Hollywood bloodlust cripples another filelocker

Wupload has disabled file sharing functions after being named by a film executive as a future target in Hollywood's war against sites alleged to be MegaUpload type operations.

“Announcement: All sharing has been disabled. Wupload is not a file sharing site. If you uploaded a file, only you can download it and it can't be shared with anyone else,” the company announced.

The new restrictions came after a Paramount Pictures executive last week named Wupload as one of five more “rogue” companies it was pursuing with the intent to secure more mass copyright infringement arrests.  

The four others named were MediaFire, PutLocker, Deposite files, and Fileserve.

Shortly after Hollywood’s intentions were reported, MediaFire co-founder Tom Langridge penned a letter to CNet denying it was “an outlaw gang” of MegaUpload’s ilk. 

Another site mentioned, British-based PutLocker, also said it has been incorrectly labelled a “rogue” site, the Torrent Freak blog reported, which also first reported Wupload's new sharing restrictions.

The operations officer of PutLocker, Adrian Petroff, told TorrentFreak that it “takes a strong stand against copyright infringement”, adding that it had taken down “thousands” of infringing files and was aiming to be a “cloud storage platform” for consumers and businesses, but was also seeking opportunities to work with content producers. 

Petroff was quoted as saying that less than two per cent of files uploaded to its servers were “flagged as infringing”, however its site traffic has boomed since the closure of MegaUpload.   

Petroff aligned itself with Swiss-based RapidShare, which has tried to distinguish itself from MegaUpload by claiming its corporate structure never was designed to evade authorities and that it fights copyright infringement. 

At the time of the MegaUpload shutdown about nine sites similar to it simply shut shop or, like Wupload, disabled sharing.