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Popcorn Time for the web returns with a new developer

Popcorn Time for the web returns with a new developer

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A web version of the piracy app Popcorn Time has been revived for the second time in about 24 hours. The site, called Browser Popcorn, has now moved over to yet another new domain, following the shutdown of its original two domains in the wake of legal pressure.

The site has switched hosts to avoid a takedown

Browser Popcorn is also being taken over by a new developer. The site's creator, a 15-year-old named Milan Kragujevic, tells The Verge in an email that he's handed Browser Popcorn over to a "close friend for a time being until the dust settles, maybe permanently." Kragujevic says that he'll remain involved with the site's development, but he is no longer the owner or "the one to fall when things become dire." Notably, the new developer is not a teen. "In fact, he is 35 years old," Kragujevic writes, "a seasoned programmer you might say."

Kragujevic initially pulled the website down yesterday morning, replacing it with a note blaming the MPAA for its removal. The site was then moved over to a new domain, but Kragujevic pulled it down again a few hours later and mentioned plans to turn it into a legal movie recommendation site. Evidently, those plans have changed. "I have received so many messages about people 'begging' me to return the website, I had to," Kragujevic says.

The site is now trying to avoid being taken down again by switching over to a domain registrar in the Bahamas and a data host in Bulgaria, which Kragujevic says "don't give out information nor respect DMCA [takedown requests], so there shouldn't be any problems." Given that Browser Popcorn's first 100 or so hours in existence have involved two shutdowns and three domains, there's good reason to be wary of it staying up as long as its developers might hope. But for now, it's alive again. At least until copyright enforcers get back to work.


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