MegaUpload

An article by paradise    Comments Off on MegaUpload

A lot are curious what this site was all about, or they might know too well. It was basically a storage site (Flickr, YouTube, Picassa are others), that also allowed others to see your files with the right link and/or password. Though it was often used to store copyrighted material like movies, games, and popular TV shows, it was also used by some for legitimate storage. A lot of small businesses used it as a cloud server, and since they could give a simple link to those they were working with to see documents and work with them, it could be very helpful.

What many users did not like was the cost though. There were of course paid ads, but users could opt to pay for storage to load larger files and go without ads. People who paid for a premium account on the site were able to upload and download larger files. Now those who paid the premium are out of luck. They lost their money along with their storage (and possibly their files).

MegaUpload was always going to get taken down, and many knew that. They made the sharing of copyrighted material way too easy, and they did not try to take down any files that were reported. They did of course have postings saying they would, and that people would be prosecuted, but it did not ever actually happen. As for all of the stories talking about the extravagant life the owner lived, so what? The guy had money and always said he did not want to “hoard it” but wanted to enjoy it. He had a good business model, even if it was a shady one.

I hope that the victims of this site take down get helped, either getting their legal files back or their money. I doubt they will get either, but it should teach us all a lesson to use sites that are legal as well as useful.

Great article:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/20/tech/web/what-is-megaupload/index.html?hpt=hp_bn6