UK banned “Popcorn Time” websites, but VPNs bypassed blocking

The Motion Picture Association has recently obtained a High Court order that demands British Internet service providers to block access to 5 websites offering the popular Popcorn Time software. Besides, the ISPs are required to block other torrent and streaming websites.

Major British ISPs – Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin, BT and EE – faced a series of blocking orders issued by the High Court, which require them to restrict access to various popular torrent services and streaming portals. Over the recent years, the UK authorities blocked over a hundred websites. Today the court has granted the first injunction against sites that don’t provide direct links, just software.

Hollywood’s Motion Picture Association obtained a court order that targets 5 popular Popcorn Time websites, including flixtor.me, popcorntime.io, popcorn-time.se and isoplex.isohunt.to.

The judge ruled that Popcorn Time software has little to no legal use and is most often used to download and stream pirated video content. Apparently, Popcorn Time has become a major threat to the entertainment industry, so it was not a surprise that its apps were being targeted – in the past, the film studios took down code repositories on Github.

Aside from 5 Popcorn Time domains, the court order also targets other torrent and streaming websites. The industry observers note that after the Internet service providers gave up on defending their position in court, it is now a mere formality for the rights owners to have a “pirate” website blocked. The only obstacle is that the blocking efforts are quite expensive. It is known that an unopposed application for a blocking order costs rights owners around £14,000 per website, which means that the total costs of the blocking efforts amount to more than a million pounds.

But Popcorn Time itself will continue for now, despite action brought by Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, Warner Bros, Paramount, Disney, and Columbia Pictures.

When torrent sites like ExtraTorrent and other were restricted in the UK, VPN services helped users evade the blocks on the original websites. VPN services replace original ip address by ip address located in another country. It allows to bypass geo-restrictions and use Popcorn Time websites without risk.