Popcorn Time - app to stream torrent movies

[Permalink]

1 Like

Integrated support of proxies or VPN? Can’t try it myself at the moment 'cause Mega is incompatible with Safari.

1 Like

I’ll let someone else download the mysterious zip file and see what happens… Could be a fun app to use but I’m sure it will be shut down sometime soon.

tried to use it, but I’m still running OS 10.6.8–need 7 or above : (

So it just leeches? Isn’t that okay-ish from a legal point of view?

1 Like

Thats what I think. My understanding is that downloading is not the problem, but uploading is.

1 Like

Reading the description on their website suggests they’re working with some sort of curated torrent list.

1 Like

I’m streaming Big Ass Spider right now. Seems ok. Traffic is 700kbps▼, 120kbps▲.
So it’s both seeding and leeching.

1 Like

Was this timed to coincide with the Oscars? Because that’s brilliant…

2 Likes

www.virustotal.com/en/file/5465658827145f0671a5947a15ad18d91d804ef97b2cd3c99accf9d0f682fc36/analysis/1393873074/

2 Likes

Whether it contains known virus signatures or not, I would not install a random program from an illegal movie downloading site. Not outside of a sandbox, anyway. It’s probably fine, but you’re not going to get much sympathy if it secretly adds you to a botnet.

10.9 is a free upgrade if your mac supports it (2007/2008 or newer)

Agreed www.sandboxie.com/index.php?DownloadSandboxie

Even when there’s no upfront cost, no upgrade is free. :wink: There’s always some compromise in time, compatibility, security and loss of functionality. For example, if people upgrade past 10.6.x, they say goodbye to Rosetta (unless they employ cumbersome workarounds). It’s give and take and some factor if the give is worth the take for their specific needs and workflow.

1 in 3 Mac users still use 10.6.8. It’s foolhardy for developers to ignore that reality (whether they like it or not). I like 10.9.x and enjoy its overall advantages over older iterations, but I also understand why many also use 10.6.8.

1 Like

It’s curious that Boing Boing, as a collective editorial voice, alternates between, on the one hand, defending the rights and interests of artists and, on the other, cheerleading for efforts to steal content from movie studios. Sure, movie studios are big merciless faceless corporations - but that makes them unsympathetic, not wrong. Posting whole movies that are still in theaters isn’t exactly any sort of fair use.

5 Likes

Posting whole movies that are still in theaters isn’t exactly any sort of fair use.

Where did boing boing claim that?

2 Likes

Popcorn Time.

I wonder if the developers intended that as a reference to the application or a reference to the discussions it would provoke.

Why Not Both?

Put butter on mine, garcon!

3 Likes

Shouldn’t good journalism report both sides of the story? :wink:

1 Like

Well on one hand it’s clearly infringement…and posting it at all with the quotation:

“Downloading copyrighted material through torrents may be illegal in your country. Use at your own risk… Best of all, it’s free!”

Sorta sends a mixed message.

Its one of the conceits of many of today’s tech companies…creating something that allows for clear infringement/stealing and then trying to wrap yourself up in safe harbor by using language that says, hey…we don’t have anything to do with what other people do…we’re just a service.

http://getpopcornti.me/tos.html

This type of stuff annoys me about the tech industry…instead of building things that are not only useful but transformative, we have all these people building things that clearly are intended to skirt the spirit of the law by claiming they don’t break the law, but if you use this you might be breaking the law. It sends a message to a lot of people this is okay and it makes it harder to convince media companies that we aren’t all thieves that deserve even harsher laws to protect themselves from infringement.

Wow just tried it and it’s pretty spectacular quality and convenience-wise. This is a game changer.

1 Like