I also don't think Rapidshare is next, though they are taking some precautions.They set up a 30 kbps download limit for free users plus there’s no “resume download” either. Bad news for free users I guess, if they want the good stuff they have to start paying. Btw, I found something on that new sharing tech. It's some new Audials Light program, comes with an audials anywhere filesharing feature for accessing media anywhere and for sharing music and videos with friends via invites. They call it personal media cloud. It's free to use so who knows might make a good alternative to megaupload&co. I suppose since you share via invitations it would be a whole lot safer to use than public filesharing sites and stuff like that.
If we are paying the authorities will HAVE to take notice... This is the weeding out exercise by RS, then... But will it save them?
@gorski, i think their servers are in Switzerland.. the Swiss did very well with their banks, and i think they will do just as wel with their servers, outside the eu and us, making money because we are to dumb to allow some privacy.. the authorities are taking notice, allright, but they are not writing any Swiss laws, for the time being.. and just maybe this time for once it is not just the rich who will benefit, i find myself thinking.. regards, nodnar
This is an interesting read http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/03/us-usa-tax-swiss-indictment-idUSTRE81203M20120203
yes it is, redroad, my friend.. i used the past tense about their banks for a reason, and this is a small part of that reason. however, they kept it up from the 1780ties to the 1980ties.. that means two centuries to go with their servers, i hope..
The expansion of "Executive powers" in the U.S.executive branch of government has been unchecked by the U.S. citizenry for quite some time now. We are now willing to kill U.S. citizens without due process (legal protection) if the person is simply labeled a terrorist by our state department. The move to include cyber crimes in the definition of acts of terror should give pause to anyone concerned about civil liberties. A global cooperative network of cyber police is just a short distance away if we allow it to happen Imagine just being detained under suspicion indefinitley what effect that would have on many of our lives. Someone hacking into your computer now could have dire consequence. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/indefinite-detention-terrorism-bill-_n_1332256.html
i dunno. redroad, the us can do many things, when their population remains ignorant of what their government is up to.. and they will get away with many things..but ultimately there is more to this old planet then just the us of a.. just my 2 cents.. regards, nodnar
Consider this... Internet is invented by public money/taxes (military etc.). Then, it is sold off/given away to 5-6 major corporations by the Conservative Administration... In the meantime, the (large number of world) state(s) used those tools to "liberalise" and "de-regulate" world economy... Now, they are allegedly "caught off guard" by the "misuse" of the very tools they gave to the sodding sociopathic corpo-cats and other social and economic/finacial predators?!? Gimme a break!!! Moreover, Switzerland is but a single, small country. How about the UK, considered a "black hole" (as a WHOLE!) in the international monetary system by the US authorities. And just what are they doing about it?!? Moreover, the Brits were taught by the Yanks in this (and many other) regard, so WTF?!? Certainly, the net has been a force for good, when it comes to enlightenment of the population, sharing of the knowledge (and more!), organising and activism! And more! But at the same time, we paid an enormous price, thanx to these tools that made it possible to transfer vast quantities of money/speculative capital/"investment" and destroy whole economies etc. Tax evasion is just a smaller sample. The real game is around bonds and bond dealers, who even forced Clinton to abandon his first election promises in a rather elegant manner... "You do all that and we are pulling out!" To the very country that invented the darn thing, de-regulated its market (and forced others to follow suit), allowed the transfers of capital and whatnot - and now they are blackmailed by its own invention/Frankensteinian creature... So, I ask you, who is the real victim here?!? Whose minimal but ESSENTIAL (in Modernity) power (the electorate, I mean) is being seriously devalued and eroded here?!? The very idea of democracy is out through the window, while the markets themselves are exercising this idea relentlesly and mercilessly every f**king day of the week, on a minute by minute basis, even, voting ALL THE TIME, on every single move of any importance, by any government or even electorate... The international bodies to oversee all such transactions are a necessity, the tax on the rich and corporations for any and all international "transfers" of capital and so on - long overdue (see Tobin Tax, for instance)! You see, all this interconnectedness, the internet as such, is a triple-edged sward... No wonder the US and other authorities are cracking down on various kim Dotcom's greed - but how about the real battles with the bond dealers, speculative capital, hedge funds, corporations of all sorts etc. etc. We better think it through very, very carefully and seriously!!!
Oh my dear friend, I for starters would certainly be fine to see the Europeans return to where they came from and have back the clean waters and boundless forests we started with however we have what we have now. The dangers of over simplifying the situation with regards to an ignorant U.S. voting population creates more ignorance. It is far more complicated than that. You of all people should know that my gaze is much further than the good old U.S.A. The problem now is with a global economy what happens anywhere effects the rest of the planet. My people have been embracing this idea for thousands of years. We have always been aware of how our actions effect everything else.
okay, Gorski, i can only sympathize.. but in the end, the www is here, whether those governments and bankers like it or not. they do not have a snowball`s chance in hell to turn back the clock. sopa, pipa, acta, no matter, people will inevitably become aware that something is WRONG.. and for the past year or so, many of them took action.. when all is said and done, recent events have proved that there is a measure of panic with the copyright boys; they took all these repressive measures, and it only made people more aware... when i look at anonymous, lulzsec, etc, i see a youthfull arrogance, that will not get us anywhere.. but i do think, that there are older and wiser folks, who will find more practical ways..
i guess i stand corrected, redroad.. yes, i do know that.. but i do not think that folks realize, what the us government is up to.
I agree a certain portion of the U.S. population does not know the far reaching implications of what their government is up to. Then there are a large portion who do know and are at this point confused about how to go forward when their vote is being marginalized and diminished everyday. Look at Putin of Russia recent vote. I believe the 99% movement globally has a much greater chance of effecting change than anything up to this point.
The point I am raising is that if you want the totally free internet for "small people" how do you ask for regulated internet for corporations, big business, the rich, the influential, the powerful, the... whatever... You get the drift... By the same token, how can the corporations, the state etc. ask for "regulated internet", if they have it the way they want it, i.e. "deregulated"... As for the term "regulation" - remember the "unregulated" and "non-patrolled" mortgage markets - esp. the sub-prime part...?!?
Well, the state has the means to stop us from enjoying those freedoms - see China or Iran, for instance... Yes but if the existing laws are gonna be implemented in the US alone - you could see a lot of trouble brewing, could you not? You mean, old farts like me?
The point that was made about 4 or 5 major corporations having undue influence over the internet is at the heart of it all. A political process that rigs the game in favor of those corporations promotes an unsavory alliance. Picking winners and losers based on political alliance rather than performance and merit has badly tainted the eventual outcome of this fight.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17300225 - not RS but HF... Hotfile's digital locker service targeted by Hollywood The movie studios allege that Hotfile's payments for popular uploads encouraged piracy Hollywood is calling on the US courts to force Hotfile, the popular file-sharing site, offline following similar action against Megaupload. Court papers unsealed this week reveal that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has filed a motion for a summary judgement. If approved, the move could lead to action against the service without the need for a lengthy trial. Hotfile says it removes copyright-infringing files on request. Details of the development were revealed by Mediapost News and the Torrentfreak blog. It marks the latest step in the film studios' year-long legal effort to have Hotfile shut down. Megaupload connection The court papers name Disney, 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios, Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros as the plaintiffs. They claim that "Hotfile actively fosters the massive copyright infringement that fuels its business", adding that "more than 90% of the files downloaded from Hotfile are copyright infringing, and nearly every Hotfile user is engaged in copyright infringement". The studios claim that Hotfile's business model is "indistinguishable" from that of Megaupload and draw attention to its affiliate programme. This offered users payments based on how many times their files had been downloaded. The studios claim this encouraged "the uploading of 'popular' (ie infringing) content". Fingerprinting technology Panama-based Hotfile has claimed safe harbour protections under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. These offer sites immunity if they take down illegal material when asked and protect services such as YouTube from being forced offline if a member uploads someone else's video. However, the studios claim Hotfile does not qualify because it did not identify, keep track of or "terminate" repeat offenders. The movie makers say their own efforts to identify repeat offenders found that some had received 300 or more infringement notices. The studios add that nearly all of Hotfile's top affiliates who had received payments "were egregious repeat offenders". Hotfile did not respond to the BBC's request for an interview. However, its website notes that it has made changes to "facilitate the identification of repeat infringers" and goes on to say it has become "more aggressive" about terminating accounts. It adds that it has installed new "fingerprint" technology to block copyrighted files from being uploaded and has also changed the way its affiliate payments are calculated. 'Whack-a-mole' Although the case against Megaupload has yet to go to trial, the Media Industry Blog's Mark Mulligan said the fact the site had been taken offline had given copyright holders fresh impetus to target other digital locker services. "These lockers are the easiest target to hit to take out a very sizeable chunk of the piracy market," he said. "If the service providers are serious about wanting to heed the industry's concerns then instead of assuming that all of the content is legitimate until found otherwise, they should actually assume that most of the content is illegal and take action. "Much of the content on these service is very high quality video files - how many consumers genuinely create large high definition videos of their own and upload them?" However, he warned that even if the studios succeed in shutting other lockers down - the victory might be short-lived. "Closing such sites down will undoubtedly be a body blow to piracy, but the history of music piracy shows us that every time you close something down it's like a game of digital whack-a-mole - another one pops up."
@ gorski, i don`t believe you`re the oldest fart around here my friend.. and yes i do see trouble brewing. that`s the whole point.. you have got a way to put things in a wider perspective, that this old fart appreciates very much indeed.. as for the whack a mole thing, there may well be an end to that game. i personally do not see redroad`s four or five companies getting another chance if they fail to win the battle now, in this us election year. but the same goes for ordinary people who refuse to get what you please to call `regulated..` i just found out far too late in the day, that the party who loses this battle will probably lose the regulation war.. and there is more of the same going on under the surface at the same time. the industry invents uefi, and now suddenly the new oem pc`s you are going to buy with w8, that folks in this forum have awaited so impatiently, will be unable to run open source operating systems. and i wonder if it is just coincidence that it happens simultaniously. it is just those companies playing an extra card on the same table.. hope you`ll excuse this unregulated old fart farting..
Here is a little article which mentions the term "regulation" in the correct context, unlike the idiotic business "leaders" and "captains of economy"... http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/oct/13/comment.politics An excerpt: Equally, the internet needs regulation... for obvious reasons mentioned earlier and elsewhere...
well. you just did it again, gorski.. place things in a wider perspective, i mean.. and i do agree when you say we don`t want a race to the bottom, where standards are concerned. wholeheartedly.. but quis custodiet ipsos custodes? if the internet needs regulation, as you say, it is not by the copyright lobby or m$. and it is not by individual sovereign states, either. they all lack that one single old-fashioned quality. integrity...... and if we let them do the regulation, the only result will be censorship.. as there is no international body that is endowed with that quality, i prefer to go without the benefits of regulation for that very reason.. you may call me old-fashioned if you like..