Lambda Retires/ Exodus To Continue

K

Kimbo

Pinball Wizard
Nov 24, 2014
8,902
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#1
c/p from Kodi Tips:

Some big news in Kodi world, as a series of events has caused Lambda to retire.

Some fairly major news: Lambda has retired today after a fellow developer noticed some malicious code in the Exodus add-on and called lambda out. We will try to summarize everything that happened in the most impartial way for those curious.

It all started when Schism, developer of the Zen add-on (which is a fork of Exodus and uses a lot of its code), noticed and called lambda out for some code in Exodus that appears to send multiple requests to StreamHub’s server (StreamHub is another fork of code which uses most of its code). Lambda was using Exodus users to automatically put strain on StreamHub’s github and server every time they used Exodus to search and didn’t let them know. (source)

People using Exodus code as a basis for their add-ons is nothing new, but it appeared that lambda is fed up with users who change little or no code, call the add-on something new, and release it under a new name.

On the TVADDONS forums, lambda defended his actions with a series of messages:

Code: 
 I am in the bridge of retiring or doing this.

    Like I said they try to find my identity and give me legal trouble.

    I have no choice to protect myself.

    If this won’t help me to defend myself I will retire from these and focus on my legal add-ons.

    I don’t say it’s a good thing lol, but they wouldn’t have less trouble from primewire lol

    What we miss as addon devs is that we in reality ddos attacking the sites we scrape, it depends on the number of users an addon has, an addon with many users is in reality doing this.

    And I wouldn’t if they didn’t try to expose my real identity and give me legal trouble.

    The reason for not adding this on the changelog is that this would give them what they want, attention.

    I am developing addons for.7 years, I have a very valid reason for doing this that have to do with MY REAL LIFE SAFETY.

    And I am happy this happened, this way I can see clearly who is a friend or a foe for me on this scene ��

    I am developing this addon for many years, it’s the continuation of Genesis.
    All these years this community was a nice place to be a part of.

    I didn’t wake up one day, after all these years and told myself, let’s try to add some calls to a specific site.
    It was a bad desicion I made after all this time and the stessful months I had, and I am sorry about that.
    As long you follow the GPL license and don’t remove Exodus credits from it I never had any problem.

    Unfortunately all these months I’ve seen add-ons taking my code and removing the credits from it, like it’s their playground. I do understand that we are talking about addons that help on copyright infringement, but this is something I couldn’t tolerate anymore.
    Also lately I’ve seen some weird private messages from specific people threating me on presonal level.
    Most of them are on social media right now talking about how evil I am.

    I just couldn’t deal with all this stress anymore, I made bad desicions that I shouldn’t take and I am sorry about that.
    I think this is the time for me too leave, this whole thing is changing me as a person, so it’s time for me to take care of myself and leave this scene once and for all.

    I want to thank everybody who stood by me all these years.
    It’s time for me to move on and I hope the team to take over my beloved addon.
    Take care everybody


However, shortly after, the TVADDONS twitter account posted:

As a result of recent incidents with an abusive box seller, lambda is retiring. His latest version of Exodus is verified to be clean.

The development of Exodus and Phoenix will continue at the helm of other members of the TV ADDONS team. It will grow and improve!

Many devs have been reaching out to show their support to lambda for his work, their feelings on him giving up so easily, and everything in between.


What does this mean for Exodus?

Well, Exodus is built on a solid base of code that uses URLResolver to pull streaming links. This base was why other developers have tried to take fame away by forking the add-on and changing very little. Exodus doesn’t need to be updated much in order to function, as URLResolver is the real backbone of the add-on and is maintained by multiple developers in the community.
 
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#2
More info from Torrent Freak:


Popular Kodi Addon ‘Exodus’ Turned Users into a DDoS ‘Botnet’

Exodus is one of the most-used Kodi addons out there, allowing users to obtain easy access to movies and TV-shows. However, over the past week the same users were unwittingly part of a DDoS attack. After the issue raised eyebrows in the community, the Exodus developer rolled back the malicious code and retired.

exodus-moviesMillions of people use Kodi as their main source of entertainment, often with help from add-ons that allow them to access pirated movies and TV-shows.

One of the most popular addons is Exodus. The software is maintained by “Lambda,” who’s one of the most prolific developers in the community.

Exodus is widely praised as one of the most useful addons to access streaming video, including movies and TV-shows. This prominent position also brings along quite a few adversaries, which recently led to an unusual situation.

Due to the controversial nature of his work, Lambda has always preferred to remain anonymous. However, he was recently confronted with some people who copied his work and/or threatened to expose his real identity. But instead of backing down, he launched an attack.

Roughly a week ago several lines of code were added to the Exodus plugin, which contacted external sites. While this is nothing new for Kodi addons, in this case the lines in question were targeting resources of Lambda’s adversaries.

Soon after people started to notice, complaints started rolling in accusing Exodus of creating a DDoS “botnet.” The Ares Blog mentioned the issue and a lively discussion started in the TV Addons forum, where the developer himself joined in defending his actions.



Lambda says that he added the code as a countermeasure against people who he believes are trying to do harm or get him in legal trouble. The users themselves are not harmed by the code since they are simply trying to access another web source, he adds.

“Like I said they try to find my identity and give me legal trouble. I have no choice but to protect myself. If this won’t help me to defend myself I will retire from all these and focus on my legal addons,” the developer notes.

While some people sympathized with the move, Lambda eventually decided to make the “protection” feature optional. Still, that didn’t satisfy everyone and soon after the developer decided to throw in the towel and retire.

“I just couldn’t deal with all this stress anymore, I made bad decisions that I shouldn’t take and I am sorry about that,” Lambda explains in a formal apology.

“I think this is the time for me to leave, this whole thing is changing me as a person, so it’s time for me to take care of myself and leave this scene once and for all,” he adds.

TorrentFreak reached out to TV Addons repository which offers the Exodus addon, and they told us that the malicious code is no longer present. They are very unhappy with the incident and say they did their best to resolve the matter as swiftly as possible.

“The actions taken were inexcusable,” TV Addons’ Eleazar informed us. When they found out about the code, the developer’s repository was locked and they stress that “this situation is not being taken lightly.”

TV Addons has previously published a malicious code policy and says it takes an active stance against this type of abuse. As such, the team has taken it upon themselves to continue the development of Exodus, with Lambda’s approval.

“Moving forward, his addons will be maintained by another member of our team. TV ADDONS stands for the end user first, integrity is of our utmost concern,” Eleazar notes.
 
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#3
wow
this is some messed up stuff.

I do not blame Lambda one bit. He may have made the wrong decision, but was pushed to it and seems the stress of it all got to him.
That box seller who threaten him, should be exposed and then let the community give his reputation a run thru the mud :eek:

Thnx for bringing us this news Laser
 
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