BitTorrent Is Going Legit (Or Is It?)

BitTorrent, Inc. rolled out a paid music and movie download service today. In doing so, they must have expected to increase net worth by generating new revenue or by decreasing the risk of liability for copyright infringement. Almost certainly both, now that they have built up a huge network of over 135 million P2P users. BitTorrent, Inc. previously had a business model that relied mostly on the licensing of its technology solutions. The improvements over P2P predecessors like Grokster, allowed BitTorrent to attract licensees as well as the attention of a large network of users without being shut down by the courts. While amassing such a large and efficient network, the MPAA and RIAA were banging ever more loudly on BitTorrent's door. For the users, just like crack, if you give them a free hit, they'll keep coming back, even if they have to pay. BitTorrent has now nearly realized its transition from a technology company to a media company and believes it is time for sales of DRM-protected, high-value content (while maintaining the view that in the long run DRM is bad for everyone and should be replaced by advertising-supported content).

Of course, heavy hitting competitors in different respects include the likes of Apple's iTunes, Google's YouTube, and Amazon's Unbox. While they are larger and generally more user friendly, BitTorrent has a great advantage - piracy. This is due to its P2P nature - decentralized and, for practical purposes, anonymous. While BitTorrent.com complied with Hollywood's request in 2005 to remove copyrighted tracker links from its website, the wide use of "trackerless torrents" makes that move largely ineffective in preventing piracy. So it becomes clear, BitTorrent aims to make everyone happy, from content providers to consumers (although ISPs may disagree), even if they have competing and incompatible interests. The net effect of the company's effort in the production of such a broad base of good will remains to be seen.

(For some excellent reading on this subject, see Prof. Picker's paper Rewinding Sony: The Evolving Product, Phoning Home and the Duty of Ongoing Design, blog post, Peer-To-Peer: What Is It Good For?, and Prof. Strahilevitz's blog post Taking Freenet Seriously: A Response to Picker on Peer-to-Peer. Did everyone submit their OscarTorrents votes?)