[Daithi]

Originally Posted by ahi

Perhaps you are aware of a Rapidshare search engine out there, and I am wrong. To the best of my knowledge, Rapidshare download links are not discoverable unless the uploader provides them (and/or those who were provided by the uploader subsequently pass them on). Do you know this to work differently?

- Ahi

Go to Google and type in a book or other file you want followed by 'Rapidshare' and you will get tons of listings. There are also sites such as Rapidshare-search and RapidLibrary that obviously have spiders that have crawled Rapidshare's content (but I'm sure Rapidshare knows nothing about this <wink><wink>).

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Are you arguing that Rapidshare is not capable of substantial noninfringing use?

No, that's not my argument. I am arguing that they are purposefully engaged in the distribution of stolen Intellectual Property.

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

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?

I'll go back to the Pawn Shop example. If a pawn shop knowingly sells stolen goods they are committing a felony and depending on the circumstances they will be hit by fines and/or prison time. To protect themselves they record the ID and list of merchandise that people sell or pawn them.

Another example is Night Clubs that sell liquor. It is illegal to sell to minors so they check IDs before selling. Just because they sell liquor to adults doesn't permit them to sell to minors.

Businesses that knowingly have drugs sold from their premises get shut down, and business owners that knowingly let this occur often end up arrested. If something like drugs is becoming a problem then businesses routinely higher security to stop it, and also to protect themselves from liability both criminally and civilly.

Originally Posted by Hellmark

I do. It is handy to be able to toss files up onto a website and link to that, if they're too big to go through email. I've used it for images I've made, large PDFs I've created, applications I've coded (which most email services now prevent emailing of executables), game mods I've done, etc. All legal content. Just because it can be used for piracy, or even if it mostly is, doesn't make it a bad thing. It still has legitimate uses.

I don't doubt that a few people would find uses other than the illegal end for Rapidshares service. However, I can't open pawn shop that knowingly sells stolen items, or a liquor store that knowing sells to minors, or an escort service where the escort charges for sex.