Popcorn Time

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About

Popcorn Time is a BitTorrent client that allows users to stream torrents on a variety of platforms. Originally shut down in 2014, the application experienced a series of resurgences over the next five years. In March 2020, the application returned.

History

Launching in early 2014, Popcorn Time became the subject of intense media interest as well as wide-spread popularity. The developers, at the time, fought against allegations that they were sharing copyrighted material.^[2] They argued:

Popcorn Time doesn’t host any copyrighted content, the app is based in a decentralised model, working with services that already exist and are used daily by millions of people worldwide. We aren’t making any money or accepting donations with the project at the time, as we keep to our original intentions of just focusing Popcorn Time on a technology experiment to bring a simpler way to experience movies in a digital environment.

Within weeks, on March 14th, the developers pulled the website.^[1] They wrote, "Piracy is not a people problem. It’s a service problem. A problem created by an industry that portrays innovation as a threat to their antique recipe to collect value. It seems to everyone that they just don’t care."

2020 Revival

Over the next few years, version of the site and application would be released and taken down. On March 17th, 2020, the application returned. Motherboard^[3] writes:

Within the last couple days, a new version of Popcorn Time popped up, version 4.0. The new app works just as well as earlier versions of the app, is free, and implores people to use virtual private networks to avoid having their use of the app detected by their internet service providers. The app has been released while many around the world are quarantined, and also comes at a time when piracy is becoming more popular, generally speaking.

Features

Popcorn Time requires users to download an application. When users open the application, they are presented with a series of releases that they can click on and view. The application prompts users to create a VPN account.