Waves of cyberlocker web sites stop filesharing

CYBERLOCKER SERVICES are taking severe action by ending reward programs and stopping filesharing.

The dramatic change has occurred shortly after Megaupload was shut down and a few of its principals arrested over alleged money laundering, racketeering and copyright infringement. Filesonic made these changes yesterday and now others appear to be following suit for fear of ending up like Megaupload.

Fileserver, another big name in the cyberlocker market has mirrored the actions of Filesonic, telling its users that they can only download files they have uploaded themselves.

Many other web sites have done similar things including Videobb, Videozer, Filejungle, Uploadstation and Filepost. It gets worse, with some users' files being deleted and even accounts shut down, according to Torrentfreak.

Uploadbox has completely pulled the plug, announcing that its service is no longer available and that all files will be deleted on 30 January.

However, other web sites including Yousendit and Mediafire are making no such changes due to their more thorough and law abiding terms and conditions.

Lisa Vaas of Sophos said, "Whether or not they come back online, it is clear you should keep backups of important files safely in your own hands and choose your friends in the cloud carefully." µ