P2P technologies like BitTorrent are most commonly associated with pirated content and copyright infringement. While there is a great deal of legitimate content benefiting from the decentralised distribution network provided by BitTorrent technology, it can't be denied that the vast majority of 'torrents' are infringing copies of works.

Until now, copyright owners have insisted on strict enforcement of their legal rights, refusing to allow unauthorised electronic duplication. However, by outlawing the entire technology, industry groups have not only failed to stem the flow of unauthorised material (if anything, they have fuelled its consumption); they have denied themselves access to its many benefits.

Now one publisher of anime films is adopting a different tactic, using the BitTorrent community's culture of sharing and remixing, and the technology that supports these activities, to promote its works among fans and other viewers:

'BitTorrent has been used extensively in a kind of underground environment up until now', said David Williams, a producer at ADV, in a telephone interview from the company's Houston headquarters. 'There's a large group of people who have it on their systems. Since this core group already exists, we figured why not give them legitimate material to download that would help them learn about some of our products.'

BitTorrent and BitTorrent-like filesharing technologies are presently the only feasible way to stream movies to large numbers of users in real time, so it seems likely that they will be adopted with increasing enthusiasm by copyright-holders. Whether they are able to successfully exploit the ancillary cultural benefits of the medium remains to be seen.

Originally by NYT > Technology, 1:00 PM

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