kodi domain seized

Kodi Domain Seized By Homeland Security?

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Users who tried to visit the official Kodi website saw an alarming and scary image on the website. Is the Kodi domain seized by Homeland Security? Are you in trouble? Find out below.

 

Update: April 1, 6pm EST. The Kodi website is back up and back to normal service. the Kodi Foundation has also updated their website and posted a good article that everything should read here.

Users who visited the official Kodi website, kodi.tv, as of about 5pm EST this afternoon (or just after midnight in Hungary where the Kodi headquarters are located) were alarmed with the following message about the Kodi domain seized:

This domain name has been seized by ICE – Homeland Security Investigations, pursuant to a seizure warrant issued by a United States District Court under the authority of 18 U.S.C 981 and 2323.

Willful copyright infringement is a federal crime that carries penalties for first time offenders of up to five years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine forfeiture and restitution (17 U.S.C 506, 18 U.S.C 2319). Intentionally and knowingly trafficking in counterfeit goods is a federal crime that carries penalties for first time offenders of up to ten years in federal prison, a $2,000,000 fine, forfeiture and restitution (18 U.S.C 2320)

 

Is the Kodi domain seized? Has it been taken over by authorities? Are we in trouble? Is the sky falling?

Thankfully – no. This is just a clever April Fools joke by the Kodi team. Very timely too, considering that Kodi has been in the news for various negative reasons over the past few months.

Breathe easy and relax, everything is safe. If you were fooled, consider the joke successful.

NOTE: The “carries penalties” text on the website used to take you to a Youtube page where the Rickroll video would play, but this has been removed. We still think this is a joke, but I’m sure it’s spooked a few of you!

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About Ryan William

Ryan is a content writer and SEO specialist. He has interest in all things technology and has published over 2000 posts on the internet. At Kodi Tips, his focus is on hardware, software, crypto games, and how-to tutorials.

141 thoughts on “Kodi Domain Seized By Homeland Security?”

  1. Can’t find Kodi 17 anywhere, no links work, it doesn’t show up in Google Store, what’s going on?

  2. Can’t find Kodi 17 anywhere, no links work, it doesn’t show up in Google Store, what’s going on?

  8. Not funny I deleted Adryan list because the massage on the screen and it was the only one in kodi

  9. I set aside today to do a new install on a Raspberry Pi. I didn’t know the repo’s were down, so my install didn’t go well, needless to say.
    It’s the sheer inconvenience of it . Just trying to do a straight up install, no illegal stuff. Yeah, I’m pissed. So what if the site is back up, now I have other things to do.
    And the icing on the cake is the attiude over at the forums when I politely said something about it, I got attacked from all sides.
    No, it was not funny, and yes the dev’s over at Kodi are arrogant and some of them have major sticks up their behinds in their attitudes towards users.

  10. it’s to encourage people to get more involved with what’s happening in Washington and how this new clown in the White house is taking away rights and from everyone but the rich to transfer all the power to the elite.

  12. The site is back up. Go to http://kodi.tv and see for yourselves. The site has a new look to it. If you still get the homeland page, just refresh your browser and you’ll get the kodi page.

  13. I love how many people are complaining about how urgently they need a free service. Demanding that this service they get and use for free is absurd. Your false sense of entitlement humors me. They’ll be back up when they’re ready. Get up and enjoy life outside of your couch.

  15. BlaBla, (name seems fitting)
    I was able to fully load 2 of my sticks today.. I did not use EsFile explorer. I used the orange download app that was next to similar app choices.

    I then used the link below..
    http://www.tvaddons.ag/kodi-krypton-fools

    And then went to…..
    Aldren Mayfield to add his build..
    YouTube
    A.M. SMOOTH BUILD INSTALL FOR KODI 17

    The whole process was smooth and easy.. the only thing that would not play for me was “phenox” , Sports devil, and “Salts”.
    The build he has is amazing and you CAN change your Skin settings. It’s my understanding “Kodi” will be up and running soon..

  20. This is priceless. People are crying and complaining about possibly losing an avenue for streaming illegal content. All I read is “how can I install kodi”…”my box is useless”…”what will I do now”…!
    You’ve called the kodi team idiots and assholes.
    Everyone is acting as if they have a claim to what the kodi team does with “their software”. Let me say that again. It’s “their software”. If they decide to end it, so be it. I use kodi as well and I want it to stick around but if it doesn’t that’s life. Get over it. If it means that much to all of your lives, write your coding and create you own programs and host it for the world to use free of charge. Bunch of ungratefuls. I wouldn’t blame kodi if they did shut down.
    Everyone is waiting for the 24 hour period to expire so that kodi is magically back. Well, in 8 minutes it will be April 2nd in Hungary where kodi is based. Let’s see what happens.

  23. fat american… same could be said for the manufactures of pc’s, tablets.. or any device that can get online… and if we are going that far.. lets just say ur browser was the main culprit .. so lets go after mozilla… chrome and all the rest…. ur logic makes no sense.. people will do what they want with their devices… and the people who make them as long as they are not packaging them with the illegal s/w are not braking any laws.. kodi didnt break any laws nor did mozilla or chrome.. the users of those tools however might of… who knows,.. either way kodi has nothing to worry about… just like mozilla and chrome dont.. its a interface to get public info thats on the net…. also for those who dont have option for kodi use http://nfutv.com its next best free thing

  25. You guys whining about your piracy addons not working should realise that you’re the entire reason WHY they’re doing this. Kodi’s name has been dragged through the mud as a result of these addons and people selling boxes full of them.

  27. Im not sure how to react to this. Not really funny since I just uninstalled it and can’t advance at all. kinda sucks. if it is real, glad I’m using a vpn.

  28. Not an April joke, not from the KODI Team at any rate.

    Domain has been stolen by fuckers.

    Hope they can fix it.

  30. It’s a very lame and damned inconvienent April Fool’s prank.
    Thanks, you idjits- I was trying to set up a new install so now it’s reformat the card and back to square one.
    NOT FREAKING FUNNY to your users!

  35. ok Janddstagg, and when it is time to download skins, or dependencies such as youtube plugins that are configured to automatically connect to the mirror.kodi.tv suffix????????? what then?

  38. AAAaaaaaa George, that is not the ICE web site, and if it was don’t you think
    something would be on the page about them shunting down Kodi? Or even on the ICE web site!…. I see nothing!!!!!! about this, it would have be major news for them.

  39. A brilliant joke that has meaning. With all of the profiteers using the Kodi name to line their pockets selling boxes while stupidly advertising free TV to the world and Kodi gets the heat. I think its spot on! I miss the days when we got free TV through Kodi, passed it along to friends and family and kept it as an inside secret. These morons are ruining what was a good thing.

  40. Could you imagine an episode of Homeland where they seized a website that had no connection to a terror threat?

    Then it should be as obvious as the hole in your backside that it’s a prank.

    No wonder Trump won. So many gullible people out there that can be lead to water and made to lap.

  42. wowowo good joke guess tonight at 12am site be back ??? miss it smhh ohh well happy april fools day think last year bout same time they did this

  44. Not​ funny at all and childish behavoir from a company that is looking for respect. I will stop using Kodi from now on.

    Plex can do a lot better then Kodi does.

    I have 1Channel installed and works like a charm!

    Did I mention it’s faters then Kodi?

  45. This is real. ICE is not immigration. Look at their website:
    https://www.iprcenter.gov/ .

    “Protection is Our Trademark -The IPR Center manages and supports the ICE commercial fraud program. Successful cases have produced significant seizures, civil penalties and criminal prosecutions.”

    Intellectual Property theft.

    Looks like the end of a great chapter in internet history.

  46. commenting that youre just trying to make money hacking firesticks, shows just how ignorant you are, if this is really a joke , it wasn’t just intended as a joke.they did this because of YOU, everybody else that’s butthurt over this don’t blame kodi turn your anger to where it belongs …..to the idiots that are selling “LOADED “boxes and firesticks for a profit they are the reason that kodi did this

  48. EVERYONE! ALERT!, KODI FIX…..JUST GO INTO YOU KITCHEN AND GET OUT THE
    ALUMINUM FOIL, NEXT TAKE A BOWL AND TURN IT UPSIDE DOWN AND COVER THE BOWL WITH FOIL, NOW JUST REMOVE THE FOIL AND PLACE IT ON YOUR HEAD, NEXT WALK OVER TO YOUR KODI BOX AND PLACE YOUR HAND ON THE BOX AND PICK UP YOUR LEFT LEG MAKE SURE IT’S YOUR LEFT LEG OR THIS WON’T WORK. NOW ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS
    SAY, “I BELIEVE” THREE TIMES AND YOUR KODI WILL COME BACK ON! TRY IT, WORKED FOR ME…….BECAUSE IF YOU BELIEVE THIS, AND THAT KODI IS GONE! I HAVE A WORKING TIME MACHINE I’m LOOKING TO SELL CHEAP…….KODI IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE, JUST CALM DOWN AND STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER……..LMAO

  53. If you follow the development of kodi you would see that pull requests and commits are as active as ever!

  58. what does ICE and Homeland Security have to do with copyright laws anyways think about it people!!!!!

  59. This has to be a joke.. Nothing listed on ICE or Homeland security about Kodi.tv ,nothing in the news…. If it was not a joke it would be listed everywhere! As for it being hacked ?? Well maybe but I don’t think so..

  66. All you Idiots who believe this need to not have Kodi rofl, It will be back to normal on the 2nd

  67. “GOOD ONE?”
    “BRILLIANT?”
    “Taking it to a new level?”

    A load of BS.
    You are talking about a respectful, amazing project that started with a set of morals and intent based on the term FREE.
    Yet behind it all is a group of talented professional developers and project managers, I cannot accept that this so called “PRANK” is intentional due to its disruptive nature.
    If this was really an April fool’s joke then why does tvaddons state “Not only did they go as far as taking their web site down, they took their download server down too! It’s a good thing that we’re here to come to the rescue”………. Why is a rescue needed if it is a prank.

    And I personally do not see the joke in it.
    Self entitlement my a**
    loyalty to the product and our support throughout this venture deserves a little more respect than which is delivered via such a prank.
    Until otherwise is proven, I suspect they are having technical difficulty due to being hacked.

  69. i can’t add new skin or language there is no more „get more“ button… it’s part of joke? or part of 17.1 update?(today updated to 17.1)

  72. Sop I install Kodi a couple of weeks ago and decided to install Exodus last night. I am a newbie. so could not understand why my movies or TV shows would only move the stream bar about 75% and then timeout on anything I clicked.
    Well I think it is an outside hack, and not an inside job by Kodi. Would be funny if the person that did it went to jail for imitating ICE ICE baby.

  74. There are some really screwed up people but it’s not the Kodi team.

    It’s the people freaking out on here.

    Chill out.

    Nobody died and not having access to a site for a day isn’t going to ruin your lives.

    Ask mommy to put your dummies back in for you.

  75. I thought Kodi was a stand alone app. Whats with all these poster saying their Kodi has now stopped working. Kodi app doesn’t need Kodi website to work.

  80. This is funny as hell. The degree of self-entitlement here is stunning.
    Well done Kodi team 😉 Point made.

  81. Give Kodi a break.
    They have been exposed to nasty hack. It will take some time to restore from backup.
    If the DNS server had been hacked, this is quickly fixed (I doubt it since it is taking this long)
    The present IP is 104.25.95.12 which is a US IP.
    Internet records show different locations, Arizona, San Francisco, Ashburn.
    I have no previous IP adr. info so I cannot conclude if this was edited by the hack.

  84. After some review, kodi.tv is a part of the Cloudflare network, which have a general practice of access based on host headers. Direct IP access is not allowed. This means that for an april fool prank, a simple frontpage redirection would suffice.
    Any access to sublevel pages such as those accessed during an addon install could still pass through since the host headers point to a different location even if they share the top level.
    An example of this is:
    ttp://mirrors.kodi.tv/addons/jarvis/plugin.video.youtube/plugin.video.youtube-5.3.12.zip.md5

    An official statement from KODI is politically important if they wish to proceed being the dominant product in the field. That is unless they have sold against all what they believed in earlier. Maybe they have been finally convinced by their previous boxee brethren…… HAHA 🙂

  86. If they wanted to add a front page as a joke, why take everything down including addons. Keep in mind that for many, when dependencies fail, they start troubleshooting, which is time consuming.
    This is not a take down as stated on the opening page, but I assure you that kodi have not done this of their own free will. No logical gain, all comments point to ungratified users. I speculate they were hacked.

  88. When will I remember? The internet is useless on April 1st. Why am I trying to actually *do* something? *sigh*

  89. That’s right. VPN companies are going to make a killing. scaring people into thinking the FBI is going to be knocking at their door.

  90. Ain’t I nobody got time for this ?!? I just uninstalled kodi …how do I re install now ? How long do I have to wait ?? I don’t have all day ! Stop playing games with people’s lives

  91. Due to a couple issues including this I factory reset my Minix Neo U1 and now it is next to useless. Thanks.

  92. The problem with this is it adds a sense of kodi being criminalised and streaming becoming more clandestine. The VPN company’s will be loving this ” they traffic in people’s fear of repercussions”
    There is a bigger picture going on in the background good joke but horrendous timing!!!

  94. Did a factory reset partially due to this. If this is a joke not even close to funny. My new Minix box is now useless.

  96. This isn’t funny or a joke at all! Quit freaking people out ,I have enough crap going on in my life without adding this! 🙁

  97. If you do a whois of kodi.tv, it shows the registrant as Gandi SAS and it looks like a regular registrant. If you do a whois lookup of kickasstorrents.com, which WAS seized by the UD govt- it is listed as a seized server with official looking registrants. Relax, folks. It’s all good. =)

  101. Yeah, what a drag…but does anyone know how I can go over or under or around when trying to access the kodi site from ES Explorer in order to reinstall Kodi on my pc? Help, please

  104. Brilliant.

    It didn’t fool me for a minute because if you look closely enough, you can spot the changes made from an official site takedown.

  105. Find a copy of the APk, some are sharing it on Spinz-Tv google plus forum. Get a google drive and save to drive.
    Open es explore , go to network , cloud, google drive, sign in, password , scroll to bottom allow. Click your name and see the APk. Install. It’s actually faster and easier than going thru Kodi.

  106. Its hard enough covering all this outlets in my apartment.. now I have to fry and throw away my laptop…. Dang you copers.. Dang you

  109. If this last Anonymous was real you’d be able to find it
    hope the joke is over soon though luckily i’m not trying to install anything

  110. You can no longer install it and you may get busted if you continue trying to do it. President Donald Trump just issued and executive order to arrest and ban from the internet to everyone using Kodi

  114. Then how the HELL am I supposed to install KODI now? I just uninstalled so I could install the newer version and I get this crap!

  119. Ok so what’s the deal ?? Some say it’s a joke while others are claiming they can’t get in. What’s the true story damn it ????

  121. Will it re-store itself to normal on it’s own? will I have to wipe out the old/new Kodi and start over again?

  122. What would ICE immigration enforcement have to do with Kodi operations? IDK even so YouTube actually violate on a grander scale.

  127. Well funny joke except I can’t load tons of addons! So can the joke and so I can get my dependencies back!!!!

  128. LOL If it was true then Google play would have taken the app down.
    If you were looking for 16.1 just do a google search for Kodi 16.1 “Jarvis”

  132. FYI the government doesn’t use Cloud Flare for their take-downs. They use private government servers. Go to kodi.tv/download and you will see what I mean.

  134. It’s a joke. The reason all of the Kodi websites are down is because the kodi.tv domain is now pointing to this fake page, rendering all of the subdomains useless at the moment.
    For the record, the page contains Google Analytics tracking code, which the government does not use on their take-down notices.

  136. Not cool at all. Kodi is the freedom provider we got left. Without kodi the web would be just a boring place

  137. Relax, it is a joke. If it was seized by homeland they would not include a “Rick Roll” link. Also you would not get the “Page not found message” as they would have changed the dns and every page would re-direct to the seized page. The dns would not go through Cloudfare either.

  138. Pretty sure it is not a joke since everything is gone. you either get the seized page or page not found message.

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