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RapidShare Fighting Piracy By Slowing Download Speeds
An anonymous reader writes "File hosting sites have been under increased pressure since the shutdown of Megaupload — both from law enforcement and from the sudden influx of new users. RapidShare, already dealing with a reputation as a facilitator of piracy, has now instituted a policy they hope will drive pirates away: download speed caps for its free service. According to TorrentFreak, 'RapidShare says that there is a direct link between free users of file-hosting services and copyright infringement. Those who like to pirate prefer not to pay, the company believes, not least because they want to avoid connecting their personal payment details to a copyright-infringing cyberlocker account. Now, there will be those who say that however RapidShare dress it up, the company will be aware that the restrictions will drive users to their premium services to get better speeds. But interestingly RapidShare is now offering ways for users to get faster download speeds without paying a dime — providing those uploading the original files they’re trying to access do some work.'"
RapidShare is in Switzerland. Unless their execs travel to New Zealand, they have nothing to fear.
Sorry, no.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Has anyone in the history of the world ever paid for a RapidShare account to use it for downloading non-pirated content?
Has anyone in the history of Dropbox, one of RapidShare's competitors, ever paid for a Dropbox account?
Apart from the "loosing" I kind of see what he's saying. You constantly hear that it's the content owners right to charge whatever they want for the content and that's true but the reality of the situation is that nothing has value greater than what people are willing to pay for it. Someone may believe that their "whatever" is worth $12 but if nobody is willing to give them that then they're just mistaken. Most of the pirates (downloaders, not uploaders) I know (myself included) pay for their accounts without any concern for anonymity. They pay for the account for faster download speeds and the ability to download multiple parts at one time. I use iTunes as well and don't mind paying for what I want there but I buy songs, not albumes. Episodes, not seasons. Movies, when they're on sale. That I'm willing to pay something to download a file (albeit from someone other than the rightful owner or at a discounted price from a legitimate source) says that there is a price that the public is willing to pay. I just don't think that the content owners/creators are too excited at the new price point. They better adjust though because it's not going away.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
I strongly disagree with your use of the word 'meal' to describe MacDonald's food product.
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