With it's indictment of Megaupload and the arrest of it's founder Kim Schmitz last week the feds have sent dozens of other similar file sharing websites running for cover.
Megaupload founder Kim Schmitz, aka Kim Dotcom in a New Zealand court facing extradition charges to the U.S.
Uploaded.to, Filesonic, Fileserve, Filepost, UploadBox, UploadStation and many more have either shut down or banned all 3rd party downloads according to TorrentFreak.com.
Some companies have started deleting massive amounts of user files in an effort to keep the FBI at bay.
"It looks like the chilling effect has already started," Dennis Fisher, editor in chief of security blog Threatpost told USA Today. "Maybe one of the reasons the U.S. government is going after companies alleged to be hosting infringing content is to serve as a deterrent for others engaging in similar activity."
Uploaded.to has banned all U.S. IP addresses. When users try to access the site they are greeted by a blue screen that reads "service is not available in your country."
Two other popluar cyberlockers, Mediafire and Rapidshare are staying put, at least for now.
"RapidShare AG was founded in Switzerland and in fact, it was always located at the address given in the company details and was always run under real names without any anonymous intermediate businesses," RapidShare CEO Alexandra Zwingli told Ars Technica. "The radical measures against MegaUpload were apparently required since the situation there had been totally different."
Derek Labian, CEO of Texas-based Mediafire was critical of Megaupload when he spoke with Venturebeat.com.
“We don’t have a business built on copyright infringement.” Labain said. “Like many other cloud-based sharing services like Box.net and Dropbox, we’re a legitimate business targeting professionals. Megaupload was making a ridiculous amount of money with a ridiculously bad service,” Labian said. “We frankly don’t see ourselves in the same space.”
This is a very fast developing story. We'll keep an eye out to see which file sharing company blinks next.
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News coverage of Megaupload indictment and cyber attacks against government
More file sharing websites shut down or limit access to users
Kim Schmitz and other operator's of Megaupload appear in New Zealand court
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