MegaUpload used to be one of the biggest file sharing sites in the world. For many it was the ultimate solution to file sharing problems by allowing anyone to upload files onto their servers for free so that anyone with the link could download these files onto their computer.  A service which seems fantastic to the average internet user, but what we don’t see is the costs for running these servers and services. Now, any honest company could quite easily add advertising to their site or limit usage of certain features to paying users only which MegaUpload chose not to do, instead they got involved in piracy.

For two years now MegaUpload has been under investigation by the FBI due to a large amount of pirate copied data being found on their servers. However, it was not until a few days ago that they were able to bring the giant Hong Kong based company down through leased servers in Virginia. The timing of this shut down comes pretty badly due to the world-wide internet demonstration against the SOPA act which has been proposed to be used on sites such as MegaUpload. Immediately users all over the world blamed SOPA without any background facts.

The real reason behind the shutdown is the suspicions against the owner and founder of MegaUpload, Kim Dotcom, and several of his employees. These crimes include both money laundering and conspiracy, which isn’t hard to believe after the raid against Dotcoms property which roughly summed up to a total wealth of around £5 million at Dotcoms £16 million residence in Auckland.

The question remains, what will happen to other file sharing sites such as Rapidshare, SoundCloud or even Dropbox? Even though SOPA has not yet been passed, the internet has been given a taste of what an internet controlled by SOPA could really be like. Even though MegaUpload is not US based one small slip up brought their whole company down. This could see many US companies moving their servers abroad and a huge loss in revenue for the US or the closing down of many, many more file sharing sites. The SOPA act says that the owner of a site is responsible for all material uploaded on the site, this meaning that users uploaded pirate material to MegaUpload which the owners of MegaUpload allowed, did nothing about and chose to earn money off. This is the reason for them being charged.

I personally believe it is time that all internet users started thinking twice about what they are doing on the web, where they are uploading things and what effect their actions will have on other people. It is easy to forget that there are real people behind the screen whose lives are affected by what you are doing online.

Article written by Tindris of www.creaspire.com