MegaUpload shutdown resulted in web traffic drop
Friday, January 27, 2012
Follow the traffic: What MegaUpload's downfall did to the web [GigaOM]
On January 19, the FBI raided the offices of the file sharing site MegaUpload, arresting four officers including the CEO. The company behind the site is being indicted for criminal copyright infringement and racketeering. Prior to the raid, MegaUpload was notorious for being a source for pirated television shows and movies.
As part of the FBI raid, the site was shut down. GigaOM turned to a few companies that monitor Internet traffic loads to get a glimpse of the effect the MegaUpload shutdown. Arbor Networks saw significant drops in traffic in Europe immediately following the MegaUpload shutdown (roughly 2 p.m. Eastern), and fairly significant, although less drastic, drops in the U.S.
Sandvine also shared data that suggested MegaUpload had become one of the more popular content sharing sites on the web. According to Sandvine, just under 1 percent of all web traffic in the U.S. was from MegaUpload. This was far and away the highest percentage among "storage and back-up services." Second on the list was 4Shared, which provided only .08% of all traffic.



