File Host Rapidshare Disclosing User IDs to Copyright Holders

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 27, 2009 - 11:01am.

Los Angeles - Rapidshare, a free file-hosting service that has come under fire for hosting pre-release copyrighted material, has begun sharing personal information of its users in Germany with authorities there, resulting in at least one uploader's home being raided so far, TorrentFreak reported.

Among other albums, Metallica's "Death Magnetic" was made available on Radipshare by an anonymous user on the day before its official release.

TorrentFreak cited the German local Gulli, which reported that copyright holders there are citing the law they have used to compel ISPs to disclose the identities of suspected file-swappers, to get Rapidshare to disclose information on its users.

TorrentFreak posited that this strategy could potentially be duplicated to go after other free file-hosting services, such as MegaUpload, and even BiTorrent sites.

Copyright holders have already sued Rapidshare, and a German court ruled in October that the company must work proactively to remove copyrighted material uploaded to its servers.

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/gv57i (TorrentFreak)

http://www.gulli.com/news/rapidshare-abmahnung-f-r-2009-04-25/

http://snipurl.com/gvbdi (DMW previous coverage)

http://www.rapidshare.com