Companies like the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of American (MPAA) and other organizations that are trying to enforce copyrights on songs, movies, and television shows are actively scanning the BitTorrent swarms for popular content that is being traded on these platforms. They are logging the IP addresses of those they believe to be infringing on their copyrights in violation of the law, in order to pursue those individuals through their Internet Service Providers, or in court. You can read more on Ars Technica.
Popular blocking lists don’t really work that well either, so if you are engaged in file sharing still, do not be surprised if you get a letter from your Internet Service Provider outing you and warning that continued abuse could result in termination of your broadband account. Let’s not forget that Comcast now owns NBC Universal, including all the TV shows, movies, and music that come out of those studios, so if you are on Comcast and trading via BitTorrent, you are biting the hand that provides your high-speed Internet connection.
While I am not a fan of the current state of copyright and digital rights management laws, I recommend against acquiring your entertainment through file sharing. It is much less expensive to buy your movies through legitimate channels than to pay what the courts will levy for the same material later.
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About the Author:
I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com