Back in April we reported about the free file-hosting service Rapidshare’s collaboration with German authorities, disclosing personal data of its users to record labels.

Rapidshare was criticized among other things for the fact it had never actually made it clear for its users what kind of data it exactly collected, and for how long it would keep it.

However, the company returned to our attention, this time pleasantly surprising us: the site officially announced earlier this week that it will include from now on an "easily understandable, yet legally binding" privacy policy on each of its pages.

"What is happening to your data behind the scenes? Our support team also receives a lot of questions about data privacy, and quite a number of rumours are circulating on the internet. Therefore, we have set ourselves the goal of handling this topic as transparently as possible."

Rapidshare specifies very clear this time that while it preserves the the IP address of the uploader for each uploaded file, it doesn’t do the same with the data of any downloader using the site.

"In no case will we store information about which data has been downloaded by which IP address or Premium Account. If anyone should legally try to force us to monitor customers to such an extent, we would gladly go through all levels of jurisdiction in order to avoid that."

Still, don’t get to comfortable yet - the company is not eager to engage in legal battles to protect its uploaders data if it comes to that.

"If we are legally obliged to turn over information about the origin of a file, we will fulfill that obligation. The legal circumstances will be evaluated individually in each case. Without a legal basis, no information will be given to third parties."
DeathKnell Reviewed by DeathKnell on . Rapidshare Rehabilitates Itself - Privacy Policy Published Back in April we reported about the free file-hosting service Rapidshare’s collaboration with German authorities, disclosing personal data of its users to record labels. Rapidshare was criticized among other things for the fact it had never actually made it clear for its users what kind of data it exactly collected, and for how long it would keep it. However, the company returned to our attention, this time pleasantly surprising us: the site officially announced earlier this week that it Rating: 5