While BitTorrent protocol has solved the problem of heavy traffic caused by high media content downloads, this file sharing method has been into much controversy from the very beginning it was created by programmer Bram Cohen.
This software has been used by some websites to illegally distribute media contents—an act which violates copyright infringement law stating that no copyrighted materials will be distributed without the approval of its owner.
Organizations including Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) have filed numerous copyright infringement cases against some popular BitTorrent sites.
Supernova.org, one of the biggest and most popular search torrent sites, has been shut down in 2004 due to legal pressure and threats. After this event, owner Andrej Preston gave the domain name to Pirate Bay which was fully operational in August 2007, and has also been into a lot of controversy nowadays.
Just after the shut down of Suprnova.org, another bigwig torrent site LokiTorrent was closed down due to legal pressure and threats by MPAA. According to a report, owner Edward Webber was forced to pay the movie organization with an undetermined amount of money to avoid possible legal ramifications.
With many stories about BitTorrent sites forced to close down due to legal threats, one of the most unforgettable events is about EliteTorrents.org which was raided and closed down by US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) together with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The authorities filed copyright infringement case against administrators of the site who all pleaded guilty with the charges. The trial is still ongoing.
To settle legal issues and curb Internet-based piracy, BitTorrent Inc. and MPAA had signed an agreement in 2005 which stated that the former will not link to unlicensed contents.