FutureWire - futurism and emerging technology

Thursday, May 19, 2005

"Star Wars Episode III" on BitTorrent; What Took 'Em So Long??

Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith has not even been in theatres 24 hours, and already it's reported to be available on the Internet via BitTorrent. Reportedly, a screening print (with timestamps) appeared online sometime Wednesday, a full day before the film was released to the public. If so, it had to have originated with an industry insider.

According to one count, 16,000 people were downloading the film from BitTorrent at one point.

Considering the hype surrounding this movie -- not to mention the geek quotient -- can anyone be truly surprised?

Sources: Reuters, Waxy.org