Popcorn Time creator reveals himself (and why he left)
Up until the original Popcorn Time 'died' and became an open source project, its chief creator was only known as "Sebastian" -- not surprisingly, he wasn't keen on linking his real name to a pro-piracy initiative. At last, though, this mysterious man has revealed both his identity and his motivations. He's Federico Abad, an Argentinian designer who created Popcorn Time when he wanted a fast and simple way for people to watch any movie they wanted. Existing options took too long, or were confusing to a relative neophyte like Abad's mom. If she liked the technology, it was a good idea.
Why'd he back out, then? Believe it or not, it wasn't due to an imminent shutdown threat. Abad notes that Popcorn Time cost people both professionally and personally (he lost his girlfriend due to his devotion), and that the mere knowledge that copyright holders were watching was frightening enough. Apparently, a lawyer from Warner Bros. had figured out the team's identities and visited their LinkedIn pages -- Abad reckoned that this was a "scare tactic" to show that the studio knew what was up. He doesn't regret making Popcorn Time, but he believes that it wasn't worth the possibility of legal action down the line.
