Popcorn Time News, Updates: Movie Studio Granted to Interrogate Popcorn Users

By Rhodora Agulto, Christian Post Contributor Monday, November 23, 2015

The popular online streaming website Popcorn Time is back, but it seems that a movie studio is not about to give up.

Piracy has been a major concern for studios nowadays, and sites like Popcorn Time have definitely contributed to do ongoing fight against piracy. Back in October, the streaming website shut down its operations, but it didn't take long before it was up and running again. The temporary shutdown was apparently due to a lawsuit that several of the website's developers were facing in Canada.

However, as many Popcorn Time users have been greatly affected by the shutdown, they were able to find a solution that quickly circulated on Reddit. This involved the use of a VPN service, VPN.ht, to access the fully functioning website. It is said that this is only a temporary fix, as many are working on a permanent solution soon. However, just like the users, movie studios are not going to give up easily as well.

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The good news of having a temporary solution was immediately thwarted by a Torrent Freak report stating that a federal court has ruled in favor of the studio behind Adam Sandler's "The Cobbler," a movie running on the site, giving them rights to interrogate Popcorn Time users. According to reports, the users were tracked down using IP addresses, and as of now, five users have already settled with the studio, but four have not yet responded. The studio released a statement saying, "Four of the subscribers have refused to respond to plaintiff's letters and plaintiff is without means to obtain voluntary cooperation with its investigation to identify whom may have used their Internet Service to infringe plaintiff's rights."

It is reported that the goal of the lawsuit is to track down the people responsible for Popcorn Time, and shut down the site for good as a part of the continuing campaign against piracy.