In the bloggersation about BitTorrent's search engine and the possible (likely?) fallout, opinions vary on the details but most observers seem to think the search engine is a bad idea. In my mind, the most destructive potential damage is to the popular conception of BitTorrent's role in the world. Bram Cohen, inventor of BT, has transferred control of that popular conception to the RIAA, MPAA, and other industrial litigants. Whereas Cohen has, until now, avowed absolute neutrality concerning how BT is used, he now seems to be inviting a smearing of that pure stance by mounting an easily-used locator of torrents. Ed Felten doubts the strategy but thinks that Cohen's company is probably safe from legal damage, thanks to a three-stage separation of actual content from the search engine. Joe Gratz thinks that, legalities aside, Cohen has made a poor rhetorical move. Ernest Miller takes it further by speculating that the MPAA can now easily influence how BitTorrent is perceived. I agree; we have seen over and over the masterful manipulation of the media by the RIAA and MPAA, who feel perfectly licensed to blur important distinctions and fudge all sorts of details to make their rhetorical points. Cohen is handing the rhetorical debate to those distorting forces.