RAPIDSHARE WEB SITE

[drmaxx]

Did anybody mention that rapidshare is a legitimate file hosting operation with lot's of illegitimate content

[fugazied]

Originally Posted by drmaxx

Did anybody mention that rapidshare is a legitimate file hosting operation with lot's of illegitimate content

I am pretty sure the vast vast vast amount of content they host is illegal to distribute (in the US at least). I'm very suprised it hasn't been sut down already.

In this day and age we need to be aware that copyright organisations can open these kinds of sites to create a 'honeypot' and lure in and trap copyright violators. I wouldn't trust it!

[m-reader]

Originally Posted by fugazied

I am pretty sure the vast vast vast amount of content they host is illegal to distribute (in the US at least). I'm very suprised it hasn't been sut down already.

Really? The internet as a whole has a lot of illegal material on it. Would you expect it to be shut down as well?
I've used RapidShare in the past to share legitimate material. Of course there is a lot of illegal stuff there, but that's the "gotta take the bad with the good" story.

[Guns4Hire]

Originally Posted by fugazied

In this day and age we need to be aware that copyright organisations can open these kinds of sites to create a 'honeypot' and lure in and trap copyright violators. I wouldn't trust it!

As far as downloaders go Rapidshare does save the IP address but it does not save what was actually downloaded. At least thats what say. Uploaders are obviously different. Both the IP and what is uploaded is saved.

These are their words but was corroborated specialists in IT law and intellectual property rights.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by fugazied

I am pretty sure the vast vast vast amount of content they host is illegal to distribute (in the US at least). I'm very suprised it hasn't been sut down already.

Their "get out of jail free" clause is that an uploader has to agree that they have permission to upload the material that they are uploading. Unfortunately, they seem to attract a great many dishonest uploaders who have no qualms about telling lies .

[drmaxx]

Originally Posted by fugazied

In this day and age we need to be aware that copyright organisations can open these kinds of sites to create a 'honeypot' and lure in and trap copyright violators. I wouldn't trust it!

As I said: It is a legit hosting company - you can report any copyrighted material that should not be available and they take it down in no time.

It is a file hosting company - which means that you can upload stuff and send your friend a link that points to the file. Google does not index it - meaning that you can't just search for anything you like. Somebody needs to provide you with a specific link. If any copyright organisation would trick you in doing anything illegal this way, they would be in serious trouble in court - at least here in Europe this is quite illegal.

[TGS]

Originally Posted by MrBlueSky

You can't get busted for downloading — only uploading.

My point was, that you can't know just exactly WHO, is the uploader, whether the file is creative commons or not or even whether the book is a virally released promotional copy by the publisher/author themselves.

And no, it's not my job to 'research' each and every link on the internet for authenticity. The whole point of the internet is to instantly access information at the click of a button.

But if you come across the latest Stieg Larsson or the complete Barry Trotter witches and wizards nonsense on Rapidshare - or worse, use a search engine to actively find the latest Stieg Larsson or the complete Barry Trotter witches and wizards nonsense on Rapidshare - and then download it, what is your view of the legal and moral status of that action? Can your action be justified on the grounds that it just might be the case that the publisher has put the files on Rapidshare as some kind of viral marketing campaign?

[MrBlueSky]

Originally Posted by TGS

But if you come across the latest Stieg Larsson or the complete Barry Trotter witches and wizards nonsense on Rapidshare - or worse, use a search engine to actively find the latest Stieg Larsson or the complete Barry Trotter witches and wizards nonsense on Rapidshare - and then download it, what is your view of the legal and moral status of that action? Can your action be justified on the grounds that it just might be the case that the publisher has put the files on Rapidshare as some kind of viral marketing campaign?

Yes.

Legally, there is no penalty for simply downloading a file. In fact, a lot of countries actively promote it. They have what is called a ‘blank media levy’ tax that adequately compensates the monopoly holders for such activity. It’s a tax whereby the copyright holders have given their permission to allow individuals to make copies (file-share) for their own personal use. After all, you cannot tax anybody if they get no benefit from paying that tax can you?

Morally, its the same as above really. The monopoly hoarders have won billions in statutory damages from companies, and forced other individual unloaders into paying out of court settlements amounting to millions. This of course, they say that they 'need' outrageously high profits from suing because one uploader is (theoretically) responsible for sharing millions of files. and they want ‘fair’ compensation given back to them.

Ipso facto. again, the monopoly hoarders have already been adequately compensated for file-sharing activity by virtue of their windfall awards and settlements of 'statutory damages' that so far outweigh the cost of any actual harm caused to them by their victims, that they have given implicitly given moral permission for others to share files to the value of their unearned profits.

You can’t REALLY expect copyright holders to be paid more than once can you?

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by m-reader

Really? The internet as a whole has a lot of illegal material on it. Would you expect it to be shut down as well?

Then we need to make computers illegal.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by TGS

But if you come across the latest Stieg Larsson or the complete Barry Trotter witches and wizards nonsense on Rapidshare - or worse, use a search engine to actively find the latest Stieg Larsson or the complete Barry Trotter witches and wizards nonsense on Rapidshare - and then download it, what is your view of the legal and moral status of that action? Can your action be justified on the grounds that it just might be the case that the publisher has put the files on Rapidshare as some kind of viral marketing campaign?

So your view is that every time you use a search engine and click on a link, it is your responsibility to research whether that site has permission from the copyright holder? You may as well make using the internet illegal, everyone would be guilty.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Their "get out of jail free" clause is that an uploader has to agree that they have permission to upload the material that they are uploading. Unfortunately, they seem to attract a great many dishonest uploaders who have no qualms about telling lies .

If you close rapidshare down, all of those dishonest uploaders will just move on to the next site. You may as well make file hosting illegal, which would pretty much be the end of the internet. The problem isn't the hosting company, it's the uploaders.

All you have to do is figure out a way to get rid of dishonesty (not just individuals, but corporations too), and everything will be fine. Good luck with that.

[TGS]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

So your view is that every time you use a search engine and click on a link, it is your responsibility to research whether that site has permission from the copyright holder? You may as well make using the internet illegal, everyone would be guilty.

Did you just avoid answering my question?

You might have noticed that I was asking, not rhetorically, what your view was. But my view, since you sort of ask, is that there does seem to be a difference between deliberately seeking out in copyright books from places where you don't have to pay for them, for example by the use of search engines that crawl the likes of Rapidshare - which are not ordinary everyday search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing or Ask, and using one of those everyday search engines and following the links that it provides.

Quite what that difference consists in - a legal difference, a moral difference, a difference in intent - I'm not sure, but the activities certainly do seem to be different. Don't you agree?

[MrBlueSky]

Originally Posted by TGS

- which are not ordinary everyday search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing or Ask, and using one of those everyday search engines and following the links that it provides.

It's as trivially easy to stumble across a torrent link straight from the index search pages of Google et al. as it is from Rapidshare's own website. Although I don't know for sure, it would not surprise me in the slightest to find that the back-end for Rapidshare used Google's own engine for search.

As a matter of fact, Google is a pirate's best friend because their search results are far more diverse across the whole internet spectrum than Rapishare's, which is limited to their own site.

[Alfy]

Rapidshare, megaupoad, hotfiles and so on are just the replacements for torrents and they are doing very well. I mean, the idea is amazing: get people to pay to share illegal files, wow! And it works, because the direct download rates beat what you can get on bittorrent, and you don't have to wait for that one guy to be online to download the last chunk.

Just like torrents, files can be legal, although I can't say I have seen one. Ever.

Also similar, in order to access the correct files, you must go through websites to grab the links. It's quite amazing what one can find now on rapidshare, and the offering seems to double every day that passes. And yes, 99.999% is porn. The humanity...

And, see this: once you have paid once for a premium account, it CAN be free forever: you get free points for every kb downloaded from your links!!! The only reason rapidshare has survived up to now is because if there are any complaints about the legitimacy of your files, the links will be taken down. Still, I would not sign for more than a 3 months account, you can expect these sites to be heavily scrutinised in the not so far future, and I guess we will see them go the way of the modern dodo, aka the Pirate Bay.

[Alfy]

Double posts I really mind
But the delete button is hard to find.