Rapidshare Says That Copyright Infringers Are Criminals

[Q2]

From The Next Web:

Who would have thought? Rapidshare is on the warpath against people downloading copyrighted material using their webservice, and has a plan to break the cycle of lost industry revenues that are supposed to result.

What are they up to? Their plan is to block and ban users who keep uploading copyrighted material, and to get people who were looking to get the content for free, to pay for it.

How are they going to do it? By redirecting people who were looking to steal something copyrighted to a webpage that offers the content, legally, for sale. I think we all know what their conversion rates will be. The company is orchestrating deals to make this a reality.

Why the move? To keep them out of the court room you can be sure. Rapidshare is a hotbed of theft of copyrighted material, and that paints a gigantic target on its chest for legal battles. They don't want that.

Of course, some people use Rapidshare for legal, fair, normal use. However, a serious slice of their userbase does not. Those people are soon to be in for a serious surprise.

Once Rapidshare moves really starts its war on that section of its users, how long until their traffic begins to suffer? Will they sell fewer premium accounts? Will they be able to replace lost revenue by selling content? I bet not.

While it takes them out of the legal hotseat, this move is going to make Rapidshare a bit player except among business and casual customers who just want to send and share large files.

What would you do?

 

[zeppelinrox]

Also news: Pot calls the Kettle "black"

Kettle says "That's racist!"

Me? I've only uploaded to Mega Upload in the past few months.

I don't know if they had the offer previously, but MU is selling lifetime premium memberships for $200 at the moment.
If one is going to pay for a premium membership anywhere, I think that's a tough offer to beat.


Another tip is to give uploaded files non descriptive names.

 

[Frantic Canadian]

After all these years and two domains, or is three?, they just now realize that most people are using them for illegal purposes? Sounds to me like someone was just turning a blind eye until they realized that they can get smacked for it too. Accessory after the fact type of deal. They'll surely lose a huge portion of their customers that's for sure. And I don't think pretty much forcing people to pay for premium accounts by constantly telling them that no free slots are available is helping them get any new members either. I know it's pissing me off. The only reason I use Rapidshare is because everyone else does and I can earn points that will in turn get me a free premium account. Megaupload is much better for several reasons and I think once RS implements these new changes MU will see a rise in their membership.

Another tip is to give uploaded files non descriptive names.

That is a good way to go about it. I also think only posting the .dlc files is another way since people don't see the full link and can't report it. Although if RS has a system in which they can see the file names themselves then you'd be screwed either way. But then all you'd have to do is name your files to something non-descript and just post the .dlc files. Should be safe that way since they can't see what the file actually is, and I doubt they'd spent countless hours downloading everything from their servers to test for illegal material, and nobody can report it/them.

 

[zeppelinrox]

This story was actually posted yesterday at fark
According to that thread, people have been avoiding RS in droves and mention other services that they've been using

 

[Uncanny Antman]

You know the most pathetic part?

In the second part of his letter Chang goes on to plug an interesting business proposal to the media executives. Instead of simply removing pages where copyrighted material can be downloaded, Rapidshare would like to redirect users to an online store where the same content can be bought legally.

"If a user finds out that several attempts to download an illegal copy of a DVD are in vain, and if his several attempts to 'steal' this DVD have just brought him to an online-store, he may finally be frustrated and willing to purchase a licensed version of this movie," writes Chang, while noting that this also works for music, games and other media.

...It's pathetic because as usual, the studios are waaaaaaay behind user demand, because they still haven't bothered to get most of their stuff ready for online purchase/use. And what they do have, they control so rigidly that people are put off. If all of them truly had their catalogs available in formats that the end user can actually enjoy on whatever level they want, I would embrace it wholeheartedly.

 

[boon23]

so what's the big deal? According to the law in most countries in the world copyright infringers are criminals. And if RS is not saying that publically, they can shut down right ahead, being in the superfocus of the companies for a long time.
Properly name your releases as something that does not sound like copyright infringement and your accounts should be fine.