Technically Responsible

The shut down of Megaupload raises tough questions that have gone unanswered for years. Should a content delivery system be held responsible for illegal content being uploaded by their users? Now in this case its obvious that Megaupload participated in the spreading of illegal content. But what about a site like YouTube? What if Megaupload was paying another company to host their servers? Should the hosting company be held responsible too? The tech community dreams of a world where you cannot be held directly responsible for content posted to your site or for misuse of your services (one of the many points of opposition to SOPA and PIPA). But that philosophy of turning a blind eye leads to chaos, just like it did in the housing market. As the world continues to become more connected, we should not become less aware. No, we should become more aware, just as we did with the onslaught of spam and phishing scandals.