The issue of whether the media industy should continue fighting copyright piracy on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks or start thinking of P2P as a new money-making content delivery mechanism came to a rather ironic head recently at Ellacoya Networks Inc.

One of Ellacoya's senior networking engineers was caught downloading a pirated version of The Matrix Reloaded at home and was cut off temporarily by his cable service provider, at the behest of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), acting on behalf of Warner Brothers, which owns the rights to the Matrix cash cow.

The irony is that the engineer (we'll call him Neo to protect his identity) was actually downloading the film for research purposes.

Don't believe it? Well... Treat yourself to all the sordid details at Boardwatch.

— Jo Maitland, Senior Editor, Boardwatch