Megaupload Fallout: Filesonic Kills Sharing Service

Under the potential threats from U.S. law enforcement, FileSonic has ended its sharing abilities effective immediately. Users will be able to download content they uploaded but nothing more.

The online world and digital file locker services in particular are still reeling from the Thursday takedown of Megaupload and the arrest of the site’s staff. Acting at the behest of U.S. requests/orders, servers around the world were taken offline and those who ran the site were arrested in a case U.S. authorities have deemed the “Mega Conspiracy”.

This afternoon, Filesonic.com went all but dark:

Filesonic, one of the Internet’s leading cyberlocker services, has taken some drastic measures following the Megaupload shutdown and arrests last week. In addition to discontinuing its affiliates rewards program and not yet paying accrued money to members, the site has disabled all sharing functionality, leaving users only with access to their own files.

Filesonic taking this step on its own at least spares users what would could have been the Megaupload-esque eventuality: loss of all their data, even if it was personal and perfectly legal. Megaupload users with legitimate data have been left out in the cold by the U.S. government and look to remain there for the foreseeable future.

Even though Megaupload was a Hong Kong-based site, that was not enough to spare it the long arm of the law – lobbied and paid for by large “content creators” back stateside. While fear of repercussions has not been listed as the official reasoning for neutering the site – there has as of yet been no official announcement – that seems to be the best theory working at the moment:

While there has been no official explanation from the site as to why the above actions were taken, all eyes are turned towards events of the last week – the closure of Megaupload and the arrest of its founder and management team.

Like Megaupload, Filesonic appears to based in Hong Kong and it’s clear that the authorities there already worked with the US government to shut down Kim Dotcom’s operations and seize his assets there. Filesonic is also believed to have some US-based servers.

Back on the Megaupload front, more details from the 72-page indictment continue to trickle out as it is poured over by tech sites. Feeling a rather lofty sense of self-importance for who they are and what they do, “content creators” were apparently rather upset that the uploading of infringing work wasn’t dealt with as swiftly as child pornography:

Megaupload’s “Abuse Tool” to which major copyright holders were given access, enabled the removal of links to infringing works hosted on MegaUpload’s servers. However, the indictment claims that it “did not actually function as a DMCA compliance tool as the copyright owners were led to believe.” And here’s why.

The indictment claims that when a copyright holder issued a takedown notice for content referenced by its URL, only the URL was taken down, not the content to which it pointed. So although the URL in question would report that it had been removed and would no longer resolve to infringing material, URLs issued to others would remain operational.

Furthermore, the indictment states that although MegaUpload staff (referred to as Members of the Conspiracy) discussed how they could automatically remove child pornography from their systems given a specific hash value, the same standards weren’t applied to complained-about copyright works.

Of course, users of Megaupload who were uploading legitimate content remain shit out of luck – and as mentioned before, will continue to be for the foreseeable future:

While we expect the vast majority of users would have their content backed up locally, there is no readily apparent way for Megaupload users to regain files they’ve hosted on the service. Refunds for holders of premium accounts is another unresolved issue. We’ve asked a Justice Department spokesperson if any method of re-downloading legitimate content from the servers will be available, or if the content will still be on the site should Megaupload ever be allowed back online.

In response, a Justice spokesperson cited the site’s FAQ which covered the possibility that their files might one day be lost or inaccessible: “This is still an ongoing matter,” the spokesperson told Ars. “It is important to note that Megaupload clearly warned users to keep copies of any files they uploaded. Megaupload.com expressly informed users through its Frequently Asked Questions (‘FAQs’) and its Terms of Service that users have no proprietary interest in any of the files on Megaupload’s servers, they assume the full risk of complete loss or unavailability of their data, and that Megaupload can terminate site operations without prior notice.”

The rough translation of that, of course, is that the U.S. Justice Department didn’t care about legitimate users at the time of the takedown, they don’t care about legitimate users today, and there is absolutely no reason for them to care about legitimate users going forward.

Aside from workplaces that were using Megaupload’s servers to distribute perfectly legal content, the site’s shutdown has also been a huge blow to the online gaming and mobile development communities. Modifications for games, sometimes containing files that can run into multiple gigabytes, had no other way to be distributed other than online file locker services – unless web services were paid and signed up for with bandwidth limits that would have made the whole thing unfeasible for the person or persons creating the file in the first place. Likewise, online file lockers like Megaupload are popular among developers of customized distributions of the Android operating system – again with files that can run into the gigabytes in size.

The Megaupload shutdown was way too broad of a response to infringement – and especially too broad for a site that was already taking steps to curtail such infringement. It is a move that harms workplaces and stifles work by individual developers who contribute their works to the greater Internet community at large. It’s a draconian response that is tantamount to ripping up the Interstate Highway System tomorrow to prevent the movement of illegal drugs or guns.