi project manager Nathan Betzen, if the law firm wanted to, it could deliver rogue updates to anyone who continues to use Kodi addons that rely on TVAddons for updates.

“If some malware author wanted, he could easily install a watcher that reports back the user’s IP address and everything they were doing in Kodi,” he said.

“If the law firm is actually an anti-piracy group, that seems like the likeliest thing I can think of.”

DrapeauLex hasn’t yet revealed what it plans to do with the domains, but the scenario described above seems to be more of a worst-case one than a probable one.

However, it demonstrates what could happen if you don’t know where your software updates are coming from.

In April, the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that using a media player to stream copyrighted content is illegal.

Kodi itself continues to be legal, however, and its creators have repeated expressed their discontent at people who use it for piracy.