German District Court Orders Rapidshare to Block Copyrighted Content

Wants site to somehow inspect every single uploaded file to make sure that it's not copyrighted.

There's some interesting news out of Germany today whereby the District court of Dusseldorf has recently ordered the popular web hosting site Rapidshare to immediately begin blocking the uploading of copyrighted material to the site.

The decision isn't final for if it decides to appeal the decision, which it obviously will, it will be several years before it reaches the Federal Court and a final conclusion on the site's fate is made.

What makes the recent court decision so troubling for Rapidshare and so devastating if upheld on appeal, is that there is no way humanly or technologically possible for it to inspect each and every single uploaded file to make sure that it's not copyrighted material.

Aside from actually sitting down and both listening to and watching every single music and movie file that graces its servers there's no way it could ever accomplish what the District court of Dusseldorf is asking it to do. Short of that it would mean the end of Rapidshare, which has quickly become the powerhouse of file-sharing for bloggers and others looking for an easy non-P2P method of sharing content.

[via gHacks]