Back when the internet was a wild, untamed universe (OK, it still kind of is), it was a lot easier to download and torrent copyrighted material -- TV, music and movies -- without any fear of repercussion. You can look far back to the late '90s/early 2000s at Napster (now part of Rhapsody), and fast-forward to more recent times for Popcorn Time, which had movies on offer for free.
Well, it seems that Popcorn Time is back, albeit in a slightly different form. The platform has been reborn via torrent site/community YTS, although YTS says the project will be crowd-sourced, and no individual or group will be the official "owner" of the property. It exists in a virtual no man's land, which washes anyone's hands of responsibility. It is, however, still illegal under current copyright laws.
Sometimes called the "Netflix of pirated content," Popcorn Time is now up on GitHub and its installation software is available here.
YTS developer "Jduncanator" has this to say about the whole copyright issue, to TorrentFreak: "It’s as if we have built another interface to our website. We are no worse off managing the project than we would be just supplying the movies. It’s our vision at YTS that we see through projects like these and that just because they create a little stir in the public, it doesn't mean they are shut down."
The app is as simple as can be: you download a plugin and that's it -- you have hundreds, probably more, of illegally pirated movies at your fingertips. Watch to your heart's content, but do it quick, because we have a feeling this won't be around for long.
