We’ve mentioned before that as the MPAA and RIAA pursue a new strategy of shutting down every site that lets you upload a file to the Internet, that a lot of innocent people are going to discover their files held hostage.
It’s pretty straightforward: if your email is busted, or you don’t want to send a document to a dozen different email address, you upload it to a service like MegaUpload or Hotfile. It’s usually free or dirt cheap, guarantees access when you’re away from your computer. Can it be used for, say, sharing MP3s? Sure. But so can most other software that involves cloud storage, which makes these lawsuits kind of ridiculous. And it makes the fallout, where people lose any access they had to their data, unacceptable.
Especially since, and we can’t say we’re surprised by this one, many federal government employees were using the site for what we assume are legitimate reasons themselves. Gee, you mean the government, just like the movie studios and the music industry, like using convenient tools? And may sometimes abuse those tools because they’re human?
Gee, didn’t see that one coming.
(Image via MegaUpload)