An Evening with BitTorrent
May 3, 2006
Thomas Mennecke
BitTorrent as an organization, incorporated in the state of California, managed to swing from one end of the popular opinion spectrum to the other in a matter weeks. Precipitated by Bram Cohen’s deal with the MPAA, in which unauthorized material would be removed from his content search engine, public opinion subsequently degraded. BitTorrent’s reputation faired little better in the later months, as Bram Cohen’s views on certain issues met with widespread opposition from the community. With a floundering public opinion and an apparent disconnect with the community, is BitTorrent, Inc. becoming the George W. Bush of the file-sharing world?
No stranger to the opinions of the file-sharing community, Slyck.com met with Ashwin Navin, President of BitTorrent, Inc., in New York City. In town for a panel discussion in Tribeca along with director Steven Soderbergh, Todd Wagner of 2929 Entertainment and Dean Garfield of MPAA, BitTorrent, Inc.’s participation stressed that what most of us already know – online movie distribution is coming – if not already here. Afterwards, Ashwin opened up about BitTorrent, BitTorrent Inc., and the misconceptions people have about the force behind the largest Internet revolution since the World Wide Web.
“I sometimes lose the will to live after reading Slyck.com,â€
