By GARY GENTILE, AP Business Writer
In a deal aimed at reducing illegal Internet traffic in pirated films, Hollywood reached an agreement Tuesday with the creator of the popular file-sharing software BitTorrent.
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.
BitTorrent must remove Web links leading to illegal content owned by the seven studios that are members of the Motion Picture Association of America.
"BitTorrent Inc. discourages the use of its technology for distributing films without a license to do so," Cohen said in the statement. "As such, we are pleased to work with the film industry to remove unauthorized content from bittorrent.com's search engine."
MPAA Chief Executive Dan Glickman declared, "They're leading the way for other companies by their example."
The agreement represents the latest effort by the entertainment industry to discourage illegal Internet downloads. It also demonstrates Cohen's sensitivity toward Hollywood's piracy problems, making him potentially more attractive to studios for future deals related to movie downloads.
Cohen disclosed in September his company had raised $8.75 million in venture funding to develop commercial distribution tools for media companies.
The BitTorrent technology pioneered by Cohen -- and used by an estimated 45 million people -- assembles digital movies and other computer files from separate bits of data downloaded from other computer users across the Internet. Its decentralized nature makes downloading more efficient but also frustrates the entertainment industry's efforts to find and identify movie pirates.
The agreement with Cohen would not prevent determined Internet users from finding movies or other materials using tools or Web sites other than Cohen's, but it removes one of the most convenient methods people have used.
On the Net:
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Associated Press Writer Ted Bridis in Washington contributed to this report.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.
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