[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Daithi

Do you honestly believe that Rapidshare is offering a legitimate service that has nothing to do with piracy?

I believe that Rapidshare, like the Sony VCR, has great capacity for copyright-infringing use, but also substantial non-infringing use. And Sony v. Universal established that:

a manufacturer of a product is not liable for contributory
infringement as long as the product is "capable of substantial noninfringing uses."

Are you arguing that Rapidshare is not capable of substantial noninfringing use? That it can't be used to share gutenberg ebook collections and creative-commons video movies (like Micheal Moore's documentary, Slacker Uprising)? That it can't be used to share personal self-published collections of writing, art or music?

The issue isn't whether infringers are using Rapidshare--some are. The issue is whether Rapidshare is required to find out who they are and stop them.

Many parking lots are used to purchase illegal drugs. Does that mean the stores are required to hire security guards to patrol their parking lots, and must search each car for drugs or other contraband when they park there?