Exclusive Interview with Eric Klinker, CEO of BitTorrent, Inc. at Tech Crunch Disrupt

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Published on Thursday, 30 September 2010 09:17

The history of BitTorrent goes back to 2001 when Bram Cohen invented a "content delivery protocol," currently the "global standard for delivering popular media files over the internet." With a BitTorrent client, users can transfer media files by "downloading pieces of a file from several different sources," while "concurrently uploading pieces of the file to other users." The more popular the file is, the faster it will download.

As Napster and Limewire faded away as the go-to source for free media, BitTorrent's protocol emerged as the winner since only the pirating media grabbers themselves can be blamed since BitTorrent only provides a technology to transfer files, not a place to store them. As UrbanDictionary.com so precisely defines, "torrenting," has become synonymous with digital piracy as media consumers around the globe stay up-to-date with television programming and movies from the US and elsewhere without paying or watching advertising. BitTorrent's protocol has only been in the news related to copyright infringers that use the tool, until recently.

I had the chance to interview BitTorrent CEO Eric Klinker, at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco. BitTorrent was one of the main partners at Disrupt showcasing their new TED Talks app and their new Featured Artists Pilot Program. Listen to Klinker discuss their new products, monetization, entertainment conglomerates and plans to explore partnering with an international broadcaster. The company has grown 50% since January 2010 and has plans to take Gen-Y's most popular media distribution platform to the next level.