What happens to legal files on Megaupload?
flickr/c3o
Pirate haven Megaupload got megabusted. What happens to legal files and their owners?
Few argue that Megaupload wasn't a haven for copyrighted files gleefully infringed by pirates and offered illegally. But not every Megaupload customer was a pirate. Many used the site like they use Dropbox – a good way to transfer files to large for email, or a cheap place for backup. If the FBI closed a bank for laundering drug money, would honest depositors lose everything as well?
Megaupload's welcome page didn't say, "For Pirate Use Only," so how are less experienced people supposed to know? For that matter, when a small company contracts for website hosting, are they now liable if their hoster also supports websites offering pirated files?
I use hosting sites legally
I backed up my websites on Megaupload :-\
Cabbage on torrentfreak.com
I've personally used file hosting sites at work for transferring large files to clients.
neodorian on arstechnica.com
I used it to store embedded linux distro images that I made up for flash cards. 250meg each. Now I've got a bunch of broken links and some work to do.
noonespecial on news.ycombinator.com
You really knew they were illegal
Why should I care? If you're not a pirate why would you be using this site anyways?
eurynom0s on arstechnica.com
Megaupload was always going to get taken down - far too flagrant publication of copyrighted material. It's got nothing to do with SOPA!
Jonathan Riggall on torrentfreak.com
There's nothing right about this, but I honestly can't have much sympathy for people who store their only copies of work files at a site that's notorious for its association with illegal activity.
Animus7 on news.ycombinator.com
Going to get messier
Class action lawsuit? I'm serious. Is it possible?
Dan on torrentfreak.com
I really hope this comes back to bite the scummies... hard!
MAFIAAfire on arstechnica.com
No worries. Piracy has been eradicated and billions of jobs generated with this operation. Gosh, even sarcasm tastes bitter.
Ninja on torrentfreak.com
How long will it take law enforcement to figure out networks and the cloud?
