So, I like the idea of being able to stream lots of stuff onto my computer and I like the idea of BitTorrent making it happen very easily, but I wonder if there’s anything worth watching that hasn’t been pirated.
Anyone know of any good sites to start with?
I suspect bittorrent comes under the heading of filesharing software which is forbidden as a subject on the SDMB.
Having said that, as is always the case, the software it’self is not illegal. It’s the files that are shared. I think there are sites out there that offer software/music/video which might be legally distributable.
I frequently get game demos and Linux distros via bittorrent. Perfectly legal.
I don’t use torrent, but I love the fact that their is legal stuff on it. It makes it impossible to outlaw, for who can prove users aren’t useing it for legal info? I recall a case in canda that invoked this fact. 
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1080754657038_76163857///?hub=TopStories
I used it for about 2 days, and got bombarded with spyware and virus attempts. If you know how it works, it is obviously a dream come true for the evil virus spreaders out there. I would avoid it and find a better alternative.
?!? Huh?
With the BitTorrent system, downloaded data is checked against the hash info stored in the torent file, if it doesn’t match, the chunk rejected. A malicious seeder would have to generate a torrent file for the virus. The system relies on many many folks sharing the upload/download bandwidth and a malicious file will not survive for long, stung users will stop seeding it. I’ve never had virus problems with BitTorrent, it is not designed to be virus friendly.
On the other hand other P2P systems are often riddled with them.
And to further address the OP’s question, Baen Books, has released about 5 sets of ebooks on CD, bound into recent hard covers, with the conditions that the people are free to distribute copies as long as they don’t charge for them. There are torrents of these available. Likewise, Project Gutenberg has DVD-Rom and CD-Rom versions of their Public Domain library across many P2P formats including Bittorrent. Again, many linux distro’s are released as torrents.
-DF
I think kongisking.net is letting you download the production diaries through bit torrent.
LegalTorrents.com has independent music, movies, and ebooks.
CommonBits and Torrentocracy are political.
Prodigem has miscellaneous torrents.
Neutron, thanks, that’s the sort of stuff I was thinking of.
Man, that Bikini girls teach calculus looks…interesting.