[the_conductor]

Founders of Megaupload busted. Didn't know Uncle Sam could reach that far even today. Hopefully SOPA does not get passed

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/...52678528/1

[MiXX]

Not just New Zealand, a UK citizen just lost a case, and is to be extradited to USA for copyright infringement on his website too.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/c...to-US.html


Nobody is safe from Uncle Sam when he does not get his $$$.

Mixx

[Excelsior]

Eventually, the old men who run the big players in the entertainment industry going to learn to stop wasting money lobbying the government and realize this is a battle they'll never win. They're obviously still making tremendous amounts of money, so at some point they'll realize that simply biting the bullet is the best option. You can take Megaupload or any site down and a new one will appear within 48hrs-I guarantee that megaupload's void will be filled within a week (and it has hundreds of viable alternatives/peers already anyway).

The internet is the only place where the masses win, there is just nothing the government or these corporations can do besides wasting tax dollars and their own money. Even if SOPA were to go through, all of the "illegal" activity we deal with now would continue underground, beneath the surface web (as has been done in Iran and China already), and business as usual would continue. There is no stopping the internet.

[WanderingSoul]

I feel bad for the employees of Megaupload who have been charged and arrested. Might end up doing years in the pen for a company they didn't even own.

[MiXX]

(01-20-2012 01:14 PM)RioNomad Wrote:  

I feel bad for the employees of Megaupload who have been charged and arrested. Might end up doing years in the pen for a company they didn't even own.

Just playing devil's advocate, but the employees knew what their employer did was illegal, and would eventually explode. I would not be surprised if employees themselves downloaded movies music for their personal benefit.


If you were a bodyguard/security at a local whore-house, or even strip club, would you not indulge in free pussy once in a awhile as part of your benefits package?


Mixx

[Hencredible Casanova]

(01-20-2012 01:09 PM)Athlone McGinnis Wrote:  

Eventually, the old men who run the big players in the entertainment industry going to learn to stop wasting money lobbying the government and realize this is a battle they'll never win. They're obviously still making tremendous amounts of money, so at some point they'll realize that simply biting the bullet is the best option. You can take Megaupload or any site down and a new one will appear within 48hrs-I guarantee that megaupload's void will be filled within a week (and it has hundreds of viable alternatives/peers already anyway).

The internet is the only place where the masses win, there is just nothing the government or these corporations can do besides wasting tax dollars and their own money. Even if SOPA were to go through, all of the "illegal" activity we deal with now would continue underground, beneath the surface web (as has been done in Iran and China already), and business as usual would continue. There is no stopping the internet.

Man, that Hollywood lobby, Wall Street lobby (corporate lobby in general) do not play around when it comes to their cash flows.

This is very telling that the feds have pulled all stops to arrest a handful of guys halfway around the world for copyright infringement, yet so many "banksters" who robbed the world still roam around among us scot-free.

[Gmac]

http://www.stealthisfilm.com/Part2/download.php

This explains pretty much everything.

[canucktraveller]

From what I understand, this isn't just a case of a public file sharing site being randomly shut down.

-The owners of the site exchanged emails with each other outlining their desire to use the site to collect pirated property for their own enjoyment
-They received multiple DRM warnings and instead of removing the file they got rid of the public link but kept the files on their server.
-They offered cash rewards to members who uploaded the most pirated material
-They made millions of dollars off their site providing illegal material

Part of the reason that the US was able to extradite them was because they had servers in the US.




This isn't a case where an innocent file sharing site like reddit, youtube etc was shut down. They realized they could make a ton of money hosting illegal material and had no desire to police their site.







Now I don't know where this leads, but if it is a one off situation, I have no problem with megaupload being shut down (even though I used the site). If the US gov starts pushing their boundaries then this could go down hill fast.





On another note, I had no idea Swizz beatz was the CEO of megaupload, I wonder if he was involved

[Tail Gunner]

(01-22-2012 01:52 PM)canucktraveller Wrote:  

Part of the reason that the US was able to extradite them was because they had servers in the US.

There is a big lesson here for those who value their privacy. Never have a bank account, a business, an email system, a server, or anything else that you wish kept private in a Big Brother jurisdiction. Ideally, keep these things in multiple jurisdictions that value privacy.

[the_conductor]

Another 3 cyber lockers (fileserve, filesonic, uploaded.to) bite the dust...
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/...52760484/1

[MiXX]

So what happens to the criminals in wall street who stole billions from American Taxpayers?

When is the FBI going after them? I doubt I'll se a headline on TMZ anytime soon on how FBI shutdown Walmart for their dead peasant policies, or Goldman Sachs!

Mixx

[Excelsior]

An interesting take on this that I found online, written in wake of other filehosters following megauploads lead.

Quote:

uJonesing 5 hours ago
Good morning, class. Today's lesson will be about Internet behaviour.

Cause: In an effort to curb piracy, Napster gets shut down by MAFIAA (MPAA and RIAA).
Effect: WinMX, LimeWire, Kazaa, Shareaza, Azure, and many other P2P apps gain popularity. P2P use increases exponentially.

Cause: In an effort to curb piracy, MAFIAA and other media industry elements place fake and/or virus-infested files WinMX, LimeWire, Kazaa, Shareaza, Azure, and many other P2P apps. In some cases, MAFIAA manages to shut down some of these apps.
Effect: Increased awareness and use of the new kid on the block, BitTorrent. P2P use increases exponentially.

Cause: In an effort to curb piracy, MAFIAA begins tracking indexed .torrent files.
Effect: Increased awareness and use of magnet links. P2P use increases exponentially.

Cause: In an effort to curb piracy, MAFIAA begins attempting to log IP addresses of those connected tot he BitTorrent network.
Effect: Increased awareness and use of anonymity agents like Tor, VPN services, and and public/hacked WiFi hotspots. Cyberlockers see a major uptick in use. In addition, awareness and use of Sneakernets and USB Dead Drops increases. P2P use increases exponentially.

POP QUIZ, STUDENTS!

Question #1: What is the definition of insanity?
Answer: _______________________________