File sharing service Rapidshare has made the move to start closing the accounts of users found to be illegally downloading copyrighted content, and logging the offenders’ IP addresses ‘for legal purposes.’

It's hard to think what else Rapidshare is actually used for... sadly.

Apparently ambivalent to just what kind of content was being uploaded, Rapidshare has long been a haven for illegal file sharers, its relatively fast speeds allowing for sharing of small to medium files with a minimum of hassle, and avoiding the issues that rarer files encounter on torrent sites by being constantly available. Indeed, according to TorrentFreak, Rapidshare has managed to climb swiftly, becoming one of the top fifty most used websites on earth.

Of course, this means that Rapidshare is something of a large target for copyright infringement cases, especially since so very much illegal content can be found by simple searching the site itself… or by simply throwing search terms into Google that include the name of a movie and the word “rapidshare.” Still, Rapidshare itself had borne the brunt of the legal proceedings, including losing a case against copyright holders last week that saw the service ordered to actively filter its own content to remove a number of books that were seeing some heavy duty piracy indeed, chief among them, college textbooks.

Now though, Rapidshare is moving towards being a little more heavy-handed on its own users found to be sharing illegal content, rather than just taking the hit itself. Those users who are found to be engaging in illegal file sharing, with Rapidshare as their medium, may well find that that their fee-based account has been terminated, while their IP address has been noted for future reference.

If nothing else, it seems as though Rapidshare is becoming that bit less friendly to those using its service to download illegally. The real question then becomes… just what will Rapidshares many illegal users start using the service for? Or will they simply leave it in droves?