MPAA Targets 5 File Hosting Services, Backup Your Data Now
The file hosting service Megaupload has been shut down about two months ago, and while a lot of things surrounding that case have still not be resolved, the MPAA are already looking at additional targets in the file hosting world.
Cnet ran a piece yesterday on a panel discussion at the On Copyright conference where Alfred Perry, vice president for worldwide content protection at Paramount Pictures, listed five additional file hosting sites as targets for upcoming action.
The top five cyberlockers are Wupload, Depositfiles, Fileserver, Mediafire and PutLocker, according to Perry who calls them rogue cyberlockers and mentions that they generate 41 billion page views yearly. Perry apparently did not mention if those sites were already under investigation by the authorities. Mediafire co-founder responded to the comments brought forth by Perry one day later, stating that Mediafire was no rogue website, and not run by criminals.
As with Megaupload, it is likely that users of the services won't receive advanced notification if the domains, servers and assets are seized by authorities. It is therefor recommended to create backup of files that are hosted at these file hosters, and others if you want to be 100% certain that you do not lose any files in raids. Especially so since no distinction is being made between perfectly legal files hosted on those sites, and files without proper rights that were uploaded for sharing.
Mirroring the files could be a solution especially if you do not have enough local storage space available to backup the data properly. It would on the other hand mean that you continue to rely 100% on online file hosting solutions, which could still be an issue if all selected file hosts are taken down at the same time.
Another solution would be to use services like Dropbox, Microsoft SkyDrive, or the soon to be released Google Drive as a safe backup location.
Have other suggestions? Post them in the comment section below.
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I’m surprised Rapidshare wasn’t on the list too, maybe they are located where laws can’t touch them.
Most of my clients are clueless to what is “legally” downloadable, and only a few have their routers secured with WPA2, they either have WEP or nothing at all.
This will be huge mess and I speculate that Google will get sued for providing search results for torrents, mp3’s, etc.
Common people don’t have a clue to what’s coming!
I believe RapidShare is based in Germany, and while they have their own problems to deal with, at least the German authorities do not seem willing to invite US law enforcement to run around their own country, arresting their own people, like the UK, Australia and New Zealand. For now.
Google has already been in legal trouble for file-sharing sites daring to appear in their search results and these are somewhat censored in the US. Naturally it’s meaningless, since sites come and go and no filter can ever keep up. What concerns me is that this methodology is being abused simply for the sake of preserving corporate profit, no matter what impact it has on civil liberties and public discourse. If this were not purely about greed, one would think that at some point money would be less important than allowing free communication or upholding actual principles of law.
The chilling part is that the copyright police are only the first wave. Already the likes of pharmaceutical companies are lobbying to censor Google to prevent negative articles about their products appearing in the search results. Western governments have opened a pandora’s box full of maliciousness and greed by pandering to the RIAA and MPAA and their thuggish protection racket.
Here we go again. One stupid company that refuses to meet the demands of it’s customer base, stuck in the dark ages targets new technology and ties up government resources and taxpayer money to move forward their agenda. KMA MPAA.
MegaUpload was by far the best file-sharing service.
What MPAA and RIAA (with the approval of the USA government) are trying to do is an absurd and criminal act. My most common use for MediaFire for example has been to easily send applications to friends since Gmail does not allow attaching executable files (and even exe files packed in archives). Finally MPAA, RIAA and USA will end up trying to close the internet.
just watch. Dropbox will be targeted later…. all file sharing apps will be in time.
My feeling is the same. Next up are the little tech companies that do cloud storage likes Dropbox, Sugarsync, Box, etc. If RIAA and MPAA have their way, they would attack Google, M$, and Apple also.
Why Mediafire :(
I like Mediafire the most, as it appears to be more user friendly than the rest.
I too use it for personal needs . Mediafire doesn’t have and never had a affiliate program . Then why are they targeted . They should move their servers from US to Asia .