A coworker was telling me yesterday that he jailbreaks Amazon Firesticks for his family and friends...he said that he gets everything from local tv to pay per view events. I was telling my son about it and he says that one of his cousins does it and sells them on eBay. Seems awful risky to me, am I missing something here?

Don't know the law in your state, in mine PROBABLY it's:

THE MICHIGAN PENAL CODE (EXCERPT)
Act 328 of 1931


750.362 Larceny by conversion.
Sec. 362.

Larceny by conversion, etc.—Any person to whom any money, goods or other property, which may be the subject of larceny, shall have been delivered, who shall embezzle or fraudulently convert to his own use, or shall secrete with the intent to embezzle, or fraudulently use such goods, money or other property, or any part thereof, shall be deemed by so doing to have committed the crime of larceny and shall be punished as provided in the first section of this chapter.


In Missouri, just for an example, there is a specific statute:

Facilitating the theft of cable television service--penalty.

570.300. 1. A person commits the offense of facilitating the theft of cable television service if he or she knowingly sells, uses, manufactures, rents, or offers for sale, rental, or use any device, plan, or kit designed and intended to obtain cable television without paying all lawful compensation to the operator of such service.

2. The offense of facilitating theft of cable television service is a class D felony.

3. Nothing in this section shall be construed to render unlawful or prohibit an individual or other legal entity from owning or operating a video cassette recorder or devices commonly known as a satellite receiving dish for the purpose of receiving and utilizing satellite-relayed television signals for his or her own use.

(L. 1986 S.B. 450 § 18, A.L. 2002 H.B. 1888, A.L. 2005 H.B. 353, A.L. 2014 S.B. 491)

Effective 1-01-17

Stealing is stealing no matter how it's done. I'm sure it is illegal everywhere.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by P229 357SIG Man:
A coworker was telling me yesterday that he jailbreaks Amazon Firesticks for his family and friends...he said that he gets everything from local tv to pay per view events. I was telling my son about it and he says that one of his cousins does it and sells them on eBay. Seems awful risky to me, am I missing something here?

It's not difficult.

It won't damage your firestick.

It's shady to make money off of doing it.

Most of the Movie's buffer like crazy and are not worth it.

Most of the live sporting events buffer like crazy and are not worth it.

I'm surprised that they're that easy to jailbreak. I ask my co-worker why Amazon doesn't do something about it, he said they don't want to because they're selling a lot of Firesticks because of it.

A friend of a friend was busted for selling satellite boxes that had been modified illegally. They froze his bank account and his parent's account as well (I can't remember the reasoning, but the accounts were linked somehow) while they investigated. Doesn't seem to be worth the risk to sell them.

quote:

Originally posted by P229 357SIG Man:
I'm surprised that they're that easy to jailbreak. I ask my co-worker why Amazon doesn't do something about it, he said they don't want to because they're selling a lot of Firesticks because of it.

Despite the illegal sounding name, jailbreaking a device is legal. It's what you do with it after that could be the issue. Tons of folks have legit reasons for modifying a device that range from research to hobbyist development.

There's no jaibreaking involved with a firestick. The app is sideloaded. There are no protections to break in order to get it done.

Buffering is easily fixed by lowering resolution. Fast internet also helps.

quote:

I'm surprised that they're that easy to jailbreak. I ask my co-worker why Amazon doesn't do something about it, he said they don't want to because they're selling a lot of Firesticks because of it.

Similar reason NetFlix does not crack down <yet> on user name/password sharing. They know eventually the other users will get their own accounts.

Jailbreaking or unlocking a device is one thing.

The other stuff is another.

Jailbreaking is fine.

Stealing the content after is the crime.

You don't even need a firestick to use kodi.
I have it installed on my pcs and on my android phones.

^^^
Man... Even the cops are pirates now.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Similar reason NetFlix does not crack down <yet> on user name/password sharing. They know eventually the other users will get their own accounts.

Netflix allows name/password sharing, by design.

Netflix limits the number of simultaneous viewers on the account at any given time. For standard accounts, you can view 2 screens at the same time--you can give your password out to 1000 people, but only 2 can watch at the same time.

If you pay for the premium plan, you get 4 simultaneous viewers on the account at the same time. Account sharing is a feature, and you pay for it. If you have the basic plan, only 1 viewer at a time--but that's what you pay for. There's no restriction on which 1 viewer can watch at a time: Mom's iPad, Dad's laptop, Kid's cellphone, Adult Kid's basement TV, whatever.

quote:

Originally posted by tanksoldier:
Jailbreaking is fine.

Stealing the content after is the crime.

This ^^^^^

Hopefully this won't drift the OP question to far afield, what the heck is Koki? I have Googled it but I'm still not sure what it does?

quote:

Originally posted by sig229-SAS:
Hopefully this won't drift the OP question to far afield, what the heck is Koki? I have Googled it but I'm still not sure what it does?

Kodi is a free media center application, available on many different operating systems, which allows people to consume streaming media. Now, that one-sentence definition doesn’t do justice for this incredible piece of software and that is the reason for this article that will teach you everything that you need to know about Kodi.Best explanation I can find

Theft is theft.

And if your integrity is only worth $100/mo, your character leaves a lot to be desired.

Indeed.

There's no movie or TV show that I want to see badly enough that I'd be willing to steal to get it.

Besides, I'm a grown-ass adult with a paying job. I can easily afford the $10/month for Netflix, or 99 cents for a Red Box rental, or the like.


Heck, here lately, I've been digging Amazon's slower shipping incentive, which has let me rent a number of new movies to watch. They have a deal now where Prime members can choose Standard Shipping on their orders, and get a $1 digital credit towards a movie/music download. Standard shipping usually take 2-4 days for me, instead of the 2 days for the usual Prime shipping. The stuff I need quickly I stick with 2 day shipping, and the stuff I can wait a couple more days, I take the $1 credit.

I order a lot from Amazon. That's enough to get me a couple free $6 movie rentals each month from these digital credits.

I had a couple of friends that did the Kodi thing on both Firesticks and computers and while yes you can (illegally) get movies and other content much of it is garbage quality that either buffers like crazy, has subtitles or was literally recorded by some asshole in a theater then uploaded somewhere