RapidShare will soon be shut down

[axxo]

No safe harbor for RapidShare in copyright infringement case

File-sharing service RapidShare has been dealt a blow by a German court and faces severe penalties if it fails to take appropriate measures against the uploading of copyrighted content by its users. The Düsseldorf Regional Court ruled against RapidShare last week in a case brought on by the German version of the RIAA, GEMA. GEMA hailed the decision as a huge victory, and concluded that RapidShare could face shutdown if it's unable to comply.

RapidShare has long argued that it can't be held responsible for what its users upload to the site. But the court disagreed, saying that the site must take responsibility for copyright infringement, even when the material in question was uploaded by its members. "This decision marks a milestone in the fight against illegal usage of our repertoire," said GEMA CEO Dr. Harald Heker in a statement. "It sends out a clear signal that any services, which derive financial benefit from unlawful uses of our works, will have to take extensive measures to protect the rights owners and cannot simply evade liability by referring to the action of individual users. With this landmark decision, the way has been paved for instituting proceedings against other similar services."

Had this involved a US court, the outcome would have been different. In the US, web site operators can (and do) argue that the Safe Harbor provision in the DMCA protects them from liability as long as they remove infringing content after being presented with a takedown notice. In Germany (and many other countries), there is no equivalent to protect sites like RapidShare, meaning that RapidShare almost has little but to comply with the ruling. According to GEMA, the court said that RapidShare must "take such measures as involve the risk of its business model becoming much less attractive or even having to be discontinued entirely."

This is exactly how companies like Viacom would like things to play out here in the US. Big Content would love to hold sites like YouTube responsible for checking, in advance, every single item uploaded to the site, and have them held liable for any infringing content that ends up online. Instead, the Safe Harbor provision requires them filing takedown notices every time they come across something that might be infringing. Big Content is also pushing hard for filtering solutions that it believes could provide the solution to all their problems. Unfortunately, filters don't understand fair use, and their use could result in legitimate content being kept offline.

As for RapidShare, it's unclear what will happen next. Christian Solmecke, an attorney for the site, told TorrentFreak that the outcome of the case is unusual, because it would require RapidShare to perform the nearly impossible task of checking every single item in its hosted materials for copyrights. "I believe that Rapidshare will appeal against the decision of the Landgericht (District Court) of Düsseldorf," Solmecke said. "If they do so, we will have to wait and see what the Oberlandesgericht (Higher District Court) of Düsseldorf (as the Court of Appeal) says."

Source: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...ment-case.html

[The Unknown]

thank god i am not a user of RapidShare

[Zeeshan Quireshi]

I guess then Rapidshare would have to Shift Base to the US !

[The_Devil_Himself]

^^or better sweden,lol.

[NucleusKore]

If this case sticks it will hit all such similar services. I do use it for a lot of legitimate purposes as you have seen on this forum

[nvidia]

I better download whole of Rapidshare.... and quick

[SunnyChahal]

Rapidshare sux big time.torrents rokkk!!!!
The premium acc. thing sux.Why dont they give it away for free like torrents???

[Gigacore]

^ u r capped

anyway bad news

[nvidia]

^^Its because its faster and more reliable i guess...

[Hitboxx]

Good news and good riddance!

[Rockstar11]

bad news
Rapidshare rocks man

[ico]

Originally Posted by Sunny1211993

Rapidshare sux big time.torrents rokkk!!!!
The premium acc. thing sux.Why dont they give it away for free like torrents???

You are saying this because I suppose you use torrents for Piracy and expect the same from Rapidshare.....
Edit: And moreover, when we upload a file to Rapidshare, it costs them. So, to earn money they have Premium account etc.

When we have to send an attachment in an email, but the the file is bigger than the permissible limit, at that time Rapidshare comes to rescue.

[iMav]

imho skydrive is better even mediafire is a great alternative; rapidshare has absolutely irritating restrictions which generate no sympathy towards its possible demise ... go die and rot rapidshare and take megashare too with u

[karnivore]

^^ +1, mediafire really rocks.

[nvidia]

Let megaupload die..

[axxo]

Originally Posted by iMav

imho skydrive is better even mediafire is a great alternative; rapidshare has absolutely irritating restrictions which generate no sympathy towards its possible demise ... go die and rot rapidshare and take megashare too with u

+1
let them be with timer,capach, no download manager support, etc
but atleast they should remove the hourly restriction

[quan chi]

rapidshare was really very good.

[The_Devil_Himself]

^^and the biggest let down is no support for resuming:it really irritates me.

[mavihs]

it was oky. hope it doesn't go. there are lots of file 2 be downloaded from there.

[phreak0ut]

I hope it's taken down for atleast 5 months. There are so many people who think there are no alternatives other than RS. Same goes to Megaupload. One more irrirtating thing about Megaupload is the 'slot full' message. RS, get a HARD WHACK ON YOUR BU**!!

[CINTEL ENTRINO]

Originally Posted by karnivore

^^ +1, mediafire really rocks.

nope.. it doesnt support resume feature on download managers.....

Originally Posted by Sunny1211993

Rapidshare sux big time.torrents rokkk!!!!
The premium acc. thing sux.Why dont they give it away for free like torrents???

but in torrents we always have to be cautious of the ratios.... upload speed,seeds,peers.... etc etc blah blah blah

at least in rs u can just d/l without a cluttered mind

[karnivore]

^^ No i am talking of useless slot restrictions. Mediafire does not have that. Also. probably, when they made their first appearance, they allowed resume facility. Now they don't.

Actually i am yet to come accross a file-hosting site, which provides decent dl speed + no slot + resume.

[CINTEL ENTRINO]

^^
megashare is really good ... u should check it.. there r tons of others with no slot restrictions.... but they dont have speeds like that of RS....

[redhat]

The best alternative RS can have is shift bases like piratebay...

RS makes a hell lot of money wid its premium accs....

but truly, RS rocked

[blackpearl]

Bad news!!
Rapidshare is really good for downloading old stuff that nobody seeds.
Many games/movies etc are available on rapidshare that are not avaiable in torrents.

[Rockstar11]

Originally Posted by CINTEL ENTRINO

but in torrents we always have to be cautious of the ratios.... upload speed,seeds,peers.... etc etc blah blah blah

at least in rs u can just d/l without a cluttered mind

Originally Posted by blackpearl

Bad news!!
Rapidshare is really good for downloading old stuff that nobody seeds.
Many games/movies etc are available on rapidshare that are not avaiable in torrents.

+1

[chesss]

Originally Posted by iMav

imho skydrive is better even mediafire is a great alternative; rapidshare has absolutely irritating restrictions which generate no sympathy towards its possible demise ... go die and rot rapidshare and take megashare too with u

eggactly!

though I am pretty sure the ruling will have to be overruled, coz the judge is prolly a big noob.

[viswanadh]

Good news. People will now don't waste their time and money on this stupid site full of restrictions. Mediafire and Divshare are great. Yes, it costs them money when we upload a file. But they can earn money by putting adverts on the site. Even popups are ok if the speed is good. Rapidshare's hourly restriction is the worst of all. I access net from LAN behind proxy. I will have to wait at least a night to download from RS. Even megaupload is a crap

[techtronic]

I like Megashares a lot as it supports upto 2 split downloads and also download resuming is supported. But anyway I also like RS for my CBT Nuggets

[ax3]

thats BAD news .......