The media appears desperate to justify the use of BitTorrent, a service that is even more efficient than P2P in downloading large digital content, including unauthorized content. The Washington Post Tuesday had in the second graf of a Grokster preview story the fact that BitTorrent meant "millions of users could quickly see lengthy amateur videos documenting the devastation of the December tsunami in the Indian Ocean." But voyeurs so inclined could of course find such video relentlessly displayed on 24-hour news networks and their web offspring, as well as "viral video" sites.

On Monday the New York Times cited BitTorrent as a way to keep up on TV shows you missed. It quotes Public Knowledge's Mike Godwin as saying he loves the Showtime program "Huff," and when he missed the season finale, he used BitTorrent to download it to his personal computer. Hmm. First off, Showtime helps those with time conflicts by offering "Huff" on Showtime on Demand. But beyond that, with TiVo to Go, Mike can sign up for a season pass of "Huff," and download the last episode to his computer. It's simple and painless. BitTorrent is complicated and not user-friendly. So why would someone use BitTorrent rather than TiVo to Go? Because TiVo is a subscription service, as is the Showtime network. With BitTorrent, you don't have to pay TiVo, and you don't have to pay Showtime, but you still get to watch "Huff" (and you can hook that computer up to your plasma TV and watch it there).

Should the cable networks, and the producers of cable programming, be concerned? I say yes. Right now BitTorrent isn't in competition for the average TV viewer -- you nearly need an engineering degree to get it to work, and until it gets more users and nodes the download speeds are pretty slow -- but history has shown that these obstacles will lessen with time.

Cable naturally is nervous about telcos rolling out fiber to the home and offering cable networks a la carte, but at least in that model the networks themselves are being paid for. As BitTorrent and similar technologies become ubiquitous, it's easy to see a scenario where people don't just cherry-pick cable networks, they cherry-pick cable programming. "Why should I pay $10 a month for HBO if I just want to see 'The Sopranos'?" a person might say in justifying their download.

Often the problem with intellectual property protection is that technology tends to get out ahead of business models that can properly protect content. That's not really the case here, though. TiVo worked closely with the content industry -- which was quite nervous about TiVo to Go -- and there seems to be a general comfort level now with the way that content will be protected. It seems the risk of unauthorized redistribution has been sufficiently minimized. Napster to Go, a frequent blog topic of mine, is another example, where subscribers to a music streaming service can carry those songs around with them on a portable device for as long as they subscribe. It's DRM technology that permits that business model to exist.

Everyone in the IP debate is focused on songs, songs, songs, and now to an extent movies. But broadcast and cable TV shows, business software, books, video games, quilting patterns -- just about any intellectual property -- can be digitized. Thus, just about any intellectual property that currently is offered either on a purchase or subscription model is vulnerable to the threat of BitTorrent and its successors.

When the Visigoths aren't pounding at your own gate, it's natural to breathe easy and thank the heavens that instead someone else is under attack. But the Visigoths didn't stop in Greece. They devastated Thrace and sacked the Balkans. Then they occupied Italy. Then they moved on to Gaul (France), followed by Spain. They even scored victories in north Africa. Like file-sharing technology, the Visigoths didn't discriminate. I can almost hear King Alaric saying "It's all ones and zeros to me."

- posted by Patrick Ross @ 2:46 PM | DRM

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Tracked on February 24, 2005 08:47 PM

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