Legal teams keep bending old laws to fit cybercrimes

Since cybercrime laws lag behind technology, lawyers are constantly seeking creative ways to stretch old laws to fit new crimes, such as the latest – comparing the movie-sharing app Popcorn Time to a burglar’s tool in order to press criminal charges.

Lawyers for an Adam Sandler movie are arguing that Popcorn Time performs the same function as burglars’ tools in order “to commit or facilitate … a theft by physical taking,” language used in an old Oregon law about traditional burglary.

The lawyers say Popcorn Time lets users violate the movie’s copyrights by enabling downloads of pirated copies, and so they are suing for the civil crime of copyright infringement.

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