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Comment by 07d046 | Hacker News Reader

A CLI version of Popcorn Time, published using the real life identity of the author? Brave move.

And using a Hollywood movie as an example? If he wanted to claim "it's just a tool, usable for anything" he should have used something like Big Buck Bunny as the example.

This was just an example to be used by the rightholders of that movie. If you published your own movie, you can substitute the name of your movie in the example. :)

He should probably change the preview image from selecting from which high res stream of inception he wants then.

I dont see how this could be problematic. There is nothing illegal done here.

Reading these comments sounds like people think we're in China.

Next we're going to be arresting people who make knives, because you know, people can use them for illegal activities.

Exactly. And think about those bastards that provide us with water.

People are drowning every day!! When will this finally stop?

Let's be honest: what percentage of people use this type of video streaming to watch content they have rights to watch and what percentage are using it watch content they don't have rights to watch?

My best guess is that a larger portion of people used Popcorn Time to watch copyrighted materials than people used their knives to injure or kill someone.

I agree that the tools isn't illegal but I think it's fair to be honest about it's most likely purpose.

He has a picture, but it's not particularly distinctive, and the name could just be a pseudonym.

They're in the Netherlands so I suppose they're safe(ish?)

I wouldn't count on it. The Netherlands is basically a state of the U.S. As far as I know many of the Popcorn Time authors were Dutch as well and they were threatened into taking it down too.

What a complete bullshit.

So you're saying Wessley is safe? Is that your opinion as a Dutch law expert? Maybe before making such dismissive comments you should consider that maybe Wessley is reading this and forming an opinion on whether this silly little github project will have any significant impact on his life.

Despite what many people associate The Netherlands with, we're not a liberal state. We're a democratic bureaucracy that leans heavily towards pleasing our trade partners and making sure the country is pleasant to live in for our citizens. That means we will extradite hackers, spy on our inner cities with cameras and force our ISP's to keep communication records of everyone.

Every once in a while citizens get pissed off and some policy is reversed or diminished, but usually they don't care enough. I'm not saying Wessley will be fined or worse, but just that should this small app draw the ire from whatever big publisher corporation, he definitely is not 'safe' just from being in The Netherlands.

> The Netherlands is basically a state of the U.S.

^ this is all i ment. I agree that he is not _safe_. But he also does not perse do anything forbidden. I am pretty sure he is aware of the gray zone he is working in.

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