It seems that Amazon wants to further limit the use of external apps and will curb all known apps used to watch illegal streaming and sports content.
After the limitations presented in the unfortunate Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Select with Vega OS, this powerful company seems to put more pressure to limit third-party apps. It is now going to monitor all the most popular apps used to watch illegal streaming content and block them, especially sports apps.
Blocking streaming and sports apps on Amazon Fire TVs
As can be heard in a podcast by The Athletic the blocking plans are going to be carried out immediately and in a joint way to limit the use of these apps.
“Piracy is illegal and we have always worked to block it in our app store,” an Amazon spokesperson is quoted as telling The Athletic. “We will now block apps that are identified as providing access to pirated content, including those downloaded outside of our app store. This adds to our ongoing efforts to support creators and protect customers, as piracy can also expose users to malware, viruses and fraud.”
Amazon is actively collaborating with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), in its fight against piracy with more than 50 media companies.
“It’s my obligation and my job to collect the data to help these companies make informed decisions, and that’s something we’re working with Amazon on,” says Larissa Knapp, director of content protection at the Motion Picture Association, which leads ACE. “We’re committed to helping them succeed in this area.”
Alternatives to blocking external apps on Amazon Fire TVs
As we can see all users who own the popular Fire TV Stick for streaming and sports apps is going to start a cat and mouse game to install their apps with unidentified versions on the block list. Or they can switch to a device with Google TV (for now).
