Online Piracy
Sites like the Pirate Bay and uTorrent haven't enticed hundreds of millions of people to download endless amounts of free media content without making a few enemies. Those BitTorrent giants - and others like them - have built their businesses by outwitting the seemingly hapless MPAA and RIAA. The increased acceptance of illegally downloading media has affected the bottom line of the movie and music industry over the past decade, and that isn't good news for torrent fans. Wikipedia

The popular BitTorrent client uTorrent, which is often used to illegally download copyright material, has released an update that promises to give greater control to users who have considered using new clients to download massive files.

The newest version of uTorrent, according to the website Gamer Headlines, now makes it possible for customers to stream content and watch a video before it has finished downloading. Users can also rate torrent files through uTorrent and access the program remotely via a USB stick. Officially known as uTorrent 3.4.2, this update also promised to fix minor bugs that have pestered users in recent months.

A number of other torrent clients have made these or similar features available in the past, yet the changes have already been met with open arms by a uTorrent user base that refuses to try a new client out of loyalty. It’s true uTorrent is frequently used to download music, movies and other copyright content illegally, yet BitTorrent Inc., the producer of uTorrent, has consistently denied the organization has sought to facilitate online piracy.

This update also comes after another update in which advertisements on uTorrent, which provide a major source of income for the small program, were made permanent. The developers eventually backtracked and made ads optional, in part because users have complained for years about advertisements, even though uTorrent partly relies on the ad impressions made by its 150 million monthly users to sustain itself.

The newest version of uTorrent keeps ads optional and, as always, is free.