Rights-holder skip 4shared's own anti-piracy tool to use Google's, and this could mean bad news for the file hosting site in the future
One of the biggest file hosting sites still around has reached an unwanted milestone, as the number of DMCA removal requests received by Google tops 50 million.
Since the takedown of file hosting super site Megaupload, the number file hosting sites has dramatically increased. But one of the biggest still around appears to be getting bigger, even as rights-holders are undecided what to do about the site.
4shared has been submitted by the recording industry as one of the most "notorious" piracy sites, and this week, the number of DMCA takedown requests submitted to Google (to remove Google's listing of 4shared pages in its search engine) has topped 50 million.
One possible reason why 4shared hasn't yet been targeted for lawsuits by the likes of the MPAA and RIAA, the movie and music industry's copyright bodies, may be due to the fact that 4shared offers one of the industry's leading anti-piracy tools. The tool, similar to what YouTube offers to its content partners, is available to rights-holders and can automate the takedown (and staying down) of copyright files. But instead, rights-holders have universally opted to use Google's takedown tool, despite the fact that it is much less efficient, and much more work for rights-holders.
Their reluctance to use 4shared's anti-piracy tools may also indicate future plans to sue the site - as any use of 4shared's tools may be seen as a tacit approval of the site's actions, which may hamper any legal arguments should rights-holder opt to go down this route.
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