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Screen grab of megaupload website - Source: Supplied -
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The US-led crackdown on Megaupload has left legitimate users of the site unable to access their files.
Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and three others were arrested in New Zealand on Friday at the request of the FBI.
US Federal prosecutors say Megaupload.com has cost copyright holders more than $620 million in revenue lost through pirated material.
But not everyone using the site was doing so on the wrong side of the law, web commentator Russell Brown told TV ONE's Breakfast this morning.
"There were legitimate uses of Megaupload," said Brown.
Many people use file-sharing sites as '"clouds", places to store legitimate files which they can access anywhere in the world, Brown explained.
In many cases, those files are only accessible to the person that uploaded them.
It is very difficult for owners of file-sharing sites to monitor what content is uploaded on their sites and how many people are accessing it, Brown said.
"The eventual case will turn quite greatly on how much the Megaupload founders knew.
"It appears that the FBI spent two years collecting evidence to show that they did know and that they wilfully infringed."
Brown said in the days since the raid, three of the other major file sharing services have become nervous and shut down their sites.
The targeting of Megupload could be a turning point in the fight against illegal file sharing, Brown said.
It seems content owners, mainly in the music and film industry, are shifting their focus away from individuals and onto the actual websites hosting illegal content.
"It looks like perhaps now they're going to turn and look at the file-sharing sites."
Brown added that even if a person is only streaming illegitimate content without downloading it, that act is still illegal.
