A version of Popcorn Time built for the web is shutting down after just a couple of days online. Browser Popcorn launched this weekend as a way to stream pirated movies and TV shows from the web, and it began receiving quite a bit of attention last night. Since then, the site's owner, who has identified himself as a 15-year-old named Milan Kragujevic, says he's received a cease and desist order from the MPAA; the MPAA is also said to have gone after his domain registrar and hosting provider, leading Kragujevic to switch the site from one domain to another earlier today. Despite Kragujevic's quick reaction to keep the service online as recently as this morning, he's now decided to call it quits and shut down the piracy site.
"It was a nice ride, but it's time to move on," Kragujevic writes. "I will be distancing myself from further development of Browser Popcorn." Kragujevic writes that Browser Popcorn was never meant to be "a battle for piracy," but rather "an experiment with the streaming technology." That's not exactly aligned with Kragujevic's earlier statements, but 24 hours of legal notices are the kind of thing that might change your mind. Kragujevic tells Motherboard that he's planning to replace Browser Popcorn with a "legal movie recommendation service." He might also open source the code behind Browser Popcorn, so it's possible that another developer will revive it in the future.
Update October 21st, 3:45PM ET: Browser Popcorn has been handed off to a new developer and come back online at a new domain. That means the site probably won't be turning into a recommendation service. It also means the original headline of this story, "Popcorn Time for the web permanently shuts down," was incorrect. The headline has been updated to reflect this.
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