Time4Popcorn now comes with integrated VPN tool to fend off copyright issues

Jun 9, 2014 09:23 GMT  ·  By

Popcorn Time has become quite a controversial service and it’s bound to become even more of a nightmare for copyright owners as one of its forks has been updated to include a free VPN tool.

Popcorn Time has become a phenomenon in the past few months, offering P2P streaming in a clean and easy to use interface. The team behind the program quickly retired, but since the code is open source, many have taken it upon themselves to adopt the project, fork it and take it into a new direction.

Time4Popcorn is one of those successful versions of the original Popcorn Time that has taken it upon itself to bring new features to users, including a listing of available TV shows and Android support, and now, a VPN feature.

Why? Because copyright holders are actively monitoring all activity online that may lead to infringement, be it torrents or content streaming. Several versions of Popcorn Time have already been targeted by complaints, one even receiving a hefty fine.

Pirates have been using anonymizing tools for years, however, such as the Pirate Browser, TOR, VPNs and other tools, which is why the site has decided to introduce the new feature. Since most such tools are actually costly, Time4Popcorn wants to help out those who don’t afford them and offers its VPN for free.

“Throughout these last months we realized that making the ultimate watching experience for everyone is important. However, something that is even more important to us is that everyone will be able to get this experience without risking themselves,” Time4Popcorn told TorrentFreak.

The new tool will enable anyone from anywhere in the world to use Popcorn Time without worrying about repercussions, which makes the team behind the product quite happy with the idea.

It seems that the VPN isn’t run by the Popcorn Time team, but rather by Kebrum, a VPN provider, with whom a deal was reached.

“We believe Popcorn Time is the revolution that will change the entertainment industry forever. And now, with our help, Popcorn Time can do for the world of Internet anonymity the same as they will do for the world of entertainment,” Kebrum’s team told the publication.

The feature was implemented in the latest 4.2 Alpha version and it works by simply clicking on a lock icon that connects and disconnects users to the VPN. Users will be notified of the new development in the coming days, while older versions of the software will be updated automatically once the feature makes it into the stable release.

[Update] Time4pocorn had to drop the site due to some legal issues and has moved to popcorn-time.se. You can read more about this here.