RSS Enclosures, and Patents
This is why the software patent system is somewhat broken: many times in software (and probably elsewhere as well, but I'm mostly familiar with software) something becomes possible (using BitTorrent for RSS enclosures) and, probably triggered by reading the same thing somewhere or by some other recent discovery, many people come up with the same idea.
Then it's a race to see who can be the first to implement and patent it. Using BitTorrent for RSS enclosures is a good idea, and it's probably something that's patentable.
I didn't know other people had posted about this before I posted about it.. Maybe somebody already has patented it and if I implemented it, I'd be subject to their licensing. That's dumb.
I like the idea of using patents to protect and reward invention; the hard part is determining which inventions deserve to be rewarded. BitTorrent itself is pretty darn cool and I'd be OK with BitConjurer having a patent on it for a limited period of time..