The Daily Swarm

WSJ:

Long at loggerheads, cable provider Comcast Corp. and popular file-sharing company BitTorrent Inc. now are working together.

The deal comes as BitTorrent, which became known for developing software technology widely used to illegally share files, is trying to reinvent itself.

The companies are in talks to collaborate on ways to run BitTorrent’s technology more smoothly on Comcast’s broadband network, and allow Comcast to transport video files more effectively over its own network in the future, said Tony Warner, Comcast’s chief technology officer.

Slyck:

TorrentSpy, one of the largest BitTorrent search engines, has ceased operations. According to Justin Bunnell, administrator and owner of TorrentSpy, the decision was made out of a desire to protect the privacy of its users – not because of any legal influence.

“We have decided on our own, not due to any court order or agreement, to bring the Torrentspy.com search engine to an end and thus we permanently closed down worldwide on March 24, 2008,” a post on TorrentSpy.com reads.

“The legal climate in the USA for copyright, privacy of search requests, and links to torrent files in search results is simply too hostile. We spent the last two years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, defending the rights of our users and ourselves.”