Danish man get six-months jail time for promoting Popcorn Time

[Len]

DANISH COURTS have passed down a six-month suspended sentence to a man, simply for suggesting where to find illegally streamed content.

The 39-year-old was convicted in Odense of promoting the torrent streaming site Popcorn Time through his own site.

The Copenhagen Post, which rather incriminatingly publishes the link to the site in its story, warns that this represents a precedent for its citizens that could see more convictions in the future.

Popcorn Time which, unlike Swedish torrent site The Pirate Bay, is still fairly easy to find in the UK (we're not falling into that trap though) and differs from traditional torrent sites because it offers a streaming service like Netflix based on high-quality torrents, rather than downloads.

Denmark has been more aggressive, blocking the Argentine site in 2015, and it's understood that the Danish site showed users how to circumvent this with mirrors and VPNs, as well as where to download versions for desktop, mobile and Smart TV.

"Never before has a person been convicted of participating in the promotion of streaming services. The ruling is, therefore, an important step in the fight against illegal streaming on the internet, and it will reverberate across Europe," said Dorte Køhler Frandsen, the senior prosecutor in the case.

"The decision is a clear signal to those who help spread illegal pirate services. The film industry and others lose billions in income every year because criminals offer films for free illegally. That's a loss for everyone, including the consumer."

As well as the sentence, the man has had 500,000 kroner (c.£59,400) confiscated in advertising revenue accrued by the site.

He will also face 120 hours of community service unless he chooses to take his case to a higher court in the next fortnight.

As well as being illegal, Popcorn Time has also been the victim of some nasty malware attacks using subtitle files to spread ransomware. But that's the risk you take.