Popcorn
Popcorn Time, which lets the public watch pirated movies for free, has found big success among European and American audiences. Wikipedia

Popcorn Time isn't going away quietly. Four months after legal pressure on the most popular Popcorn Time fork led to a staffer exodus, the flashy piracy service for movie fans has returned in a new iteration.

It's called Popcorn Time Online. It's a new browser-based version of Popcorn Time that enables users to watch torrent files of the latest movies and TV shows directly on their web browsers, rather than forcing pirates to download a separate app.

Starting Thursday, users just need to download the Torrents Time browser plug-in, which includes a video encoder that makes it possible for users to stream torrent movies directly.

“This was impossible before with Popcorn Time, because many torrents contain unstreamable video formats,” one Popcorn Time Online administrator said in an email. “But the days of frustration and users’ discontent are over! Having incorporated Torrents Time, the problems belong in the past and now, the choice of available content will be much bigger! And the quality never seen before!”

The team does not have data on existing versions of Popcorn Time, the administrator said, and many contributors to the project don't even know each other personally, an attempt to preserve anonymity.

“Honestly, we would be scoundrels if we would have disclosed any info about our users and our comrades' activity,” the administrator said. “There are quite a few freelance contributors out there who share a common interest: to improve the capabilities of peer-to-peer social media so that millions of users will be able to enjoy the culture they love, for free. Each contributor stands on his own feet, making his living elsewhere.”

The Motion Picture Association of America is not going to be thrilled about Popcorn Time's return. The MPAA filed three lawsuits against Popcorn Time in October 2015, eventually obtaining an injunction that forced PopcornTime.io, the piracy project's most popular site, to go offline.

The MPAA declined to comment on Popcorn Time Online's debut.

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