Feds shut down Megaupload

[jessamineny]

From The Associated Press:

Federal prosecutors in Virginia have shut down one of the world's largest file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, and charged its founder and others with violating piracy laws

The indictment accuses the company of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content.

The indictment was unsealed Thursday, one day after websites shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to thwart the online piracy of copyrighted movies and TV programs.

Megaupload.com has claimed it is diligent in responding to complaints about pirated material.

The indictment says at one point,Megaupload was the 13th most popular website in the world.


And here's a wsj story: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...611948408.html

[Leviathant]

Extradited from New Zealand at the request of the United States, eh? Who needs SOPA. On that note, the timing couldn't have been much better. Awareness about this sort of thing is clearly heightened. I can't really see this seizure and closure as being helpful to the SOPA/PIPA cause.

[frankie teardrop]

i could see that going either way, levi. sure, it'll piss off a lot of people and bring heavy awareness to the issues, but megaupload's successful shutdown could lead to further attempts and legislation.

[october_midnight]

Anonymous attacks the Dept. of Justice website in retaliation.

Shit is getting mad real.

[theruiner]

They hit Universal Music's website, too.

[slave2thewage]

Bomb the DoJ.

[Lutz]

Sad face, Megaupload had a great variety of really rare films that I could never find on torrents, since studios aren't even releasing these things anymore it's terribly sad that they won't be available.

[aggroculture]

Good point. So much stuff out there is not even available to buy.

[theruiner]

Apparently Anonymous hit the RIAA and MPAA, too.

[october_midnight]

Yeah they're goin' hard.

@AnonOps WE ARE THE 99% - WE ARE #ANONYMOUS - YOU SHOULD HAVE EXPECTED US! #Megaupload

[thevoid99]

Megaupload ruled. Without it, I wouldn't be able to download anything I desired that I couldn't find in stores. Damn you government!

[NIN64]

I just found this on imgur. I really hope this shit catches on.

[theruiner]

Anonymous is now saying they've hit the FBI and Warner Music Group.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

How is this not on the news anywhere? I'll bring it up to my friends to talk about the topic and they are all "Huh?", or "O yea... what about it". Glad to see some action being taken for those of us that cannot make these retaliations happen. Keep it up! And I caught Chris Dodd on the news last night.... what a douche.

[The Reason Being]

I just found this on imgur. I really hope this shit catches on.

I shared this on tumblr and got mixed reactions -

"Not buying anything in the stores? That is stupid. You’d be affecting REAL jobs. I work in an entertainment store and if people take part in this and stop coming in and buying films or renting films, I could lose my job and so would many many others. This is NOT the right way to object.
You won’t just be affecting the corporate side of the industry, but all the ripples of that industry."

[Wretchedest]

I just found this on imgur. I really hope this shit catches on.

Theyre aiming too high.. a whole month is unrealistic. One day is unrealistic but at least i could see that maybe happening...

[sadpanda]

ohnoez internetz

[Iran_Ed]

Theyre aiming too high.. a whole month is unrealistic. One day is unrealistic but at least i could see that maybe happening...

How is one day unrealistic? I mean sure it depends on the person, but could you personally go a day without doing any of those things? I could go a whole month without any of those.
I haven't gone to a cinema in over a year, and before that it was back in 2009.
I haven't bought a DVD or Blu-ray since most likely September.
A video game in almost over a month.
Maybe that's just me, but I'd be interested to see what people could do if they just tried.

[gorast]

I shared this on tumblr and got mixed reactions -

"Not buying anything in the stores? That is stupid. You’d be affecting REAL jobs. I work in an entertainment store and if people take part in this and stop coming in and buying films or renting films, I could lose my job and so would many many others. This is NOT the right way to object.
You won’t just be affecting the corporate side of the industry, but all the ripples of that industry."

I think people need to be less than indiscriminate with it. If you want to do this, then do it in regards to big corporate chain stores and not small local shops. The small businesses aren't the ones to blame.

[novacide]

I just found this on imgur. I really hope this shit catches on.

I like this idea.

[Elke]

I shared this on tumblr and got mixed reactions -

"Not buying anything in the stores? That is stupid. You’d be affecting REAL jobs. I work in an entertainment store and if people take part in this and stop coming in and buying films or renting films, I could lose my job and so would many many others. This is NOT the right way to object.
You won’t just be affecting the corporate side of the industry, but all the ripples of that industry."

I don't know, it just seems like a strike to me. Only instead of workers striking for better work conditions, it's consumers striking for better consumer conditions. Yes, the industry will suffer - that's the point of a strike, isn't it? Of course I'm from a proto-marxist hellhole (or so the Republican candidates would have you believe) but ever since our new government got into action in December, we've had two national strikes and a couple of industry-based ones, and we're looking at another national strike at the end of the month. It's how you make a change.

[Alexandros]

Because I'm sort of uninformed as to what exactly the operating principles of file sharing sites are, could someone tell me what is the defence for a site like Megaupload (or thepiratebay etc.)? I mean, on a purely legal basis, how can they (or anyone) protest against their shutting down?

[WorzelG]

I remember reading somewhere that freelancers who have to send large files rely on sites like this, email doesn't allow you to send anything more than about 25mb - I think I read it on Techdirt

Here is Chris Dodd of the MPAA being a twat and trying to make it sound like America versus the World when he doesn't realise how much the Internet is breaking down those barriers

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr...-google-283289

[Jinsai]

Let's go a month boycotting books? What mad misdirected shit is this?

And music? Who do you think is the demographic that might be swayed by this boycott, and what do you honestly think the industry response is going to be? "Sir, it appears that adults have stopped buying music and reading books, but the new Justin Bieber single is still selling well, and it seems that there's been no decrease in demand for the Twilight books. What's our next move?"

[Carpathian Psychonaut]

Nicely spotted. That puts a whole different flavour on it.

Ouch.

[Deus Ex Machina]

I don't know, it just seems like a strike to me. Only instead of workers striking for better work conditions, it's consumers striking for better consumer conditions. Yes, the industry will suffer - that's the point of a strike, isn't it?

I think the concern is that this isn't a strike at all, but a new habit people are going to continue regardless. Under what conditions would the public be willing to stop downloading illegally?

[DigitalChaos]

grandpa unplugged the phone line again because you damn kids were up all night making a ruckus

[Elke]

Under what conditions would the public be willing to stop downloading illegally?

None. And they never have. As long as there was the possibility for copying, it existed. Just think of our old cassette tapes. Before that, entire portions of books and plays were copied. Painters copied eachother's works to the very detail. (Our museums are literally littered with very high quality rip-offs and copies of originals.) And since there was no copyright, very little could be done against the practice - if and when people thought anything about it.

I'm not saying pirating is morally right, it's not, it's theft. But on the other hand: most of my friends would never have bought CD's by NIN or David Gray or a host of other bands if I hadn't made them absolutely illegal mix-tapes. And yes, I stream a lot of US series, because if I have to wait for them to be aired or released in a format that I can use, the spoilers will have killed it for me. But I always buy the DVD box anyway, so in the end I pay for my stuff.

There's something incredibly wrong with a culture that think's it's okay to rip songs off YouTube clips because the artists are rich enough. But there's also something incredibly wrong with an industry that has attempted absolutely nothing at changing its business model (speaking on the whole, there are obviously small attempts here and there) but consists 30% out of lawyers and legal research departments.

I don't think there are any easy solutions here, and a strike obviously isn't it either. But it would send a powerful signal, and it's a legitimate means of making your objections or worries known.

[mfte]

Read this

WE READ THE MEGAUPLOAD INDICTMENT PAPERS SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO

http://www.vice.com/read/we-read-the...on-t-have-to-1

[YKWYA]

If you've got the time to, you should read through the FBI indictment before jumping to a conclusion that this is the government gone mad.

What concerns me is at the moment they seem to be saying that Megaupload are a particularly bad example (Flash cars etc) group of copyright violators. But what about Youtube? Or any other site of the same ilk? Are they going to shut down every site thats violates copyright? Or just the ones making revenue off of it? Hang on, how about youtube ad revenue?

Then comes the reality of people being so scared of legal action that it stifles sharing anywhere. No due process, just the threat of legal action. Which generally means Lawyers coining it for writing really expansive statements of case, racking up costs, and forcing the other side to settle, rather than fight, all BECAUSE of the costs. There is no argument behind what the government is doing, at the behest of Media industry lobbying than they want it to be 1984 all over again. Where they control the means of production, the distribution, the point of sale. We consume what they give us, when they give us it. Thats it.

Even with the advent of Netflix, we still have the bullshit regional restrictions. Over the last few weeks I got into buying NFL Gamepass. The interface is really cool. I can skip between games, keep up on stats etc. I can watch it anywhere I want on my laptop. Im looking forward to watching the play-offs. Ah, but, the playoffs are 'blacked out in the UK'! But the games 'will be available sir in 6 days in the game archive'. They will be on the Piratebay tommorrow afternoon. I tried to give the NFL my money. So what am I going to do? Steal a live stream. Because I can.

The media companies have only themselves to blame.

A pretty good talk on SOPA here: