German court has ruled that the famous file-sharing service RapidShare had to apply filtering policies.
Due to the actions of some parties that complained about RapidShare, the country’s court of law ordered the cyberlocker to implement a filtering system in order to block infringing content present within their servers.
After discussing the matter, the German court ruled that the file-sharing service could be easily found guilty for facilitating access to violating content, because of its users’ activity. Unlike well-known MegaUpload, the business model of RapidShare is based on a structured file storage and sharing platform, which allows it to keep distance for piracy.
The matter is that RapidShare has cut anonymous ufile sharing speed to 30 Kbps, redirecting the users to select an account from which they can be monitored. The trouble is that a lot of pirates prefer anonymity in order to avoid the authorities’ efforts to catch them.
This means that the responsibility for illegal content stored on their servers lies now on RapidShare’s shoulders. This sets a precedent for similar file-sharing services that might be ordered to scan their servers for unauthorized material, allegedly reducing pirated content.
It is unclear whether this will work out or not. However, the result is pretty much up to the approach the cyberlocker will choose to take. Apparently, a decent warning should be highlighted – once someone goes this road, there’s no turning back. Indeed, the industry has lots of examples to back up this claim – you can simply recall the recent developments in the file-sharing industry, where very important services were closed down or accepted their faith and went legit.
Due to the actions of some parties that complained about RapidShare, the country’s court of law ordered the cyberlocker to implement a filtering system in order to block infringing content present within their servers.
After discussing the matter, the German court ruled that the file-sharing service could be easily found guilty for facilitating access to violating content, because of its users’ activity. Unlike well-known MegaUpload, the business model of RapidShare is based on a structured file storage and sharing platform, which allows it to keep distance for piracy.
The matter is that RapidShare has cut anonymous ufile sharing speed to 30 Kbps, redirecting the users to select an account from which they can be monitored. The trouble is that a lot of pirates prefer anonymity in order to avoid the authorities’ efforts to catch them.
This means that the responsibility for illegal content stored on their servers lies now on RapidShare’s shoulders. This sets a precedent for similar file-sharing services that might be ordered to scan their servers for unauthorized material, allegedly reducing pirated content.
It is unclear whether this will work out or not. However, the result is pretty much up to the approach the cyberlocker will choose to take. Apparently, a decent warning should be highlighted – once someone goes this road, there’s no turning back. Indeed, the industry has lots of examples to back up this claim – you can simply recall the recent developments in the file-sharing industry, where very important services were closed down or accepted their faith and went legit.
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