I'll wait till this can be confirmed before deciding what to think of it.
Follow the links in that and it seems to mostly be about people selling Firesticks with software on it that allows purchasers to view piracy streams without doing anything but plug in the device.
So the apps are malware that function as residential proxies.
Way to bury the lede.
The current round of blocks is targeting apps that support piracy even if they don’t have any other malicious behavior.
I'm really not looking forward to the day I can only install sanctioned software from a walled garden on all of the devices I "own." For security reasons, of course…
Amazon is sentencing the Fire TV to irrelevance with these dumb decisions, just like the Fire Phone.
Even for a 5 year old laptop, my current tv laptop has much more power than a fire stick and I can run whatever I like.
On the back it has a little keyboard for typing.
Replaced it recently with a 4 year old laptop.
I simply install Ubuntu, plug in the TV through HDMI and keep the charger plugged in all the time.
Then I can install stremio, Kodi and any other streaming apps I like. Technically I could also set up some retro games.
I think the previous events/arrests/sentences they're referring to are all related to people selling "dodgy Fire sticks" or whatever they call it.
stonecharioteer•3mo ago
> It seems far more likely that Amazon targeted and disabled these two apps because they functioned as residential proxy providers, rather than due to any role in facilitating unauthorized access to copyrighted content. For over a decade, Amazon has shown through inaction that it is unwilling to combat piracy outside of its appstore by endlessly disabling third-party piracy apps. However, the possibility of a network of unknowingly compromised Fire TV devices being used as gateways for cybercrimes appears to have been sufficient motivation for Amazon to take action and block the apps.
Sigh. Yeah no. This is a good thing. I'm sure they're not worried about stuff like Jellyfin or SmartTubeTV.