A 15-year-old developer has created a new forked version of Popcorn Time to let pirates stream thousands of copyrighted movies and TV shows directly from their browser without having to download a desktop or mobile client.
Popcorn Time, which famously bills itself as the Netflix for Pirates, lets users stream bootlegged content but requires them to sideload the Popcorn Time apps for iOS and Android. Browser Popcorn, created by Serbian Milan Kragujevic, doesn't require users to download anything to their devices. Instead, it streams torrent files directly, similar to the way other streaming websites such as YouTube stream video straight to a browser.
Like Popcorn Time, Browser Popcorn's interface is simple and easy to navigate. On the homepage, viewers can scroll through an extensive list of popular movies they can stream on the platform right away. On the left side of the screen, the website lists several categories to let viewers narrow down their browsing options. To watch a movie, users simply have to click on the movie icon and go to Watch It Now. The movie will start streaming right away.
This is not the first time a browser-based Popcorn Time client was introduced. Earlier this year, a group of developers unveiled Popcorn In Your Browser, which ran for a few days before voluntarily shutting itself down because its extreme popularity was too much for its servers. Had the web client continued its existence to this day, it would have likely been up against extreme opposition from copyright owners represented by the Motion Pictures Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America.
Asked if he is not concerned about lawsuits filed by these associations, which are, of course, aggressive when it comes to going after services such as Browser Popcorn, Kragujevic says it is easy to dodge copyright claims by simply moving the service's domain around.
"I live in a country where copyright law is almost nonexistent, and simply I don't care," he says. "I will keep moving the website, changing domains and providers... I don't need to earn a single penny from it, I just want to do it because I believe that piracy will eventually cause the streaming bubble to pop."
