Two Men Were Arrested in Denmark for Running Popcorn Time Guide Sites

The fact that Denmark is bringing the legal hammer down on pirate sites is not exactly news at this point, but Danish police forces might have gone a little bit too far when they arrested two men for running a pair of Popcorn Time guide sites. The websites were not being used to host any copyrighted content and had no links pointing to infringing content, but were merely offering up-to-date news and FAQs related to the notorious “Netflix for Torrents”, Popcorn Time.

Both domains, namely Popocorntime.dk and Popcorn-time.dk, were seized and shut down by the police, and their owners might now face up to six years in jail for running them. It’s also worth noting that these guys were not at all involved with the development of the original Popcorn Time.

Danish police Fraud Squad Inspector Michael Hellensberg released a statement regarding this particular case:

“The case is important because, firstly, it shows that [site operators] can be revealed by the police. This has consequences and it also conveys the message that this behavior is illegal. Thus there is hopefully a deterrent effect against feeling confident that you can sit wherever you want and try to implement such things.”

I’m not exactly sure how I feel about this statement, but sitting in jail for several years for running a resource guide website seems a bit harsh in my book. What do you think?

Thank you Engadget for providing us with this information.