If you're at all familiar with streaming movies or televisions shows online, there's no doubt you have at one point in time run across Popcorn Time.
The program, which has been hailed as the "Netflix for pirates", has gone through its own series of dramatic takedowns. The latest saw several developers leaving the project amid fears of a lawsuit. Later on the server was shutdown by one of its developers and the primary site, Popcorntime.io, was taken down after the MPAA order an injunction against it. At that point, it seemed as if Popcorn Time was dead in the water.
Fortunately, good news has surfaced from Torrentfreak regarding Popcorn Time's comeback.
Not only is there a fixed version dubbed "Popcorn Time Community" being advertised on Reddit, but there is also an update for the original Popcorn Time program called "VPN.ht Movies API FIX" that fixes the program and brings it back to its original state.
If you're wondering what VPN.ht is, I was confused myself. As it turns out the company provides a VPN service used by Popcorn Time and was actually established by someone named Wally, who was one of the original developers of Popcorn Time.
Torrentfreak reports that Wally is "considering a full comeback" for Popcorn Time, but does not want to "release a half working version." He also fears another takedown by the MPAA and is making efforts to ensure that Popcorn Time's domain names remain out of reach of the MPAA. This is an obvious concern considering the fact that after the original site was taken down, the MPAA began its usual brand of lawsuits against the developers involved.
What do you think? Will Popcorn Time remain forever shelved or will Wally find a way to continue its development?
Quick Take
I'm optimistic Wally will keep developing Popcorn Time, however if the lawsuit drags on too long, he may lose interest. Still the technology used by Popcorn Time would be amazing if it were ever incorporated into mainstream media distribution.