The federal law enforcement agencies taking down Megaupload for copyright infringement is making headlines. But what is not well known is Megaupload was in essence a cloud storage offering, and many users used it to store their personal files such as personal recordings that do not infringe copyright. Such files have now disappeared.
This issue brings to the spotlight the dangers and risks involved in relying on cloud storage services offered by third parties. Anything can go wrong with such third party offerings: in this case, the clients personal files were caught up in a government raid targeted at digital pirates. Others using the service to distribute illegal content have affected all users relying on the service.
And Megavideo is not alone. A cursory check of cloud storage sites reveal that Videobb, Novamov, ZShare, and VidXDen, all offer file-sharing services similar to Megavideo and remain in use to distribute pirated content. It could only be a matter of time before the law pulls the plug on such services, leaving genuine users in the lurch.
Users would do well to store backups of the files stored in the cloud in their hard drive, and update such backups at regular interval, but such a practice may very often defeat the very purpose of availing cloud storage.
Another strategy is to rely only on trusted and credible services such as Google Docs, Microsoft’s SkyDrive, and Box Dropbox. Box Dropbox is especially attractive as it automatically installs a folder on the hard drive with all content backed up.
JAN
