An encrypted connection only helps against eavesdropping, not against the receiver of the file to store your IP address.

One more view of mine that surely has not changed because of this news item: screw rapidshit.

In Germany, the file-hosting service Rapidshare has handed over the personal details of alleged copyright infringers to several major record labels. The information is used to pursue legal action against the Rapidshare users and at least one alleged up…

I am guessing that it’s the German one that got hit.

I can see that if the law says they MUST release then they MUST, no question unless it is unconstitutional, and I have no knowledge of German law but twenty years as a police officer, ten as Chief of Police and a Paralegal degree with a year working for the District court here in my home state does give me a bit of knowledge of how the law overall works.

Anyone uploading a document, or multimedia file that has a copy-write must understand that they are breaking the law, just the same as if you were to shoplift this file be it a DVD or CD of music. To expect the owner of that copy-write to just sit back and do nothing as his product looses value because it is available for no charge on the internet then complain when action is taken is living in a fools paradise.

Granted I too download copy-written files all the time, but I am very aware that I am violating the law, and as such putting my pocketbook and my freedom on the line each and every time I do this.

You too should understand this not sit and complain to Rapid-share or any other file sharing outfit. It is not their desire to give up this information however when a writ is served they really have no choice. My son works for a major internet service provider and used to handle the warrants here, but since the government here in the US has opened this up under the homeland protection act, warrants are no longer required, any person in the United States is now subject to having their computers raped by the federal government with no notice or consent, and action can be taken against you for each and every file, song, or flick that resides on your hard drive and is visible to the investigator who back traces you via your IP address and manages to open your system to seek illegal files.

It’s crap but that is the way it is here in the good Old US of A under King Obama!

http://i39.tinypic.com/5mk9wi.png

Nice howyou quote a puff piece from RS!

Too bad though that it is now for well over a year(!) known that RS has granted the Pro-Media GmbH (lawyer Rasch!) Admin access to the RS system.
The Contentindustry can delete what ever they please themself. And I would not doubt that they can see who uploaded the stuff too.

1. It was not loaded with pop-ups; ergo, not a major carrier of adware, malware, and such.

2. Music files downloaded from RS were corrupted a lot less frequently than other servers.

3. Its free version was very workable, and not hard to circumvent its limits and restrictions.

4. Some blogs had found ways to upload massive files; it was just a matter of time before that procedure became well-known.

5. Free or paid, downloading was a fairly simple procedure.

The bad:

1. The paid version was no bargain, and frankly, not worth the price.

2. The free version was slow, especially if you used Internet Explorer.

3. It was always an easy target for self-righteous deleters and trolls.

4. For free users, there was no way around that “one at a time” limit, at least not that I ever found.

5. Worst of all, apparently its size and popularity made it the #1 legal target. Site shutdowns are nothing new.

Rapidshare didn’t offer up uploader info, it was ordered by the courts. Granted, RS didn’t fight too hard. And in Germany, Switzerland, USA, wherever, the big-bucks companies will always get the courts to rule in their favor, right or wrong.

It’s not your average downloader who has saved a fair amount of free music, bootleg or copies of legit stuff. It’s the bigger uploaders they’re after.

It was just a matter of time.

So say goodbye to Rapidshare, and move on. Some uploaders (the ones not currently facing legal action) will move on, and find other servers.

Any generally-available content on Rapidshare from the last few months will be tied to paid-account information. So uploaders don’t have to be identified through IP address — they can be identified via credit card/paypal details.