Hate to say I told you so, but earlier today filesharing services Filesonic as well as Uploaded.to have gone offline*, though to be fair it didn’t go down quite the way I expected. In fact, the reality of what happened might be even more discouraging. Either based on a snap judgement of the situation at hand, or more likely working off of tips or rumors related to the Feds’ next move, both of these sites shut themselves down of their own volition, presumably to avoid prosecution.

Not only is this a sign of an incredibly hostile litigative environment, but also a reticence on the part of the people behind these sites to stand up to this bullying. It also looks like a tacit admission of guilt on their part, all things which are exactly what we as Americans should not want. These file sharing websites should not be prosecuted not because we just don’t want them to go away, but because they are not breaking the law. If this trend continues, the Government won’t even have to expend the effort and money to legally pursue all of these sites. Let’s hope no one else follows suit.

*Neither site has technically shutdown but done the following: Filesonic no longer allows sharing of any files uploaded to the site. Access to files is now limited to only those who originally uploaded a file making the service useless. Upload.to has merely blocked all U.S. IP addresses from accessing the site.

- Whole Milk