The Motion Picture Association of America was also responsible for shutting down of the popular Popcorn Time service. The MPAA said in a statement that it was legal action brought by its member studios that took down the two sites: a court order in Canada shuttered Popcorn Time and another effort in New Zealand closed YTS, reports the AFP. According to MPAA boss Chris Dodd, “This coordinated legal action is part of a larger comprehensive approach being taken by the MPAA and its international affiliates to combat content theft.” He adds, “Popcorn Time and YTS are illegal platforms that exist for one clear reason: to distribute stolen copies of the latest motion picture and television shows without compensating the people who worked so hard to make them.” This is pretty much what we had suspected at that time. Canada’s federal court issued an injunction on Oct. 16 requiring web operators to close down Popcorn Time, which had an estimated 1.5 million visitors in July. YTS was believed to have had about 3.4 million visitors as of August, and was told to shut things down in an interim injunction from New Zealand’s High Court. The year 2015 has been a pretty bad year for the torrent websites. The MPAA’s shutdown of YIFY and Popcorn time only spells doom for the entire torrent infrastructure. As of now only Pirate Bay is seen as being able to withstand the pressure from anti-piracy groups to shut down and being hailed as king among the torrent websites.
