The Premier League announced its "biggest ever crackdown" on illegal football streams, according to Aatif Sulleyman of the London INDEPENDENT. It obtained a new High Court order that will "make it much harder for people to watch games on so-called Kodi boxes." The order will be in place for the entire '17-18 season. It allows the Premier League to work with the U.K.'s internet service providers, including Sky, BT and Virgin Media, to "quickly block servers that are hosting illegal streams of matches." A similar order was obtained for the final two months of the '16-17 season, and has been described as being "highly effective." According to the Premier League, those efforts "led to more than 5,000 server IP addresses, which had previously been streaming illegal Premier League content, being blocked" (INDEPENDENT, 7/27). The BBC's Bill Wilson reported Kodi is free software, built by volunteers, that is "designed to bring videos, music, games and photographs together in one easy-to-use application." Some shops "sell set-top boxes and TV sticks known as Kodi boxes, preloaded with the software." The EPL is "currently undertaking its biggest ever" copyright protection program. Its anti-piracy efforts have "also contributed to a range of prominent apps and add-ons being closed down as the law catches up with them" (BBC, 7/26).
