On Monday, BitTorrent the company will compete with BitTorrent the technology, as the company rolls out a licensed entertainment network – and an enhanced BitTorrent protocol – to compete with the millions of copyrighted files being traded around the Internet. Movie rentals will cost $3.99 for new releases, or $2.99 for older titles; music videos and TV shows will cost $1.99 to rent, or $2.99 for high-definition versions. Video content will be available to rent, not to buy, because of what the company called prohibitive licensing costs. The problem for BitTorrent is that its name has become synonymous with piracy; about 1.2 million users use the service at any one time. British analyst firm CacheLogic has estimated that 30 to 35 percent of all Internet traffic is being consumed by BitTorrent users, and many ISPs have attempted to place constraints on BitTorrent traffic. A significant percentage of that traffic involves the sharing of copyrighted files, to the outrage of movie and record associations, which have aggressively tried to shut down the network and collections of tracker files with moves against Swedish site The Pirate Bay and others.
Comment Preview