Convert RapidPoints Into Traffic: More Spam Than Ever???

Yesterday, Rapidshare announced a new feature: premium users will now be able to convert RapidPoints into additional traffic! If a premium user has reached his daily download limit, he can convert each of his RapidPoints into 15 MB of downloadable capacity.

Users accumulate RapidPoints when a file uploaded by them gets a ‘hit’ i.e. each download of the file gives one point. Previously, these RapidPoints could be redeemed for premium accounts (10000 points for an account!) which encouraged a lot of spam on the internet. Spammers and premium-wannabes took to creating dummy files claiming them to be rapidshare passwords, hacks, working accounts etc. and bombarded blogs and forums with these files, hoping to accumulate rapidpoints. Now, this new ‘feature’ from rapidshare is bound to unleash new waves of spam attacks, with premiums joining the spammer bandwagon. The timing of this feature is highly questionable; a few days ago, rapidshare cut down on premium download capacity from 10 GB/day to 5 GB/day, upsetting its premium members. This new feature might be intended to appease them, while subtly encouraging them to spam.