Wil Wheaton: BitTorrent Isn't Only For Piracy 354
itwbennett writes "Geek advocate Wil Wheaton has written a blog post on the (legal) usefulness of BitTorrent, saying that the speed of his recent download of Ubuntu 12.04 should serve as a reminder that BitTorrent fills an important niche. Wheaton compares blocking BitTorrent to closing freeways because bank robbers could get away."
Re:Not quite (Score:5, Interesting)
Legal uses are 100% of my bittorrent traffic. I can't speak for anyone else.
Re:bittorent is not for speed (Score:4, Interesting)
I second this. I downloaded Ubuntu 12.04 CDs and DVDs the day it was released, and I was able to easily find an ftp mirror that saturated my 40mbit connection.
Re:Not quite (Score:4, Interesting)
A single user here, Using bittorrent since the beginning to download dead shows. But the majority of my usage is piracy.
Whether or not you want to believe me, thats all you, but my use is almost all illegal.
Re:Not quite (Score:3, Interesting)
I agree, as a pot smoker, a lot believe i am doing something illegal while in my mind it shouldn't be illegal in the first place. Your example leaves out how the show should get revenue if they aren't selling ads in the time-slot. When you download the show it bypasses the ads leaving the show with pissed off advertisers. Lets talk games, can you justify me downloading duke nukem forever for free to test it out to only have me delete it? Should i have bought the game to try it? I personally think you should buy the game regardless to support the industry, but the way i do it saves me money at the expense of the people who put hard work into the game.
Re:Not quite (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Not quite (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Not quite (Score:5, Interesting)
Ummm, that depends on who you ask. When Jamie Kellner (TV Exec, at the time was CEO of Turner Broadcasting, looking after a bunch of channels including the Cartoon Network) answered that very question [wikipedia.org] his reply was this: "Because of the ad skips.... It's theft. Your contract with the network when you get the show is you're going to watch the spots. Otherwise you couldn't get the show on an ad-supported basis. Any time you skip a commercial or watch the button you're actually stealing the programming."
Seriously, you just can't make up quality like that.
Re:Not quite (Score:3, Interesting)
Here's the problem... a lot of things that are technically illegal, people don't believe OUGHT to be illegal.
I think that's what many people in Europe think. In the US, you can get almost anything promptly and usually at fair conditions. In Europe, the same things tend to cost twice as much or, more commonly, are not available. This ranges from keyboard stickers, over CPU coolers, particular mobile phone models, PCs, to all kinds of online services.
Where I live, in Portugal, it is impossible to legally watch a particular movie or series via streaming online. It's not just hard or inconvenient, it's impossible because such a service doesn't exist. You can theoretically rent DVDs at one or two old-fashioned video shops, but these are rare, far away, and renting a movie costs about as much as going to the Cinema in Portugal. (Don't ask me why, Portugal is among the poorest countries in Europe but renting a video is more expensive than anywhere else.)
I have money right now and would be more than happy to pay for legal, good quality streaming over the Net. Instead I have to bite into the sour apple and watch my favorite series via crappy and slow streaming or have to download them with a torrent.
Is that piracy?
If it is, then certainly not one that creates any damages for the stupid entertainment industry that is not capable of offering a reasonable streaming service.