Kudos to Warner Bros. for working out distribution of movies on BitTorrent. The BitTorrent technology truly is amazing, but unfortunately like so many new technologies in the digital world it was quickly embraced by those disrespectful of intellectual property before legitimate market forces could move in. Kudos also to the folks behind BitTorrent for working with studios to help its service respect artists' rights.

That said, I won't be using this new service, although I purchase Warner Bros. movies (I own all 4 Harry Potter DVDs). I want to watch movies on my TV, not my computer, and so far Warner Bros. is doing the same thing you find with the movie download services; recording permitted only onto DVD for backup, and the DVD can only be played on the original computer. The motion picture industry needs to move in the direction of the recording industry, which licenses services that permit the downloading of songs and the transfer of those songs onto other devices, including CDs.

One thing to keep track of -- if BitTorrent begins carrying more legitimate traffic and becomes more than just a fun tool for WELL types, then there will be a serious need for bandwidth, and as my colleague Adam points out, under net neutrality regulations we likely won't see that bandwidth. Downloaded video will stay on the computer.

posted by Patrick Ross @ 12:22 PM | DRM & Watermarks, etc., Internet: P2P, Search Engines..., Internet: P2P, Search Engines...

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