Fortune Magazine's Oct. 31, 2005 issue includes an article on BitTorrent titled "BitTorrent: The Great Disrupter; Torrential Reign" in which writer Daniel Roth explores the paradox of a technology that permits pirating of Hollywood movies on a massive scale, but still wins the support of the entertainment industry.

Today there are roughly 1.7 million copies of Hollywood movies—typically the most popular ones—being downloaded at any one time using BitTorrent, a 12% jump from last year, according to online media measurement firm BigChampagne. Analyst Informa Telecoms & Media estimates that in 2004, the downloads cost Hollywood roughly $860 million, or 4% of box office receipts. In the same period the number of TV shows downloaded grew by 150%—about 70% of them snagged using BitTorrent.

Motion Picture Association of American President Dan Glickman says that "it’s time to embrace these new technologies. 'The opportunities are going to be there to get our content to millions more people.'" This well-written -- and lengthy -- piece gives you a look at Bram Cohen's history (he created BitTorrent), sums up the plans of the newly-funded BitTorrent company, and speculates on the future of the technology.