BitTorrent Inc., the file-sharing startup whose underlying technology is responsible for much of the piracy that plagues Hollywood, is laying off its sales and marketing department. The immediate cause of the layoffs: A failure to sell the Torrent Entertainment Network, BitTorrent's attempt at an online media store, to Best Buy for a rumored $15 million. That deal fell apart, a BitTorrent insider believes, because of a recent FCC ruling on file sharing. CEO Doug Walker, who replaced troubled founder Bram Cohen last fall, had hinted at a rethink of the store in March. Walker's also said to be rethinking BitTorrent's "DNA" service, which sought to offer businesses a cut-rate online content-deliver service, using file-sharing technology to undercut Limelight and Akamai's prices. BitTorrent is now thinking about making the service free, which would certainly count as "cut-rate" — but also suggests that it hadn't had much success selling it.

The grindy reporters at the Wall Street Journal have confirmed what the guys at TorrentFreak figured out a couple of weeks ago: Hard rockers Buckcherry (I recommend listening to "Lit Up" and "Ridin'" as a primer) leaked their own single "Too Drunk ..." from a computer at their manager's office in early July. The band had issued a faux-outraged press release over the pretend act of piracy. Their complaint: "We want our FANS to have any new songs first.” Uh, guys, isn't that exactly what happened?

Jim Louderback, the CEO of Revision3, is jumpin' mad. A denial-of-service attack brought down the online-video network over the weekend, and it wasn't the work of a freelance hacker with a distributed network of compromised machines, he writes in the company blog. It was, he says, the deliberate act of MediaDefender, an antipiracy consulting group which works to shut down file-sharing networks. Revision3 uses BitTorrent, a file-sharing protocol, to distribute its own content, and runs a "tracker" server to coordinate those downloads. All of this is quite legal. MediaDefender, it turns out, found a security hole in Revision3's server, and planted unknown files, possibly illegal copies on Revision3's servers, for their own purposes. It's not clear why, but whatever the motive, MediaDefender may have broken several laws in doing so.

"Dr. Block says about 86 percent of Internet addicts have some other form of mental illness, but that unless a therapist is looking for it, Internet addiction is likely to be missed." By "other form of mental illness," we're guessing Asperger's sufferers like BitTorrent's not-so-adorably quirky founder Bram Cohen. [Canada.com] (Photo by Irina Slutsky)

Cable and internet service provider Comcast, half of the local broadband duopoly here in the Bay Area, has promised to stop throttling traffic generated by users of the BitTorrent protocol. This comes in the wake of a mountain of bad press sparked by the discovery that Comcast was interfering with customers' file-sharing transmissions — including an AP reporter's entirely legal Bible download. In return, BitTorrent Inc. promises to optimize the company's client for Comcast's network. However, Comcast isn't showering away the stink; it's just applying deodorant.

Harvard University had data on 10,000 graduate-school applicants stolen from a hacked server and posted on BitTorrent. 6,600 students had their birthdates, Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers and more released. Don't worry, though. The university is paying for identity theft protection for all affected students. "Protecting personal information is something Harvard takes seriously, and we are truly sorry for the inconvenience and concern this incident may cause." Not serious enough to keep from getting hacked, though. Whatever. The University of Chicago would never let this crap happen. Even better? The file was posted on The Pirate Bay in February. What took you so long to make a statement, guv'nors?

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor has made the first section of a four-part album available as a BitTorrent download. The rest of the 36-track album is available on the band's website or on Amazon.com, without copying restrictions, for $5. Reznor has been a constant critic of record labels and the music industry for years. Last year he admitted that he frequently pirated music himself. He included this statement in the upload notes for the album, Ghosts I:

At a Congressional hearing, Comcast executives said the company needs to filter some traffic to keep the flow of data constant on its networks — like blocking BitTorrent file-sharing, as it was caught doing last fall. Federal Communications Commission head Kevin Martin is having none of it. "I think it's important to understand that the commission is ready, willing and able to step in if necessary to correct any (unreasonable) practices that are ongoing today," he said today. Martin wants Internet service providers to be more "transparent." Network operators have the right to manage data traffic, but that "does not mean they can arbitrarily block access to particular applications or services," he added. Translation? If you're going to block file sharing, stop lying about it.

A lump of coal for Hollywood executives who went slow on building legal online music and video stores over the past decade: The number of people helping themselves to content at file-sharing tracker Pirate Bay has doubled to 8 million over the past year. The site now indexes nearly twice as many BitTorrent files.

A number of consumer groups are petitioning the FCC to fine Comcast $195,000 for every customer affected by their BitTorrent-throttling practices. The FCC has said in the past that service providers can't "block" customers from using certain applications or websites, but it hasn't enforced that policy. Comcast has stated that they aren't "blocking" data transmissions, but are delaying them. Angry users aren't seeing much of a difference. We still think that government regulation is not the answer. You don't like what Comcast is doing? Let your wallet do the talking — change providers or lay your own fiber, bub. Or, considering that Comcast was caught blocking a digital version of the Bible, perhaps divine intervention is what called for. Down with the infidels! (Photo by AP/Douglas C. Pizac)

The Swedish copyfighters at The Pirate Bay are working on a new protocol to replace BitTorrent. They feel that Bram Cohen's BitTorrent Inc. has too much influence on BitTorrent's technical direction. And then, too, there's the recent news that Comcast is intentionally slowing BitTorrent file transfers. The new protocol will be designed from the ground up to thwart spammers and antipiracy organizations from harassing users or tracking copyright violators. While the site rose to prominence thanks to BitTorrent, The Pirate Bay is the most influential organization in the file-sharing world. We suspect that other file-sharing sites will line up to support the new peer-to-peer protocol. A preliminary release is planned for next year.

Comcast has gotten a bitch-slap from Congressman Rick Boucher. Quick recap: Users said Comcast was screwing up file-sharing downloads via BitTorrent but no one believed them. Then the Associated Press did their own report, trying to download the Bible but failing. Comcast blundered through a denial, calling the wire report "web gossip." And it might get sued. All that and a pissed-off Congressman too? Not a good week for Philadelphia's cable guys.

A reader emailed Comcast to complain about its blocking the Bible and received back a typical PR-speak response. Within was this gem: "We have a responsibility to manage our network to ensure that our customers have the best broadband experience possible." Aha! I hadn't realized the "best broadband experience" excluded BitTorrent. That's Comcastic! Also a nice touch: Dismissing a story that ran over the Associated Press wire service as "web gossip." The full email after the jump.

It was only last week that Comcast was getting called the Antichrist for disrupting BitTorrent users on its network and preventing the Associated Press from downloading the Bible. Since then, Comcast has offered nothing but excuses. Now, Comcast might get sued.

First the Bible, now ... Lotus Notes? It seems the same technology that Comcast uses to slow down BitTorrent file sharing also prevents emails with large attachments from being sent through Lotus Notes. We pray that this gets fixed soon or we'll be forced to switch to an ISP that isn't quite so evil. And email software that doesn't completely suck. [Ars Technica]

Amy Banse, an executive at bible-blocking cable company Comcast, admitted at the Web 2.0 Summit on Friday that the company intentionally disrupts BitTorrent traffic. She said the company does so because the "0.01 percent" of customers who engage in what Comcast calls "excessive use" are sending the equivalent of 18,000 emails an hour. Comcast got into this mess after the Associated Press tried and failed to transfer a copy of the Bible using BitTorrent software. The cause? A network analysis revealed deliberate service disruptions by Comcast. The Bible's author has yet respond to requests for comment. (Photo by dmuth)

Writes HotorNot founder James Hong on BitTorrent's party this week at Fluid, where rapper Sean Kingston took the stage:

Oh, god. For a few months, there have been rumblings of Comcast, the cable and Internet provider, intentionally disrupting BitTorrent traffic. The Associated Press verified the dusruption by trying to download a copy of the King James Bible via BitTorrent over Comcast-connected computers. A devilishly clever move, downloading a public-domain work unprotected by copyright, and suggesting that Comcast opposes the distribution of the Holy Book.

Bram Cohen, the founder of file-sharing software startup BitTorrent, has stepped down as chief executive and will assume the role of chief scientist. Why did the inventor of today's most popular peer-to-peer file sharing technology remove himself? Was it because, as many had predicted, inventor founders do not lead their own companies successfully through growth phases? Or did BitTorrent's investors get wind of his frighteningly violent body of writings?

After the Motion Picture Association of America sued BitTorrent search engine TorrentSpy for copyright infringement, a federal court ordered the file-sharing searcher to log all user IP addresses and file traffic. To avoid violating its own privacy policy, TorrentSpy has instead opted to ban all US-based IP addresses. [TorrentFreak]