Bit Torrent Reversed 'Stranglehold' on Distribution - Former BT President

by Rob Walker | November 10, 2008 at 01:47 pm

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Ashwin Navin, the former yahoo employee who co-founded BitTorrent Inc., left the company after four years. He's staying on the Board, but is moving onto a new project with Youtube's Steve Chen, amongst others.

While always being a strong advocate for user rights, Navin had to stay mum on a lot of subjects while he was president of the company. Now he's free to talk about how Bit Torrent (and piracy) have affected big business.

“Indirectly, these tools force large media companies to realize that there is no longer scarcity or a stranglehold on distribution that locks people out of self-expression. Anyone can speak to the world in any format, without filters. Freedom of Speech has never been so available to the masses. How these large corporations respond to this fundamental realization will benefit many many millions of people–creators and consumers alike.”
Navin hits the nail on the head here. BitTorrent is a great technology with a lot of potential. The thing the entertainment industry has to do, is find a way to leverage it. Listening to consumers instead of trying to shut them up would be a good place to start. The Internet has put the consumer in control, and it’s time for the copyright holders to realize this.

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