These Amazon Fire TV apps are being blocked for promoting piracy
The list of freshly blocked apps includes Blink Streamz, Flix Vision, Live NetTV, and Ocean Streamz.
The disabled apps can no longer be used, and can only be uninstalled.
Following sharp criticism for failing to stop piracy on its Fire TV platform, Amazon has started blocking several streaming services that pirate otherwise DRM-protected content. The list includes at least four video streaming apps, including Blink Streamz, Flix Vision, Live NetTV, and Ocean Streamz.
According to two separate reports from YouTuber TechDoctorUK and AFTVNews, Amazon Fire TV devices display a warning message when these apps are either opened or newly installed via sideloading. The warning states that running these apps can 'can put your device or personal data at risk.'
YouTube / TechDoctorUK
Besides the warning message, Fire TV devices also prevent users from opening these apps. The warning message is accompanied by Keep and Uninstall buttons (as shown above). However, the Keep option is grayed out, leaving Uninstall as the only clickable option. The Fire TV won't delete the app automatically, but there's no guarantee that it'll start working again.
The message citing 'personal data at risk' indicates Amazon is also focused on privacy, and suggests some of these apps may be malware. This is partially true for Flix Vision, which was found to be harvesting resources, such as the CPU on Fire TV sticks or smart TVs running Amazon's interface, and allowing developers to profit from them. For the rest of the apps, the ban appears purely to block access to copyrighted content.
Nonetheless, Amazon hasn't specified the exact reason for blocking these apps. We reached out to Amazon for comment and will update the article if we hear from them.
In recent months, Amazon has been severely criticized for its nonchalance towards piracy. Researchers at Enders Analysis recently accused Amazon (via the Independent) of allowing piracy on an 'industrial scale,' while the UK's Sky reportedly blamed it for failing to prevent illegal streaming that cost the broadcaster 'hundreds of millions of dollars.'
Sky's chief operating officer Nick Herm also claimed more than half of the Fire TV devices sold in the UK were illegal jailbroken boxes. While eliminating jailbroken units may be a mammoth task, Amazon's action would certainly give it some relief from the backlash.
Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at
Email our staff at news@androidauthority.com . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Verge
21 minutes ago
- The Verge
You can buy Tapo's terrific RV30 Max robovac for just $200 right now
Amazon has already slashed the pricing on several excellent robot vacuums for Prime Day, including high-end hybrid mopping models like the Dreame X40 Ultra and Narwal's Freo Z Ultra. Thankfully, if a $700 or $800 robovac is out of the question, Tapo's RV30 Max Plus is an impressive alternative that's currently on sale at Amazon with an auto-empty dock for an all-time low of $199.99 ($100 off). Our favorite budget-friendly robot vacuum offers high-end features, including room-specific cleaning, a capable mop, carpet boost, and smart navigation. It also features an auto-empty dock. Despite costing significantly less than the aforementioned premium models, the RV30 Max Plus doesn't skimp on features, which is why it's our favorite budget robovac. With 5,300Pa of suction power, it easily sucks up cereal, dust, and debris from hard floors. Its wide mop pad and large 300ml water tank also allow for solid mopping performance, while the vac's customizable, room-specific cleaning allows you to choose between five suction levels, three flow settings, and three adjustable mop rotations. Navigation is another area where the RV30 Max Plus punches above its weight. The robot vacuum's smart, lidar-based system enables it to map and navigate your home with precision, and Tapo's intuitive app allows you to set both virtual walls and no-go zones. Notably, you can even set the direction in which it cleans and store up to four distinct floor maps, which is something typically reserved for more premium models. Of course, given it's a relatively cheap robovac, there are a few features Tapo sacrificed to keep costs down. It lacks AI-powered obstacle detection, for example, meaning you'll need to pick up any stray cables, socks, and other objects that might get in the way while running it. Its 2,600mAh battery also isn't the most robust, and charging can take a while. Still, if you're looking to expedite your cleaning on a budget, the RV30 Max Plus is a solid value, especially with this Prime Day discount. Sign up for Verge Deals to get deals on products we've tested sent to your inbox weekly.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Sequoia bets on silence
There is a time-honored crisis management strategy, wherein one says nothing and waits for the outrage to pass. For Sequoia Capital, the strategy worked pretty well this week. While partner Shaun Maguire initially weathered criticism over an inflammatory social media post, that initial indignation cooled quickly. Now, some seem to think that Maguire's defiant stance may even be strengthening his position. Business Insider actually called it 'good for deal flow' — controversy as competitive advantage. Sequoia's calculated gamble carries real risk, though. Another provocative post from Maguire that hits the wrong nerve, a shift in political winds, or escalating consequences could quickly transform their unflappable partner from an asset into a liability the firm can no longer afford to ignore. A crisis communications professional who has managed reputation disasters for dozens of major brands tells this editor, 'Firms like Sequoia are bulletproof until they aren't.' What happened Sequoia's hands-off approach was put to the test earlier this week when the storied venture firm found itself in the eye of a storm over Maguire's inflammatory comments about New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Maguire called him an 'Islamist' who 'comes from a culture that lies about everything' in a July 4th tweet on X that has since been viewed more than five million times. More than one thousand signatures have poured in since on a petition demanding that Sequoia condemn the remarks, investigate Maguire's conduct, and apologize. There's been a lot of talk about why Sequoia hasn't done this, with many outlets noting that Maguire isn't just any partner. This status owes partly to his friendship with Stripe's co-founder. According to reports, at a 2015 Founders Fund event, Maguire—then a Founders Fund-backed entrepreneur—defended Collison during an argument with Anduril's Palmer Luckey about quantum computing, earning Collison's friendship. The connection proved valuable when Maguire joined Google Ventures in 2016; he helped secure a $20 million Stripe investment during his first week. When Maguire left Google Ventures in 2019, Collison personally recommended him to Sequoia's partners. (Stripe has been in Sequoia's portfolio since 2010, with the firm investing more than $500 million over 15 years.) Maguire also led Sequoia's investment in Bridge, a stablecoin platform that Stripe acquired for $1.1 billion, and is reportedly Sequoia's link to Elon Musk, though this is probably somewhat overstated. Musk and Sequoia's global managing director, Roelof Botha, are both native South Africans and have known each other for more than 25 years, dating back to their time together at the then-nascent PayPal, where Botha was recruited personally by Musk. Despite that long relationship, the two haven't always seen eye to eye. Botha was highly critical of Musk's management style when Musk was CEO of the merged company, where Botha was CFO. Botha once told veteran journalist Ebbe Dommisse, 'I think it would have killed the company if Elon had stayed on as CEO for six more months. The mistakes Elon was making at the time were amplifying the risk of the business.' But Musk was at odds with pretty much that entire crew at the time, and those tensions have long since been resolved. The bigger point here: when you're managing tens of billions of dollars in assets and your firm's reputation rests on backing winners like Google, Stripe, and Nvidia, you don't easily cast aside a rainmaker. Meanwhile, Maguire's behavior suggests he's not backing down. After issuing a 30-minute video on X last weekend in which he apologized for offending so many — saying he was making a point about a political ideology and not one about a religion — he has doubled down with increasingly aggressive posts this week. He has claimed he has 'reverse engineered' his critics' 'command structure' and threatened to 'embarrass' anyone who escalates against him. He added that this is him at '1% throttle' and warned people not to 'fuck w children of the internet.' The silent treatment Sequoia has precedent for its approach to this situation. The firm has historically given its partners space to express themselves publicly, with figures like Doug Leone and Michael Moritz (who left the firm in 2023) representing different political perspectives. But there's a crucial difference between political diversity and inflammatory rhetoric and clearly to some, Maguire's comments extend beyond partisan politics into territory that alienates both political opponents and potential business partners. It's also worth remembering that even for Sequoia, there is a bright line. Michael Goguen, another, earlier rainmaker with the firm, was promptly shown the door when Sequoia learned of a sexual abuse lawsuit filed against him. The situations are hardly comparable; Goguen's issues were legal and personal, not ideological. At the same time, Sequoia has shown it isn't willing to circle the wagons at any cost, not if its reputation is at stake. Presumably, several factors inform Sequoia's do-nothing PR strategy, including how quickly people, faced with a constant flurry of news, move on from a scandal. The firm is also operating in a different political landscape right now in the U.S. Along with Donald Trump's victory and the rollback of DEI initiatives has come new tolerance for controversial speech. What might have been career-ending at an earlier point in time is now weathered more easily. The firm is also likely banking on the fact that while founders want partners who fit the traditional, more genteel VC mold, they want successful ones even more. Startups being courted by multiple top-tier firms might not like or agree with Maguire, but when Sequoia comes calling with its track record and almost bottomless pockets, most founders are going to welcome the firm with open arms. There's also the very real possibility that Sequoia is working on a contingency plan. (Sequoia declined to comment on Maguire's posts when reached by TechCrunch earlier this week.) Still, Sequoia's silence carries risks. Not all the signers have been confirmed, but the petition against Maguire includes the names of some prominent Middle Eastern executives and founders who have attested to signing it, and they represent the kind of diverse, global talent pool that drives innovation. By not addressing the controversy, Sequoia risks being seen as tacitly endorsing Maguire's views. Put another way, though the venture capital world has historically been remarkably forgiving of controversial figures with exceptional deal flow, the firm is gambling with its reputation in an increasingly connected global market where alienating entire regions and communities carries real business consequences. Whether that bet pays off will depend on how long the controversy lingers, how much business it actually costs Sequoia, and whether Maguire can resist the urge to push things past Sequoia's own tolerance threshold. (He has said he doesn't post anything that hasn't been 'excrutiatingly thought out.') History suggests that established financial firms with strong track records tend to outlive their scandals, even serious ones. When Apollo Global Management's Leon Black resigned in 2021 over his $158 million payments to Jeffrey Epstein, the firm's stock barely moved and shareholders seemed largely unfazed. Apollo just continued its aggressive deal-making under new leadership. Similarly, Kleiner Perkins survived Ellen Pao's high-profile gender discrimination lawsuit in 2015. But it took years and essentially an entirely new team for the storied venture firm to regain its footing in Silicon Valley's hierarchy. The lesson here may be that while controversial partners can be endured, the recovery timelines can vary significantly depending on how firms handle the crisis. For now, the crisis communications professional, who asked not to be named, has some advice for Maguire and, by extension, Sequoia. Regarding the video Maguire published in the aftermath of his initial comments, the expert said, 'I did think that apology addressed the ambiguities in [Maguire's] post. But it's a 30-minute video — you have to be really interested to watch this.' If there's a next time, the professional said, Maguire should 'do two videos — one for three minutes' and another, longer video, for anyone who wants to keep watching. Sometimes, the expert added, 'less is more.'
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Ethereum's ETH Surges to $3K as ETF Flows, Tokenization Narrative Fuels Rally
Ethereum's ether (ETH) surged on Thursday to its strongest price in more than four months as bitcoin (BTC) broke new record highs. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization advanced to just shy of $3,000, gaining 6.7% through the past 24 hours. While ETH has significantly underperformed during this cycle and failed to reach new record levels unlike BTC or Solana (SOL), the narrative has recently started to shift around the token. "ETH has taken the lead in price momentum, rallying off recent lows amid a pickup in derivatives activity and growing enthusiasm around its broader role in settlement and tokenization infrastructure," said Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX Group. U.S.-listed spot ETFs also saw strong demand, booking over $500 million in inflows month-to-date. Meanwhile, the corporate crypto treasury strategy has expanded beyond bitcoin to ETH as well, with public firms such as Sharplink Gaming and Bitmine Immersion Technology adding the asset to their balance sheet. "In less than one month, public companies will have bought enough ETH to offset all the ETH that's been created since the merge," prominent crypto investor Pentoshi said in an X post earlier this week. "It's 1/9th the market cap of BTC, and takes far less capital to move. That capital is clearly coming."CoinDesk's market analytics model shows that ETH had an explosive rally in the 60-minute interval between 20:58 UTC to 21:57, jumping 6% from $2,819.07 to $2,996.85. The rally occurred in three phases: preliminary consolidation around $2,824 through 21:15, succeeded by an acceleration phase breaking through resistance thresholds at $2,845, $2,870, and $2,920, and culminating in a final advance from to $2,993. Fundamental support levels were established at $2,756.18 and $2,761.11 throughout the trading session. Robust high-volume resistance consolidated around the $2,993.34 threshold.
