BitTorrent: We represent innovation, not piracy
Think BitTorrent, and Pirate Bay comes to mind.
Hundreds of thousands of links to illegal, intellectual property-infringing content are hosted on websites such as the Pirate Bay and IsoHunt, allowing pirates to gleefully acquire copies of their favorite films, books and television shows for free. However, the owners of BitTorrent are fed up with being linked to such activity.
In a blog post Tuesday, VP of marketing Matt Mason used the example of the popular television show "Game of Thrones" to highlight this connection.
A number of stories say that Game of Thrones has been allegedly downloaded by 5.2 million people worldwide, setting a new "BitTorrent Piracy Record." Although the technology is used in the process, the creators want to set the record straight, and highlight that piracy happens outside the BitTorrent ecosystem.
The technology is simply a protocol, and does not include search, a pirate content site, or a content manager. In comparison to illegal downloads, Mason says that within the legal ecosystem, show Epic Meal Time has been downloaded 8,626,987 times, far outstripping the Game of Thrones rate.
The creators highlight that the open-source BitTorrent protocol was built for innovation, not piracy. Sadly, the legal capabilities of such technology -- and the ability to quickly host and transfer large data files -- is often forgotten in the face of lawsuits, the MPAA, and how long it takes for the latest episode of Game of Thrones to be uploaded by a seeder.
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com