Popcorn Time

Popcorn Time

Popcorn Time Official Logo
App UI from May 2014
Original author(s)	Pochoclín ("Sebastian" et al)[1]
Stable release	0.2.0 / 2014-03-14[2]
Written in	HTML, JavaScript, CSS
Operating system	Linux, OS X, Windows
Platform	Node.js
Available in	44 languages[3]
Type	Movie / Television Streaming
License	GPL v3
Website	discontinued: getpopcornti.me

Popcorn Time was a multi-platform, open source BitTorrent client which included an integrated media player. The program and its forks of the same name are free alternatives to subscription-based video streaming services such as Netflix. Popcorn Time used sequential downloading to play copies of films listed by the website yts.to (earlier yify-torrent.com & yts.re), also known as YIFY (although other trackers can be added and used manually).^[4]

Following its inception, Popcorn Time quickly received positive media attention, with some^[5] comparing the app to Netflix due to its ease of use. After this increase in popularity, the program was abruptly taken down by its original developers on March 14, 2014 due to pressure from the MPAA.^[6] Since then, Popcorn Time has been forked by several other development teams to maintain the program and produce new features.

Functionality

The Popcorn Time interface presented thumbnails and film titles in a manner similar to Netflix. This list of media can be searched and browsed by genres or categories. When a user clicked on one of the titles, the film is downloaded via the bittorrent protocol.^[7] As with other BitTorrent clients, as soon as Popcorn Time started to download a film, it also started to share the downloaded content with other users (in technical terms, it seeded the torrent to others in the bittorrent swarm.^[8][9]). It continued to make the downloaded content available to others until the movie is deleted, which was normally done automatically when the application was closed.

History

Popcorn Time was developed "in a couple of weeks" by a group from Buenos Aires, Argentina who elected "Pochoclín" (derived from pochoclo = popcorn in Buenos Aires parlance) as their mascot. They believed that piracy was a "service problem" created by "an industry that portrays innovation as a threat to their antique recipe to collect value," and also argued that streaming providers were being given too many restrictions and forced to provide inconsistent service between countries, noting that streaming providers in their native Argentina "seem to believe that There's Something About Mary is a recent movie. That movie would be old enough to vote here."^[10]

Made available for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows and Android, Popcorn Time's source code was downloadable from their website; the project was intended to be open source. Contributors localized the program into 44 languages.^[3][10][11]

Reception

Popcorn Time became the subject of mainstream media attention for its ease of use, with PC Magazine and CBS News likening Popcorn Time to Netflix, and noting its obvious advantages over Netflix such as the size of its library, and the recent selections available.^[1][7] Caitlin Dewy of the Washington Post said Popcorn Time may have been an attempt to make the normally "sketchy" ecosystem of torrents more accessible by giving it a clean modern look and an easy-to-use interface.^[12]

Discontinuation

On March 14, 2014, Popcorn Time's website and GitHub repository were abruptly removed, with the developers stating that despite the unexpectedly positive media coverage that the software attracted, they simply wanted to move on, and that "our experiment has put us at the doors of endless debates about copyright infringement and copyright, legal threats and the shady machinery that makes us feel in danger for doing what we love. And that's not a battle we want a place in."^[9][11][13] It was later revealed by the Sony leaks that the MPAA did indeed prevent the original developers of Popcorn Time from continuing to work on the program. At the time, the MPAA considered themselves to have "scored a major victory in shutting down the key developers of Popcorn Time" via an action which required collaboration on three continents, intended to prevent Popcorn Time from becoming a "major piracy threat."^[6]

The developers claimed that the majority of their users were those outside of the United States, and that it was "installed on every single country on Earth. Even the two that don't have internet access," by users who would "risk fines, lawsuits and whatever consequences that may come just to be able to watch a recent movie in slippers. Just to get the kind of experience they deserve." They also praised media outlets for not antagonizing them in their coverage of Popcorn Time, and agreeing with their views that the movie industry was anti-consumer and too restrictive in regard to innovation.^[10]

Legality

The legality of the various Popcorn Time clients matched that of all other Bittorrent clients plus the additional issues that applies to sites like the Piratebay and YTS itself, due to the explicit linking to movie content; its website claimed that the software was possibly illegal depending on local laws.^[10]

In the UK a court order was given in April 2015 to ISPs to block URLs that provided either the Popcorn Time application software (PTAS) or "sources of update information" (SUI) -- ie pointers to torrent-indexing sites. The court found that (unlike previous cases concerning indexing sites directly) neither websites providing the PTAS nor the SUI could be construed to be "communicating a work to the public", since neither contained any specific information about any specific work. It considered it entirely probable that both the providers of the PTAS and the SUI could be held to be "authorising acts of infringement" by users, but this was not the case that the claimants had raised at the hearing. Instead, they had claimed that the providers had been authorising acts of infringement by content-hosting websites, but then that claim had not been made out.

However, the judge found that the Popcorn Time suppliers did "plainly know and intend" for the application to be "the key means which procures and induces the user to access the host website and therefore causes the infringing communications to occur"; and on this basis had "a common design with the operators of the host websites" and therefore shared a joint liability for the copyright infringements (joint tortfeasance). It was therefore appropriate to order the ISPs to block the websites as provided for by section 97A of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.^[14][15]

As with other Bittorrent clients, the IP addresses of users can easily be determined by third parties. In early 2015 many German Popcorn Time users received demands for damages of 815 Euros. The high amount was justified by the fact that the application not only downloads but also distributes movies,^[16] a fact that not all users were aware of.^[17]

Legacy

After the original developers discontinued the program, a couple of teams forked the original Popcorn Time Source and continued development. These groups continued using the name "Popcorn Time". However the development of these forks are not supported by the original developers app.

PopcornTime.io

This fork attempts to improve the stability, performance, and usability of the program.

On September 17, 2014 the fork at popcorntime.io added support for Chromecast and AirPlay devices.^[18] Also, on November 6, 2014 they launched a Remote Control API.^[19] On December 25, 2014, a mobile version for Android 4.0.3 and up was launched, also initial support for built-in VPN access.^[20]

Time4Popcorn.com

A fork of Popcorn Time was originally launched with the web domain at time4popcorn.eu. On October 9, 2014, the domain time4popcorn.eu was suspended "upon verification of the contact data". The client programs temporarily stopped functioning, but the website was quickly relocated to the new domain popcorn-time.se.^[21][22]

On May 13, 2014 the fork Time4Popcorn launched a mobile version for Android 4.2 and up.^[23] The developers for the Time4Popcorn fork also added Chromecast support.^[24][25][26] On July 30, 2014, the Time4Popcorn fork added support for Apple TV.^[27][28] On September 30, 2014, an app was launched on iOS, thereby allowing users to operate the app on jailbroken iPhone devices.^[29] To protect users (primarily those in Germany) who received legal threats for using the software,^[17] the fork Time4Popcorn encrypted its BitTorrent traffic and also added the option to enable a VPN service provided by Kebrum,^[30] which aids in the obfuscation of the identity of Popcorn Time users.^[24]

In November 2014, it was revealed that the Time4Popcorn fork contained adware/malware. ^[31]

Relocation

When the original Time4Popcorn domain was forcefully removed, the team moved the website to popcorn-time.se, while the developers believe that the removal of the original domain was due to a "legal investigation taking place in Belgium," the TorrentFreak website reported in October 2014 that it was removed "on suspicion that it was registered using inaccurate contact details.".^[32]

The Beta 4.9 version was announced on the Torrent Freak website on November 6, 2014, along with information that explained that the October 2014 domain suspension was enacted by the EURid registry and Popcorn Time's "developers were informed that the suspension was the result of an ongoing legal investigation."^[33]

See also

• List of bittorrent clients

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Popcorn Time.

Forks of Original Code

• Popcorn Time Fork
• Time4Popcorn Fork
• Popcorn Express Fork
• Cuevana Storm Spanish Fork