Bram Cohen
Bram Cohen
Bram Cohen is an American computer programmer, best known as the author of the peer-to-peerBitTorrent protocol, as well as the first file sharing program to use the protocol, also known as BitTorrent. He is also the co-founder of CodeCon and organizer of the San Francisco Bay Area P2P-hackers meeting, and was the co-author of Codeville...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
CountryUnited States of America
attitude thinking dresses
In terms of work I've always had a Bad Attitude in that I won't work anywhere which requires me to work strict hours or follow a dress code. I don't know if that's an Asperger's thing or not, I think it's just being reasonable.
technology thinking drug-use
Technology is not a panacea. I refuse to work on technology to track users, analyze usage patterns, watermark information, censor, detect drug use, or eavesdrop. I am not naive enough to think any of those technologies could enable a 'compromise'.
cat bags
With BitTorrent, the cat's out of the bag.
simple python support
My favorite language for maintainability is Python. It has simple, clean syntax, object encapsulation, good library support, and optional named parameters.
giving
Give and ye shall receive.
people want way
The next release of mainline is going to have a lot of the advanced features people want, by the way.
father school class
My father taught me Basic and rudimentary C, I learned everything else on my own, including studying computational complexity on my own. That's more a function of my age than anything else though - back when I was in school there were hardly any programming classes.
arrogant i-can knows
I can come off as pretty arrogant, but it's because I know I'm right.
technology rights political
I am a technological activist. I have a political agenda. I am in favor of basic human rights: to free speech, to use any information and technology, to purchase and use recreational drugs, to enjoy and purchase so-called 'vices', to be free of intruders, and to privacy.
games sound computer
Arimaa's a better game than I thought. It follows a fairly sound approach to making the game difficult for computers.
technology views law
Despite my emphasis on technology, I do not view laws as inherently evil. My goals are political ones, even if my techniques are not. The only way to fundamentally succeed is by changing existing laws. If I rejected all help from the political arena I would inevitably fail.
song mean people
The content people have no clue. I mean, no clue. The cost of bandwidth is going down to nothing. And the size of hard drives is getting so big, and they're so cheap, that pretty soon you'll have every song you own on one hard drive. The content distribution industry is going to evaporate.
tired people use
You get so tired of having your work die. I just wanted to make something that people would actually use.
ideas entrepreneur risk
Lawyers can't tell you you can't do something. They can warn you about risks, and in extreme cases tell you that something is such a bad idea you'll need to get someone other than them to do it but the judgment call of whether the risk is worth it is the entrepreneur's.