BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen has promised to take down links on his BitTorrent search site leading to Big Seven movie studio downloads and he and the MPAA are to, "work together and proactively identify ways to limit access to infringing material available via search engines like the one at BitTorrent.com and to promote constructive innovation in this area," states the MPAA.

The news came during a press conference featuring MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) boss Dan 'Jedi' Glickman and Cohen when Cohen, "confirmed BitTorrent, Inc.'s commitment to removing links that direct users to copies of pirated content owned by MPAA companies" from its site.

In what has to be the largest understatement of the year, Glickman said he's glad, "Bram Cohen and his company are working with us to limit access to infringing files on the BitTorrent.com website."

Will Cohen be helping them in this by, say, offering technical advice? "Today's announcement reflects a joint commitment to work together to fight the continued illegal use of this innovative technology," states the MPAA.

The collaboration of the man who built the world's most famous and successful indie p2p tool and a Hollywood-owned corporate organization whose primary purpose is, at this point, to gain total control of what people do online, and how they do it, is "an early experiment in using technology to assist in solving the problems of piracy," says the MPAA.

With new partner Ashwin Navin almost joined to Cohen at the hip, BT recently raised $8.75 million with which to, “improve its [BitTorrent’s] infrastructure and make it more appealing to Hollywood,” said USA Today at the time

"The piracy business is not something anyone can make money on," Navin is quoted as saying. "We want to distribute paid and ad-supported content, using this technology."

The BT/MPAA deal is good press and will make a lot of people, particularly the lamescream media, believe Hollywood has scored a major goal against file sharing and the p2p networks.

However, in reality, this perceived Hollywood 'triumph' really doesn't amount to much.

BitTorrent is a protocol, not a host, and although the MPAA will now no doubt further boost its effort to close BT indexing sites, indie developers will keep on developing, and the world will keep on turning ----with the entertainment cartels desperately hanging on.

Our pic is a home-made montage we put together for yesterday's post on the Cohen-Glickman partnership.

No doubt the world press corpse will be splashing plenty of real ones later today.

Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don't buy their 'product'. Do bug your local political representatives. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you're into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep's doorstep, making sure you've contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance.

Also read:-
USA Today - BitTorrent gets $8.75M from venture-capital firm, September 27, 2005