FileSonic And Others Cease File Sharing Amid MegaUpload Fallout

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 takedown 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.

[via DigitalTrends]