Anyone hear about how MegaUpload got taken down?

[blace]

The site MegaUpload was taken down several days ago in the terms that the site had facilitated millions of dollars from movies and music.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-01-19/megaupload-feds-shutdown/52678528/1

Another thing I'm hearing about is that they'll target individuals from the UK for any kind of afiliation or links to certain music of movies.

Since I'm posting this from my phone, I'll just leave at that for now.

[BIG OLAF]

Yes, and Anonymous' counterattack on several websites, including the film and music industries, and the DOJ.

[Sayara]

If Sopa and those other things were out to stop these kind of piracy issues that'd be OK in my mind.

Sure it sucks, but Megaupload for its most uses was totally illegal.

[blace]

I'm not arguing with that, but there was an article I read about a college student in the UK being extradited for having a few links on his site linking to music/movies. In the article I posted, they're not targeting users, but others say otherwise.

If you haven't infringed on copyright laws, you're safe, if not then you may be the next in line to pay a hefty $150,000 in fees.

[BIG OLAF]

Well, SOPA (and PIPA) was pretty much going in under the guise of "anti-piracy", but would have ultimately been used to suppress internet usage and free exchange of information.

[Sinue_v2]

See, now if only the webmasters of MegaUpload had converted to Kopimism, then this move would have been considered religious persecution. Well, in Sweden anyhow. If they can get a church established in the US, then the establishment clause arguments would be epic.

Yeah, it's a tissue-paper excuse to use a non-relevant law as a means to protect piracy... but fuck it, if Scientology can be considered a religion, then anything is possible (with enough money).

[Randomness]

but fuck it, if Scientology can be considered a religion, then anything is possible (with enough money).

Yeah, this is just SAD.

[joefro]

The whole Megaupload ordeal makes me wonder why SOPA/PIPA/whatever the fuck comes next even matters? The government will obviously take down whatever it wants to take down, so why were these bills ever even considered? They aren't needed.

I just honestly think that there are much bigger issues in the world right now than piracy. It's always been around and it will always be around. The only way to lessen it is to offer users an easier way to receive content, like Steam and iTunes. People are much more willing to pay for something if it's easier than pirating.

[Slidikins]

MegaUpload was taken down for several reasons not pertaining to SOPA/PIPA. If you read the indictment, you'll realize that the move was the result of a year-long investigation that revealed that MegaUpload knowingly kept copyrighted material on their servers, chose not to delete them when asked (via DMCA) and actually downloaded the copyrighted material onto their personal computers for viewing.

Furthermore, they made millions of dollars via advertisement, rewarded users who uploaded said copyrighted content, and all around acted like a crime ring. As much as we liked MegaUpload, it was a conspiracy and was shut down as such via due process.

SOPA/PIPA is terrible. The new ACTA is worse, but MegaUpload has nothing to do with both. It had to do with criminals knowingly making a profit on crime.


I'm not a law expert, but I've read all 72 pages of the Indictment against the owners and operators of MegaUpload. (Click here to read it yourself (http://www.scribd.com/doc/78786408/Mega-Indictment)).
This investigation has been going on for MORE THAN A YEAR, and likewise the New Zealand authorities have known about it since early 2011. These guys were indicted on the 5th of January, well before the SOPA protests. I do not believe in the COURT presuming guilt before the trial, but let's actually take a look at what's going on here!
The problem they're facing is that they stored UNITED STATES copyrighted material on servers in the UNITED STATES. The indictment cites 39 full length movies they found on the 525 servers in Virginia which they DMCA'd and only 3 of the 39 files were removed before the Indictment. From there they were able to prove that the Megaupload content storage would only store each unique file ONCE, and then create multiple LINKS to that file on subsequent uploads. On a DMCA notice Megaupload would only delete the LINK and not the FILE, leaving copyrighted works on their servers with other links active. If they had just stored each file separately it would have been a lot harder to prosecute this case in my opinion.
They also have a ton of emails obtained through further search warrants, yes they can do that if they have decent proof you're doing illegal things (Just like how they can get your phone records if they have proof that you're drug dealing). The Defendants were openly discussing the copyright infringements of uploaders that they were paying money to in their reward program. They also have several emails from the Defendants to the CTO asking him to search the MU Database for specific links to copyrighted works so they could download them for their personal use.
They are using this to build a case that they obviously knew what they were doing and conspired quite deliberately to make millions of dollars from copyrighted works. I'm pretty sure no one can stick to the 'they didn't know' argument if you read the evidence that was set forth.
These guys are able to be legally extradited due to severity and nature of their alleged crimes. If I were to run a similar site in Germany and made $100 million on advertising by rehosting German copyrighted works, they would be able to extradite me from America for trial.
Also for a good laugh check out the set of property subject to forfeiture after all the Criminal Counts. Not just the $175 million they're looking for, but all of the cars, statues, and 108" LCD TV's.
But please please please, start reading the actual cases before jumping to conclusions.

[Zantra]

I still wonder how long it will take for them to shutdown bittorrent. It worries me, as I use it to download things legitimately.

[Akaimizu]

Not sure. A few other sites also followed after Megaupload. That is, they now deny service to US.

[Mystil]

Stupid country ~_~..and I live in it.

[yoshiblue]

Every country have their dumb moments. This is just another one of ours.