While it's true that there are legitimate uses for Bittorrent, let's be honest: most of us use it solely for downloading movies or the latest episode of Grey's Anato-- erm, I mean, Mad Men. And it seems that point hasn't been lost on a U.S. judge, who has ordered that popular Bittorrent search site Isohunt remove any access to content that might infringe on copyright.
The site, which tells your Bittorrent software where to find all those files, gets about 30 million site views a month. But with all infringing content banished, this move means that Isohunt has effectively been shut down, joining Mininova in the great pantheon of shuttered Torrent sites.
The judge suggested it was 'axiomatic' that having access to free versions of copyrighted content would impact the business models of the film, TV and music industries. Given that Hollywood is actually raking more cash now than it ever has in the past, however, that statement may be less obviously true than the judge thinks.
Still it's hard to argue that Bittorrent is used primarily to steal content, and regardless of what one thinks of that or the reasons it happens, the law still seems pretty clear.
[Source: WIRED]
About the Author
Navneet Alang is a Toronto-based technology and culture writer whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New Republic and The Globe and Mail. Between 2010 and 2011 he wrote technology commentary for TECHi on Apple, cloud video and the future of the desktop computer.
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