Greg Sandoval writes:
Peer-to-peer technology took another step toward joining respectable society with Monday's news that the file-sharing company BitTorrent would distribute video over the Internet for Warner Bros. Entertainment, industry insiders said. ¶ Long considered in Hollywood as part of an extensive and despised piracy tool kit, BitTorrent's file-sharing system will be used by Warner Bros. to distribute films and TV shows starting sometime this summer, the companies announced Tuesday. ¶ The entertainment industry has for some time feared that file-swapping services would allow users to violate the studios' copyrights and engage in piracy of music and movies. Studios have aggressively filed lawsuits against peer-to-peer companies. ¶ Entertainment executives now appear willing to partner with file-sharing companies. ...
Link: CNET News.com.
Also listen to Adult-Film Industry Preps for Feature Downloads on NPR.
Update 5/10/2006:
For critical views of this, see Cory Doctorow's post, Warners will use BitTorrent to distribute movies - but what about DRM? on BoingBoing and Russell Shaw's post, I'm sorry, but BitTorrent is still a den of thieves on ZDNet.
Update 5/13/2006:
Om Malik has a good overview, BitTorrent Snags Warner Brothers. Link: GigaOM. --Dennis
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