Why is bittorrent still so hassle-free to use? Where's the RIAA, Hollywood, etc?

No, not legally. It only works for UK-based IP addresses. It’s still in closed beta at the moment, although it is close to going live.

Another BBC trial I’m involved in is of the BBC Archive. Now that has got some cool stuff on it: WWII radio broadcasts, Moon landing coverage, 1970’s documentaries about the future of computing etc. Apparently the stumbling block at the moment to making this available worldwide is music rights, but I’m sure there must be a way round this. I hope they do - the trial has 1000 or so items on it - 0.01% of the total material available, apparently.