Hotfile, a popular file sharing website, was found guilty late last month of infringing copyright. Hotfile is not an ordinary type of file sharing website. Hotfile is, what the internet community calls, a “cyberlocker”, a type of website where a user can store files online, but the file’s availability to the public is severely limited. Often times the files on cyberlockers are not available for search, and can require a password to access. This ruling marks the first time that a cyberlocker was found guilty of infringing copyright. Moreover, Hotfile’s owner, Antov Titov, was found personally liable for the damages caused by the supposed infringement.
In my personal opinion, the ruling is somewhat understandable. While we can discuss the practical difficulties in defining the line which separates a cyberlocker from being a place to store data and a place to pirate content, in the present case this is not really an issue. This is mostly because of the fact that Hotfile was rewarding uploaders of “popular” files with money.
The real significance in the Hotfile ruling is that it may be giving us an indication of things to come in the Kim Dotcom debacle. Kim Dotcom is best known for owning probably the most well known cyberlocker of all time, Megavideo. Dotcom eventually had his house and data servers in New Zealand raided by officials, and is expected to be extradited to the United States to face a civil and criminal charges.
Sources:
http://www.techdirt.com/blog/?tag=anton+titov
