I've never been able to understand the legality of Scribd. Apart from the reputability of YC and the focus on written documents, what makes them different from other file sharing sites?
The only way scribd can be used illegally is by uploading pirated ebooks. I maybe wrong but I think the amount of illegal content is very less there, and they try to filter them out. However other file sharing website, like rapidshare or megaupload had almost every pirated stuff you can think of.
I have to say my experience is the opposite - it's incredible the range of "pirated" books on scribd, plenty that just aren't torrentable outside of private trackers etc.
You must be right then. I'm not much of a scribd user. Legal troubles many times comes as surprise and I might be wrong again here, but usually music/movie industry are quicker when it comes to filing suits against websites.
I was tried to phrase my question so as to side-step that issue. While there is nothing inherently illegal about a file sharing site, many of them host content that is in violation of copyright laws.
My question (genuine) was whether there was anything different about Scribd that has kept them free of legal hassles. My outside impression is that they are just as legal/illegal as Megaupload, RapidShare, 4Shared, but are lower profile because they host don't host music or video.
