Overheard In Providence » file sharing http://www.overheardinprovidence.com A blog by EERac Thu, 03 Jun 2010 01:19:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 BitTorrent on my mind http://www.overheardinprovidence.com/2007/08/02/bittorrent-on-my-mind/ http://www.overheardinprovidence.com/2007/08/02/bittorrent-on-my-mind/#comments Thu, 02 Aug 2007 17:36:52 +0000 eerac http://www.overheardinprovidence.com/2007/08/02/bittorrent-on-my-mind/ BitTorrent is a way of downloading and sharing files over the internet. It’s the name of both a file sharing protocol and a program that uses the protocol. Many, many people use BitTorrent to download copyrighted content, but about half the time I mention it to “a non-computer person” they don’t know what it is, hence this brief explanation. Also, a BitTorrent-related paper I coauthored just got accepted to WPES07. As such, I can officially claim to be a expert on this subject (fact: you should not believe this claim).

Despite it’s popularity (and my expert status), I don’t use BitTorrent very often. Usually when I want an album I buy it legally using iTunes. I don’t watch that many movies, and TV shows are widely available on television, so why download them. When I do download something on BitTorrent, I like to have some sort of legal/moral justification in mind.

Recently I downloaded the movie Sicko, since Michael Moore doesn’t seem to mind if you download his movies for free. I also downloaded the album Night Ripper by Girl Talk, since I screwed up the ordering process and bought it without requesting the download as well. Also, Night Ripper is jam-packed with unlicensed samples, so Girl Talk probably won’t complain if he finds out you stole his music. Finally, I’m downloading Good Copy Bad Copy right this moment. It’s a documentary on copyright, so the filmmakers have wisely decided to make it freely available using BitTorrent.

There you have it, three download recommendations from a BitTorrent expert.

]]> http://www.overheardinprovidence.com/2007/08/02/bittorrent-on-my-mind/feed/ 3