FileSonic and others cease file sharing amid MegaUpload fallout PLUS first video of court appearance

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Chris Davies, Jan 23rd 2012



MegaUpload shut-down fallout continues, with rival file-sharing sites FileSonic and Uploaded.to each dramatically slimming their services to avoid allegations of copyright infringement. FileSonic has ceased any new sharing functionality whatsoever, the site now saying that “our services can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally,” while Uploaded.to has blocked US traffic though remains accessible elsewhere in the world.

If you attempt to access Uploaded.to from a US IP address, however, you’re greeted with the message that “Our service is currently unavailable in your country. Sorry about that.” Neither site has made any public announcement of the change in services, leading to speculation that the decision to curtail file sharing was a sudden reaction to the shock arrest of MegaUpload CEO Kim Dotcom and other employees of the site.

MegaUpload’s demise last week was promptly followed by an all-out attack by Anonymous, with the Department of Justice, RIAA, MPAA and other sites all taken down in a combined retaliatory DDoS. It’s unclear what reaction there might be to the voluntary take down of these two new sites, though one complaint about how MegaUpload was handled – that innocent users storing non-copyright files were unable to access their cloud-based content – would seemingly also apply to Uploaded.to as well.

FileSonic, meanwhile, had been operating an affiliates program, which allowed users to get paid the more times that their files were downloaded. That too has been shut down, presumably to avoid complaints that it encouraged tempting copyrighted content to be illegally shared and promoted.

The FBI’s surprise takedown of Megaupload continues to send shockwaves, with increasingly vocal complaints from legitimate users of the online locker service that their files and backups are being held hostage. The unexpected downtime has left many surprised and angry that Megaupload – which the US Department of Justice described as “an international organized criminal enterprise” – has been taken offline with no consideration of non-copyrighted content, a reason some Anonymous members claim was their motivation for involvement in the huge denial-of-service attack yesterday. Meanwhile, reports from New Zealand where company founder Kim Dotcom was arrested suggest the outspoken exec locked himself in a panic room so as to avoid arrest, and was discovered near a sawn-off shotgun.

“The government has taken down one of the world’s largest storage providers and have done so without giving Megaupload an opportunity to be heard in court” the company’s attorney Ira Rothken told CNET. “Many of the allegations made are similar to those in the copyright case filed against YouTube and that was a civil case….and YouTube won.”

A hearing will take place on Monday, as the FBI continues its extradition process. RussiaToday uploaded a video showing Doctom and three other MegaUpload staff appearing in a hearing in New Zealand yesterday:


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"B" struggled with uploading games from book test as several sites just did not complete process of upload