RapidShare, one of the longest-running file-sharing websites, has finally decided to close its doors.
On Tuesday, the Switzerland-based site abruptly announced that it will “stop the active service” on March 31. Neither the site nor its Germany-based lawyer, Daniel Raimer, immediately responded to Ars’ request for comment.
The site, which was founded in 2002, faced scrutiny from German courts, attempted to combat piracy, and even hired a Washington, DC-based lobbying firm in 2010. Back in 2008, a German deep packet inspection firm found that RapidShare “generates half of the [direct download link] traffic and therefore up to 5 percent of all Web traffic in some regions.”
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