Users are angry after UTorrent's latest update bundles software that mines Litecoin. The application, called Epic Scale, claims to use idle processing power for cryptocurrency mining and other mathema
Users are angry after UTorrent's latest update bundles software that mines Litecoin. The application, called Epic Scale, claims to use idle processing power for cryptocurrency mining and other mathematical computations.
BitTorrent Inc., the company that owns UTorrent, says the installation was transparent and easily removable. Users say otherwise on both counts. Discussion broke out on UTorrent's forums as members reported the bundled software and the difficulty in uninstalling it. The forums went offline for several hours. BitTorrent Inc. attributed the outage to coincidence, though some users suspected intentional censorship.
BitTorrent Inc. operates separately from the BitTorrent protocol itself, the same way Blockchain.info the company operates separately from the Bitcoin blockchain. The company does not control the protocol.
Epic Scale lists four charities on its website: Immunity, WaterisLife, Blood:Water, and OneDegree. The logos appear as static images rather than links. A search for the Immunity charity returns no results. OneDegree's logo on the Epic Scale site is outdated and carries a beta label. OneDegree abandoned that branding years ago, and it no longer appears on their website or in Archive.org's cached versions.
We reached out to WaterisLife, Blood:Water, OneDegree, and Epic Scale to verify these claimed partnerships and to ask about the Immunity charity. None responded before publication.
BitTorrent Inc. told The Verge and Engadget that the Epic Scale installation was not "silent," meaning users were informed beforehand. When asked to provide screenshots of the notification, company representatives declined to do so.
UTorrent built its reputation on efficiency. The µ symbol in the name represents a microgram, emphasizing the client's lightweight footprint. The application was once among the most respected torrent clients. It operated as open source software until BitTorrent Inc. purchased it in 2006 and converted it to closed source in 2007.
