MediaFire CEO: We Don't Depend On Piracy

New submitter libertyernie writes "Although FileSonic has disabled sharing and Uploaded.to has blocked access to the U.S., the CEO of Texas-based MediaFire is not concerned about government action against his company. 'We don't have a business built on copyright infringement,' says Derek Labian. 'Like many other cloud-based sharing services like Box.net and Dropbox, we're a legitimate business targeting professionals.'"

Comments

Maybe Should Have Went with "No Statement"

[eldavojohn]

"We try to steer clear of things that would attract scrutiny," Labian said. "If people are pirating on our service, we don’t want those people to use it."

So what you're openly admitting is that you just don't know the extent of piracy on your service? I probably would have said "no comment" rather than risk the Eye of Sauron ... er RIAA/MPAA's gaze. From what I gather, it could 0% it could be 100% of your service based on pirates sharing files with each other but since you don't know it's okay? Unless you have some sort of Youtube-like fingerprinting going on, I'd just keep your mouth shut.

Another reason Labian said he wasn’t worried about the government stepping in is because the company maintains a "good relationship" with various government bodies, including "Homeland Security, ICE, and the FBI."

Right but those are just the enforcers, your real problem is the MPAA and unless you're paying elected officials more than they are you could be next.

Re:Maybe Should Have Went with "No Statement"

[SuperKendall]

So what you're openly admitting is that you just don't know the extent of piracy on your service?

Yes, so they can claim common carrier status... seems pretty smart to me. If you have any idea at all, you are screwed.

Right but those are just the enforcers, your real problem is the MPAA

As long as they respond to take-down notices and do not ACTIVELY seek traffic based on piracy as MegaUpload did (judging by emails they had to turn over) they, and companies like DropBox, should be fine.

Re:Maybe Should Have Went with "No Statement"

[Kjella]

The problem is that it's like selling knives to people and the most common thing people do is stab each other with them. You can try keeping up appearances and say we're only selling a tool, but sooner or later someone on your staff is going to crack and say "Yes, our tool is used for stabbing. You know it, I know it, we all know it's the 800lb gorilla in the room we can't talk about." Even if you're legitimately trying to minimize the illegal potential, admitting that your awkward stabbing weapon still could be used for stabbing is an admission. And that you didn't sell an even duller knife even though it'd be useless as a knife too, you are still saying you didn't do everything you could to stop stabbers. In short, you can't talk about them. I guarantee that if you do, their lawyers will find more than enough rope to hang you with when things are taken out of context and interpreted in the most cynical way.

Re:Maybe Should Have Went with "No Statement"

[Anonymous Coward]

I think people are confusing "common carrier" for telecommunications and "safe harbor" for intellectual property. (a VERY rough summary follows) Common carriers have to treat all content using their telecommunications system the same and cannot have tiered access to different content but in exchange are not liable for serving illegal content they didn't create. Safe harbor refers to a lack of liability of your users posting or saving information to your services as long as you don't solicit such posts by the user. So a website gets safe harbor but not common carrier protection. My cell phone company (which does not provide hosting) does not get safe harbor protection, but does get common carrier protection.

Professionals?

[JorDan Clock]

Like... Professional pirates?

Hmmmm

[arcite]

He might want to find a non-extradition country to relocate too....

You may pirate when ready...

[ae1294]

"MediaFire CEO: We Don't Depend On Piracy"

- But it sure helps the bottom line!

Blocked Access to the US

[ohnocitizen]

I wonder how many more companies will decide it necessary to block access to the US as ever more draconian actions are taken by our government?

we're a legitimate business targeting professional

[girlintraining]

Legitimate business is kindof an oxymoron when dealing with copyright issues. There's no such thing as a "legitimate" business... only "Has many lawyers" and "has no lawyers".

"I'm a legitimate businessman."

[Sez Zero]

Alarms always go off when someone tells me that.

Similarly, different kinds of alarms that go off when some one says, "I'm not a slut."

Re:"I'm a legitimate businessman."

[sexconker]

Alarms always go off when someone tells me that.

Similarly, different kinds of alarms that go off when some one says, "I'm not a slut."

"I am just a businessman, giving the people what they want,"
"All I do is satisfy a public demand."

Both are quotes from Al Capone

Sluts also satisfy a public demand, but without a Venn diagram I do not know if Al Capone was a slut or not.