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I understand how some might think the link farms/boards are the main focal point in online piracy although it is a somewhat narrow minded view over all. If you take away the income from File Hosts and Ad networks many of the sites and link posters will disappear.
There was a poll on WJunction about the time AK started his campaign asking if people would continue to post links to content if there was no monetary reward. It should be no surprise that out of those that responded approximately 75% said they would not, many noted no money would result in not being able to pay for hosting, premium file host accounts, Remote Desktops Accounts, Rapid Leech Accounts, Content Scrapers, Etc.
AK worked to that end, by making it difficult for File Hosts to process payments for services, he created an interruption in the cash flow.
If anyone failed to see the results or the effect of his actions just take a look at the posts/comments in response to his closure post being noted on Torrent Freak and reposted on Wjunction.
A few old players in the File Hosting business have already reinstated Pay Per Download programs to encourage the return of those content thieves that you are concerned with on the big boards.
I can tell you the lack of support for AK's effort will come back to haunt many of you. No watchdog means there will be many new file hosts popping up offering quick money with high rates to attract people and the posting of infringing material will increase in an effort to grab that cash.
As noted many times in this thread by different people the current DMCA removal methods are extremely ineffective. Entire site closures are difficult and can be costly and time consuming when they are successful. That leaves very few options.
People on both sides of the equation know the validity of the results of AK's efforts.
There is no question he made an impact and he knows I am qualified to make that assessment.
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