A new crackdown could hit anyone who illegally streams football using Kodi

The Intellectual Property Office could soon take measures to crack down on anyone using Kodi boxes to illegally access live football matches.

While the open-source media player is legal, the IPO is understood to have concerns that some users are accessing copyrighted material through add-ons - something which is much less acceptable. The Hull Daily Mail reports that a review is in place aimed at putting a halt to the sale of the open-source devices, which are thought to sometimes come pre-loaded with third-party add-ons which enable viewers to watch material which they should not have access to. The paper cites an IPO post which reads as follows:

'[Kodi boxes] are small plug and play media servers, originally designed to allow consumers to stream legitimate content (locally stored or legal online content).  'Despite the legitimate use of this equipment, software is widely available (illicit Kodi extensions being the best known) which connect the boxes to illegal content through streaming websites, file lockers and BitTorrent trackers.'

The IPO has put out a call for views in an effort to determine the scale of the problem (of illicit use of these devices), among other details. The news comes just weeks after Spanish courts ruled that RojaDirecta, a site used by some to find links to streamed sporting footage, must be shut down. (Feature image - D.Reichardt/Flickr)