AfterDawn: Tech news

Study: Megaupload shutdown has not affected global piracy, at all

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 12 Feb 2012 10:07 User comments (20)

Study: Megaupload shutdown has not affected global piracy, at all Internet consulting firm DeepField Networks did some digging and it seems that the high-profile take down of major cyberlocker Megaupload has done nothing to affect global piracy.
The firm analyzed Web traffic from six companies, says BGR, "that provide the storage facilities responsible for roughly 80 percent of all file-sharing traffic" and found that piracy is still alive and well, despite triumphant statements from the US government and trade groups like the MPAA.

In the days leading up to the shutdown, Megaupload accounted for about 35 percent of all file-sharing downloads. When a global raid took the site down last month, the entire Internet saw traffic fall about 2 percent. The US DOJ had certainly caught their big fish in the ongoing fight against copyright infringement.

However, within days, the traffic had recovered as users moved on to Rapidsahre, Putlocker, FileFactory and MediaFire, says DeepField, completely negating the takedown.



What will be the main impact of the MegaUpload takedown? DeepField concludes: "Well, file sharing has not gone away. It did not even decrease much in North America. Mainly, file sharing became staggeringly less efficient. Instead of terabytes of North America MegaUpload traffic going to US servers, most file sharing traffic now comes from Europe over far more expensive transatlantic links."

Read the report here: http://blog.deepfield.net/

Previous Next  

20 user comments

112.2.2012 22:25

Now that I can't find reliable streaming I just download my videos. Thanks guys!

212.2.2012 22:25

sneak in and take what you can and when you can and what you need and then vanish like a ghost and retreat yo your domain and relish your ENTERTAINMENT. they will never stop you they will never find you.

313.2.2012 00:20

DDDDDDDDDUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

It was never about piracy. Piracy is just something the government uses to curtail free speech and other freedoms. The actual media sellers love piracy because pirates buy more media than anyone else...it is just "representative" groups like MPAA and RIAA that are against piracy, because that is how they make their money.

Personally, I don't pirate anything...and I don't really buy anything either. A couple games a year, a netflix account, no cable, and (on a very rare occasion) a bluray purchase...that's it. If I were free to pirate safely I would probably feel like paying for the better things that I pirated, but since I don't pirate anything, I don't feel that need. Oh, and I buy every Otep album...in the deluxe edition...because of the kinds of people who shut down sites like Megaupload. SMASH THE CONTROL MACHINE.

413.2.2012 01:41

might just be a conspiracy but could universal music pressured the fbi in to getting megaupload taken down quickly.

513.2.2012 01:42

Originally posted by KillerBug:
DDDDDDDDDUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

It was never about piracy. Piracy is just something the government uses to curtail free speech and other freedoms. The actual media sellers love piracy because pirates buy more media than anyone else...it is just "representative" groups like MPAA and RIAA that are against piracy, because that is how they make their money.

Personally, I don't pirate anything...and I don't really buy anything either. A couple games a year, a netflix account, no cable, and (on a very rare occasion) a bluray purchase...that's it. If I were free to pirate safely I would probably feel like paying for the better things that I pirated, but since I don't pirate anything, I don't feel that need. Oh, and I buy every Otep album...in the deluxe edition...because of the kinds of people who shut down sites like Megaupload. SMASH THE CONTROL MACHINE.


Pat yourself on the back a bit more.
Come on now, you know you want to.
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 13 Feb 2012 @ 1:42

613.2.2012 07:28

In the past I have spent thousands of pounds on movies and music, and yes I still do, but there are things I would like to see on film but owing to my health and walking difficulties I can't go to the pictures to watch them so there is only one thing left to do.

I have had ideas for the industry and that is for them to put them on the net at a nominal fee for people to download, I feel sure that this would be the only way to stop it, but thank god we've still got PB.

713.2.2012 08:36

I hope weve seen the end of this for a while but something tells me we havent?

813.2.2012 10:20

Originally posted by SandraN:
In the past I have spent thousands of pounds on movies and music, and yes I still do, but there are things I would like to see on film but owing to my health and walking difficulties I can't go to the pictures to watch them so there is only one thing left to do.

I have had ideas for the industry and that is for them to put them on the net at a nominal fee for people to download, I feel sure that this would be the only way to stop it, but thank god we've still got PB.
Uhhhh, no offense, but did you write this in the 1990's?
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 13 Feb 2012 @ 10:20

913.2.2012 12:03

Originally posted by syngyn:
Originally posted by SandraN:
In the past I have spent thousands of pounds on movies and music, and yes I still do, but there are things I would like to see on film but owing to my health and walking difficulties I can't go to the pictures to watch them so there is only one thing left to do.

I have had ideas for the industry and that is for them to put them on the net at a nominal fee for people to download, I feel sure that this would be the only way to stop it, but thank god we've still got PB.
Uhhhh, no offense, but did you write this in the 1990's?
No but then I am in my 60s, and I hope when you get to my age you have the courtesy to stop and think before qoutes + I'm pretty good with computers lets see if you are in touch with technology when you get to my age,

When I think of how much money I've spent on my music and movies I feel entitled to do a spot of downloading for my own entertainment.

1013.2.2012 12:43

i hear where your coming from SandraN I'am old school too.by the time syngyn gets to be in our age group they want be computers they will be fighting over food and water.

1113.2.2012 13:17

Hahahaha..I just want to laugh in their faces for failing so horribly. I swear, every time that they try to do something like this, they have the most inefficient tactics. Sure, they had all the power to shut it down, but they didnt consider the future. 2%..XD

1213.2.2012 13:54

Originally posted by nbfreak2:
I hope weve seen the end of this for a while but something tells me we havent?
It's going to be like an old potato chip commercial "you can't eat just one". Now that they've got one under their belt, despite the fact they probably broke several dozen laws in prosecuting everyone anyway, they'll be on their way to the next.

Megaupload has just unwittingly financed their next endeavor. I can't help but think they're financing some back door legislation as we're typing right now. What the hell, ACTA got through didn't it?

Originally posted by SandraN:
In the past I have spent thousands of pounds on movies and music, and yes I still do, but there are things I would like to see on film but owing to my health and walking difficulties I can't go to the pictures to watch them so there is only one thing left to do.
.........

When I think of how much money I've spent on my music and movies I feel entitled to do a spot of downloading for my own entertainment.
I'm not exactly as old as you are, but certainly feel your angst for having spent so much money on media over the years. Especially to have to turn around & spend it all again because equipment broke down. I.e., try playing a VHS anymore.

Where is the alphabet gang to defend us against the Nazis forcing us constantly re-tech. Economy or not, for those out there that even have a job, how many can afford entertainment anymore much less a new gadget?

1313.2.2012 14:05

Originally posted by ez2beme:
i hear where your coming from SandraN I'am old school too.by the time syngyn gets to be in our age group they want be computers they will be fighting over food and water.
I'm glad someone understands, I can understand both sides of the argument, hence the suggestion of the media companies doing their own form of uploading movies and music on the net, but if they did we would still have to buy discs, MP3s or watch and listen on the computer, which for me isn't very comfy hence why I put on disc to sit and watch in my living room.

I wouldn't mind paying a small fee to download from the companies, but I'm sure there will still be pirates out there and why not? I've brought films and music and freinds and family have borrowed them, as I have theirs but apparently this is supposedly elegal as well, what a strange world we live in, I've got hundreds of VHS tapes, most of which I've copied to DVD, but some I've brought again as they wouldn't copy even with my gizmo to cut out macro, so in my case the companies have had double their money for some films, well I'd better get off of my soap box for today, this will all sort it'self out one way or another, of that I'm sure.

1413.2.2012 16:55

'Piracy'.

What a joke.

File sharing is sharing.
Copying someone else's work & selling copies of it as if it was yours to do so is actual & real piracy.

The fact is that the entertainment industry has never been more profitable & is in fact one of the most profitable enterprises on the planet (probably 2nd only to the energy corporations/thieves).

The Emperor has no clothes.

Feel free to point & laugh at those stooges put up on our media pretending they are merely pleading on behalf of a penniless industry......and utterly ignore them.

This whole piracy thing is about nothing less than naked sheer greed.

(and I speak as someone who pays his UK TV licence, pays for satellite TV, buys CDs, SACDs, DVDs, DVD-Audios, HD DVDs & Blu-rays......and, excepting the SACDs & DVD-Audios - I have hundreds of each)

1513.2.2012 18:03

Originally posted by SandraN:
I have had ideas for the industry...

The industry doesn't want any new ideas they like the old ideas that are bankrupting them.

1613.2.2012 18:28

If it really was about piracy this was a very stupid move. You kill the big site and the traffic just gets distributed out to other sites, building them up.

1713.2.2012 18:51

So mega didn't host any files just hosted links to servers that did is that correct ?,so when all is said & done the fbi will lose their case since mega didn't actually host the files themselves,in the mean time his 40 employees are now lined up in our welfare queues because assetts are frozen,the mansion he was living in now owes rent,so land lord is missing out,some poor unpaid soul has to feed his tropical rare fish that's worth thousands is it really necessary to lock all his earnings up i think not,mean while we have bankers & finance instuitions that ransacked the elderly & other investors ,who then went belly up & scarpered off to Australia,where abouts in Oz you ask, well the gold coast of coarse in multi million dollar frak'n mansions,not to mentin certain finance companies who were bailed out by the tax payer $%&%^&&^*^&BHGHFDF&*TY$^&((

1814.2.2012 13:03

Originally posted by Interestx:
...sharing is sharing.
Copying someone else's work & selling copies of it as if it was yours to do so is actual & real piracy.

The fact is that the entertainment industry has never been more profitable & is in fact one of the most profitable enterprises on the planet (probably 2nd only to the energy corporations/thieves).
................

This whole piracy thing is about nothing less than naked sheer greed.
I couldn't agree more. Thomas Edison & the major Hollywood studios can be thanked for most of this. They are probably the true, 1st recorded kings of global piracy known to man. Strangely enough, it's still celebrated. If that ain't a kick in the nuts?

Be damned if they're not still doing it to this day. Look at any horror film. Probably stolen from a Japanese fable (or original film) to be ripped apart & bastardized over here. I really doubt the original author got his/her due.

Talk about the Sheriff of Nottingham robbing everybody. Where the hell are the Robin Hoods anymore?
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 14 Feb 2012 @ 1:06

1914.2.2012 15:09

They're alive and well in spirit via all the kind souls who share there DVDs, CDs and MP3s on line, so the companies are still in profit, and it's thanks to them.

The only thing I disagree with is the people who download and sell for profit, those who only do it for themselves and no one else aren't really doing any one any harm, because I bet if you asked them they would say that like me they pay for a lot of their media.

2014.2.2012 18:02

Originally posted by SandraN:
They're alive and well in spirit via all the kind souls who share there DVDs, CDs and MP3s on line, so the companies are still in profit, and it's thanks to them.

The only thing I disagree with is the people who download and sell for profit, those who only do it for themselves and no one else aren't really doing any one any harm, because I bet if you asked them they would say that like me they pay for a lot of their media.
The industry stated last year that people who illeagally download buy more than those who don't,that comment alone pretty much says it all

Comments have been disabled for this article.

Latest news

VLC hits milestone: over 5 billion downloads VLC hits milestone: over 5 billion downloads (16 Mar 2024 4:31)
VLC Media Player, the versatile video-software powerhouse, has achieved a remarkable feat: it has been downloaded over 5 billion times.
2 user comments
Sideloading apps to Android gets easier, as Google settles its lawsuit Sideloading apps to Android gets easier, as Google settles its lawsuit (19 Dec 2023 11:09)
Google settled its lawsuit in September 2023, and one of the settlement terms was that the way applications are installed on Android from outside the Google Play Store must become simpler. In the future, installing APK files will be easier.
8 user comments
Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets (06 Jun 2023 9:19)
Roomba Combo j7+ is the very first Roomba model to combine robot vacuum with mopping features. And Roomba Combo j7+ does all that with a very clever trick, which tackles the problem with mopping and carpets. But is it any good? We found out.
Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations (02 May 2023 3:38)
Neato Robotics has ceased its operations. American robot vacuum pioneer founded in 2005 has finally called it quits and company will cease its operations and sales. Only a skeleton crew will remain who will keep the servers running until 2028.
5 user comments
How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp (20 Mar 2023 1:25)
The world's most popular messaging platform, Meta-owned WhatsApp has enabled sending messages to yourself. While at first, this might seem like an odd feature, it can be very useful in a lot of situations. ....
18 user comments

News archive