They participated in uploading the files as part of the downloading the torrent from other peers. Their use of the BitTorrent protocol to acquire these files would not have been transformative.
Not necessarily. You can literally turn uploads off and leech torrents.
Did they?
Are you sure?
> Meta’s reasoning is straightforward. Anyone who uses BitTorrent to transfer files automatically uploads content to other people, as it is inherent to the protocol. In other words, the uploading wasn’t a choice, it was simply how the technology works.
https://torrentfreak.com/uploading-pirated-books-via-bittorr...
Especially since it ISN’T an inherent part of a the protocol - just the default of most clients.
Wonder if TF skipping pointing that out was intentional!
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intell...