14 DAY TRIAL // One of the most popular Popcorn Time forks has lost control over its domains and has become unusable for millions of people. The issue seems to be with Time4popcorn.eu, which was suspended by the EURid registry.
TorrentFreak reports that the so-called “Netflix for Pirates” lost its domain without prior warning after EURid decided to suspend the site. The registry explained that the domain had been taken down on suspicion that it was registered using inaccurate contact details, not because there were requests filed by copyright groups, as it was expected.
“Upon verification of the contact data for your .eu domain name, we have reason to believe that your contact data is inaccurate,” EURid wrote, asking for proof of identity, as it is common on such occasions.
The developers have already switched the site over to time4popcorn.com, but the app will take some time to get updated to properly display the new site’s information, which is certainly disappointing to the millions of users.
“At the moment the desktop and iPhone versions aren’t working but in a few hours we’ll update the desktop version to the new domain and it should update automatically for most and will work,” the Time4Popcorn team said.
They added that if for some reason users aren’t getting the automatic update, the new app will be available on the new .com domain.
Not so indestructible after all
What this situation shows, however, is the tight connection between the Time4Popcorn site and the mobile and desktop apps. For an app that says it will never be taken down, the fact that this just happened is proof to the contrary. Developers have noticed the issues and have been working to resolve things.
“From the next update, beta 5.0, this kind of scenario will be nearly impossible. This incident of the service being shut down like this will be very unlikely to happen,” they added.
It would be interesting to see whether EURid took down the domain because it did a routine check and found the inconsistencies or whether someone tipped them off, such as the entertainment industry that has been after the Popcorn Time fork since it was launched several months ago.
So, if you’re a Time4Popcorn user, you should probably check out the new domain and redownload the app since the old version is still not working for most people. The app allows people to stream torrents without downloading the content as you normally would. The app comes with a built-in VPN that’s free to use to help protect people’s identities.