RapidShare has limited the download speeds for the free and non-registered users to prevent piracy, even though it hurts them a lot.
Ever since Megaupload went down for piracy claims, many file sharing sites have been imposing some restrictions on how the users download files and such and now, RapidShare joins this bandwagon. RapidShare has been aiming to be as legitimate as possible, and they have been actively removing content from their website as and when a piracy claim comes to their notice. The largest file sharing website has now restricted the download speeds for free users (unknown users) to prevent piracy.
The speeds have been dramatically reduced for unpaid users and RapidShare has officially confirmed this news to TorrentFreak stating:
RapidShare has been faced with a severe increase in free user traffic and unfortunately also in the amount of abuse of our service ever since, suggesting that quite a few copyright infringers have chosen RapidShare as their new hoster of choice for their illegal activities.
Further more, RapidShare adds how this step hurts them:
We have thus decided to take a painful yet effective step: to reduce the download speed for free users. We are confident that this will make RapidShare very unpopular amongst pirates and thus drive the abusive traffic away.
However, Legitimate users of RapidShare (Registered) can lift this ban by letting RapidShare know what file they are sharing and other details. I think this was a well thought out step by RapidShare to bring down piracy rates atleast at their site. We need to wait until other file sharing sites come with these kinds of restrictions.
Source: The Verge