Fergie's Tech Blog

MPAA, Bram Cohen Announcement Today in Hollywood

Update:

Via Boing Boing.

[...] the short version is: BitTorrent has set up a process with the MPAA by which DMCA takedown procedures for infringing content will be "expedited."

If an MPAA member sees their copyrighted content in the torrent search engine at BitTorrent.com, they will now be able to ask BitTorrent to contact the party responsible for the infringing content or tracker in "a more expedited manner" than previously in place. BitTorrent will also remove the offending item from search returns at BitTorrent.com.

Torrent searches on sites other than BitTorrent.com (for instance, Google) aren't controlled by BitTorrent.com, so they're unaffected. The move can't stop all traffic of potentially infringing content. And since BitTorrent isn't hosting any content anyway, the announcement doesn't mean that infringing content will neccesarily be removed. Also, there may not be a way for Cohen and company to contact uploaders or tracker hosts with takedown notices if those parties don't disclose their contact information (and anyone who's providing pirated files would not likely provide their phone number or email address).

The announcement seems primarily aimed at expressing good faith and neutrality with Hollywood, to lay ground for future paid content distribution agreements with both the motion picture and recording industries. Neither Cohen nor Glickman would estimate how soon such a deal might be in place -- but when pressed, Cohen said "soon."

Earlier:

An AP newswire article by Ted Bridis, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

Hollywood negotiated an agreement Tuesday with the creator of BitTorrent software, popular for downloading pirated movies over the Internet, in a deal aimed at reducing illegal traffic in online films.

The agreement requires 30-year-old software designer Bram Cohen to prevent his Web site, bittorrent.com, from locating pirated versions of popular movies, effectively frustrating people who search for illegal copies of films, according to executives familiar with the deal.

Earlier yet:

Via Boing Boing.

The Motion Picture Association of America released an advisory yesterday that MPAA head Dan Glickman and BitTorrent founder Bram Cohen will hold a joint press conference this afternoon at the AFI in Los Angeles.

While the MPAA provided no details in advance, Glickman and Cohen are expected to announce a deal between BitTorrent and the movie industry that transforms the filesharing service into a commercial distribution channel for movies and other forms of digital entertainment.

posted by Fergie @ 11/22/2005 05:13:00 PM