Depending on how it is resolved, the Megaupload case might have an impact on the future of cloud computing (long article but worth the read: http://www.circleid.com/posts/megabusts_megaquestions_cloud_the_nets_future/).<p>As most of you already know, Megaupload’s website was seized and shutdown. As a result, users have lost their data and do not have any rights to recover their data (fortunately the EFF is trying to help innocent users get their data back https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/01/eff-requests-information-innocent-megaupload-users).<p>And that’s the problem facing cloud providers—they offer global file sharing and storage in a way that is quite similar to Megaupload. Granted, Megaupload was much more willful and open about users sharing and storing copyrighted materials (that is why it is a criminal rather than civil case).<p>But still, basic cloud providers might ultimately run into the same problem as Megaupload with users sharing copyright materials, and users possibly losing their data in a lawsuit. My hope is that the courts draw a clearer distinction between a cloud provider and Megaupload, similar to the differences between Napster and iTunes. We will see…