Two guys in Denmark were arrested for allegedly explaining how to use the 'Netflix for pirated movies'
rpb1001/FlickrDanish police have arrested two men for allegedly operating websites that explained how to use Popcorn Time, the popular streaming service described as the "Netflix for pirated movies," Torrent Freak reports.
Authorities in Denmark also confiscated the domains of both sites, even though neither contained nor linked to any copyright-infringing material.
According to Torrent Freak, these men have been accused of "distributing knowledge and guides on how to obtain illegal content online and are reported to have confessed." And now they could potentially face up to six years in prison.
Inspector Michael Hellensberg from the Danish police Fraud Squad told reporters he hoped the arrests had "a deterrent effect against feeling confident that you can sit wherever you want and try to implement such things," Torrent Freak reports. "Such things" presumably referred to Popcorn Time and similar streaming websites.
Popcorn Time was launched in 2014 and has gone through several iterations as those who run it play an ongoing game of cat and mouse with authorities. The website works by allowing users to stream pirated movies and TV shows without having to worry about deleting the incriminating torrent files afterwards.
Authorities targeting those who "facilitate" file-sharing and piracy is not a new development, but the fact that there were no links to incriminating files on the two websites is noteworthy, as many news publications have written about Popcorn Time in the past.