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Popcorn Time – Watch torrent movies instantly

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Re: Popcorn Time – Watch torrent movies instantly

#91

Post by laumars »

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #52
humanfromearth wrote: post #45

If you look at this file here: https://github.com/popcorn-time/popcorn-app/blob/master/js/t... It sends usage data to Google Analytics. I can see how this can translate into you getting caught. Be careful. Even if you don't have a 'trackingId' set it still sends GET requests to http://google.com/

Add this to your /etc/hosts 127.0.0.1 ssl.google-analytics.com 127.0.0.1 www.google-analytics.com 127.0.0.1 google-analytics.com

I use SomeoneWhoCares.org:

   curl http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/hosts | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts

Re: Popcorn Time – Watch torrent movies instantly

#92

Post by res0nat0r »

hxa7241 wrote: post #80
d23 wrote: post #44

> Downloading copyrighted material may be illegal in your country. Use at your own risk. Have we seriously just stopped considering the ethical implications of such things? At least these sorts of sites used to pretend they were for things like "public domain movies" and "personal backups."

That question has been answered: we have had plenty of piracy for years now -- and do we still have plenty of film/TV/music/book production? Yes! So piracy (at least, as we have known it) is not harmful, in fact it seems almost certainly beneficial economically -- more goods are more widely available.

Many in the music industry who've seen how it looks now vs before MP3s and high bandwidth came along would disagree.

Re: Popcorn Time – Watch torrent movies instantly

#93

Post by slashdotaccount »

jwcrux wrote: post #86
slashdotaccount wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hollywood studios (should) make their money in cinemas, before the DVD/BlueRay release. CAMRips are not really competitors.

Many of the movies people torrent are new releases so that they don't have to pay the high price of going to the cinema to see it.

What I'm saying is that the new movies are not available in DVDs so there are no quality pirate releases (only unwatchable camera rips) unless there is a leaked copy of the movie (very rare).

Re: Popcorn Time – Watch torrent movies instantly

#94

Post by mcv »

d23 wrote: post #44

> Downloading copyrighted material may be illegal in your country. Use at your own risk. Have we seriously just stopped considering the ethical implications of such things? At least these sorts of sites used to pretend they were for things like "public domain movies" and "personal backups."

In Netherland, we pay a "home copy" fee on harddisks and smartphones, which makes it entirely legal and ethical to download movies.

Only downside: uploading movies without permission from the copyright holder is still illegal, and bittorrent uploads while it downloads, so this may still be illegal.

Re: Popcorn Time – Watch torrent movies instantly

#95

Post by res0nat0r »

kzrdude wrote: post #51
d23 wrote: post #44

> Downloading copyrighted material may be illegal in your country. Use at your own risk. Have we seriously just stopped considering the ethical implications of such things? At least these sorts of sites used to pretend they were for things like "public domain movies" and "personal backups."

YouTube has established a huge gray zone though! So much of the material I watch there is not actually uploaded with permission.

And youtube has a sophisticated detection system setup that scans uploads for copyrighted content automatically. I'm thinking with the press this app is getting they are going to be forced to do something similar and block illegal content, or take it offline soon.

Re: Popcorn Time – Watch torrent movies instantly

#97

Post by gnur »

slashdotaccount wrote: post #75

We need an onion protocol for the torrents: you -> [encrypted data] proxy peer -> destination peer In this case, unless all the proxy and the destination peers are controlled by policing actors they can't know who's downloading what.

Except this will result in massive bandwith charges for all nodes included.

Re: Popcorn Time – Watch torrent movies instantly

#98

Post by mcv »

rickyc091 wrote: post #4
bicx wrote: post #3

This is pretty much illegal in the U.S., right?

Yep, is it actually legal any where?

Well, the downloading is legal in Netherland (we already pay a fee for that). The uploading not so much. Not sure if it matters that you only upload what you downloaded, so you aren't distributing anything that wasn't already distributed.

Re: Popcorn Time – Watch torrent movies instantly

#99

Post by Spearchucker »

ultramancool wrote: post #55
humanfromearth wrote: post #45

If you look at this file here: https://github.com/popcorn-time/popcorn-app/blob/master/js/t... It sends usage data to Google Analytics. I can see how this can translate into you getting caught. Be careful. Even if you don't have a 'trackingId' set it still sends GET requests to http://google.com/

You're far more likely to be caught by directly looking at torrent peers as is already done in bulk by media companies and is far better proof of piracy than a Google Analytics hit. Use a VPN if you're using this and have any questions about the legality of it in your area. Typically VPN providers only get complaints sent to datacenters, not actual lawsuits.

looking at torrent peers ... and is far better proof of piracy

It's not proof of piracy. It just proves that some bytes were downloaded. What, for example, if you could prove that you paid for the movie you're downloading? Lets say you buy a movie using the Video app on the Xbox, but want to watch it on your old Windows XP desktop, or on your Android phone?

Re: Popcorn Time – Watch torrent movies instantly

#100

Post by footpath »

solipsism wrote: post #53
d23 wrote: post #44

> Downloading copyrighted material may be illegal in your country. Use at your own risk. Have we seriously just stopped considering the ethical implications of such things? At least these sorts of sites used to pretend they were for things like "public domain movies" and "personal backups."

They seem to be leaving the ethical considerations to the users, which I think is perfectly reasonable. Popcorn Time can't decide for you whether it's okay to stream a movie that you own the VHS for. Or whether it's okay for you to stream a movie you can't find on the market anymore. Or whether it's okay for you to stream a movie published by a company that distorts copyright law for its own financial gain.

>>Or whether it's okay for you to stream a movie you can't find on the market anymore.

That would be a great idea. However, the Popcorn Time website states that they only use torrents from YIFY. A brief perusal of the YIFY website tells me that they only have recent or big blockbuster films. I tried searching for "Koyaanisqatsi" and "Intolerance", and neither showed up. As far as the status of the service goes right now, its main purpose is to stream pirated movies. This could change in the future as Popcorn Time opens up to accept more sources.

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