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Rapidshare Divulges Uploader Information

Posted by kdawson on from the thanks-for-sharing dept.

Gorgonzolanoid notes a post on TorrentFreak reporting that the German Rapidshare is divulging uploader information to rights holders. Record labels are apparently making creative use of "paragraph 101" of German copyright law, which gives them a streamlined process to ask a court to order disclosure of information such as an IP address. "In Germany, the file-hosting service Rapidshare has handed over the personal details of alleged copyright infringers to several major record labels. The information is used to pursue legal action against the Rapidshare users and at least one alleged uploader saw his house raided."

6 of 281 comments (clear)

  1. Fair Use is not illegal by billstewart · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes, there are people who upload material in infringing ways. But there are also lots of people who upload material in ways that (at least in the US, Your Kilometers/litre May Vary Elsewhere) don't infringe copyright but are still complained about by record labels and other alleged copyright holders. One way to support alternatives to infringing activities is to support groups like the EFF and Lessig's folks in defending fair use.

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
  2. Re:I always wondered... by mister_playboy · · Score: 3, Informative

    Very true. I just figured the way in which direct download sites charge for premium accounts is a more obvious model of monetizing copyright infringement than the advertising or donations on a torrent site.

    --
    Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law ::: Love is the law, love under will
  3. Re:Why even use RapidShare anyways? by Vu1turEMaN · · Score: 3, Informative

    Rapidshare didn't actively screen their files. most other file hosts do. That's the reason why it's the largest single host of illegal files on the planet.

    I wonder what's gonna happen to katz now...gonna seem pretty empty.

  4. Rapidshare is Swiss, actually by Corbets · · Score: 3, Informative

    They may well have released data to the German authorities, but they're based here in Switzerland. I've worked a bit with some of the guys there (I used to live in the town where they're located). Besides which, the "AG" suffix is a Swiss business designation, roughly equivalent to (I think) GmbH in Germany. And of course, Wikipedia backs me up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapidshare

    Of course, they did originate with German TLD (rapidshare.de).

    Why is this relevant? Because rapidshare.com accounts don't work on rapidshare.de (at least, according to Wikipedia). Therefore, people with .com accounts may not be at risk (from this instance).

    Just FYI. There's some great comments on this article about the so-called civil disobedience vs simple greed, so I'm not condoning the downloading behavior (though, frankly, I've done it myself), but I thought some people would probably like to consider this angle.

    1. Re:Rapidshare is Swiss, actually by dunkelfalke · · Score: 2, Informative

      Uhm, AG stands for Aktiengesellschaft (joint stock company) and is common for all German-speaking countries. The legal basis for it differs though between Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

      GmbH is a limited liability company and also exists in every German-speaking country.
      If you a french-speaking Swiss, AG is Societe Anonyme and GmbH is Societe a Responsabilite limite (sorry, no accents because I doubt slashdot supports them and besides my French is pretty rusty).

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  5. don't follow parent link by pxc · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's to a nasty javascript-tastic shocksite