Filed under: Internet, Video, Web services, web 2.0
Divshare for sale, is your online media safe?
TechCrunch is reporting that online media sharing site Divshare has put its domain name and web service up for sale. And this raises an important question: what happens when you upload all of your images, movies, or audio files to an online service like Divshare, YouTube, or Flickr if that site goes out of business?Right now it's not clear what the future holds for Divshare.com. The owners are obviously selling the site, which has 200,000 registered users and a few million hits a month. A smart buyer would build on Divshare's assets and expand the business, you know, if it's profitable. But it's also possible that whoever buys the company could dramatically change the business model and either delete existing user accounts and data or start charging you to access the media you've already uploaded.
Now, we're assuming you haven't been silly enough to park valuable personal data like home movies and photos online without saving backup copies. But if you've embedded Divshare content on your blog or other sites, any serious changes to the service could turn your web site into Swiss cheese.