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BitTorrent chief condemns online piracy

BitTorrent has moved to distance itself from online piracy, insisting that the filesharing service is not intended to facilitate illegal downloads.

The firm's vice president of marketing Matt Mason said in a blog post that people who are accessing the program to unlawfully acquire copyrighted content are using it incorrectly.

BitTorrent distances itself from piracy

© BitTorrent

BitTorrent distances itself from piracy

"We don't host infringing content. We don't point to it. It's literally impossible to 'illegally download something on BitTorrent'," he wrote.


Mason's comments follow reports that Game of Thrones has been named as the most-pirated TV show on BitTorrent, but the marketing chief insists there is no such thing as BitTorrent piracy.

Game of Thrones - Season 3: Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen


"The idea of a 'BitTorrent Piracy Record' is a complete fabrication. Because there's actually no such thing as a 'BitTorrent piracy record'. Because piracy happens outside the BitTorrent ecosystem," he added.

"These so-called 'records' are presumably based on numbers from pirate websites that have no affiliation with BitTorrent, Inc. If they're corroborated using data from pirate websites, they're 'Internet Piracy Records'. They're not 'BitTorrent Piracy Records'."

BitTorrent is working with content providers to help distribute their music, TV shows and movies legally, with more than 2 million licensed works available to download through the service.

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