Megaupload.com Shut Down, Founder Charged With Piracy

[YosemiteSam]

One of the world's largest file-sharing sites was shut down Thursday, and its founder and several company executives were charged with violating piracy laws, federal prosecutors said.

An indictment accuses Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to thwart online piracy.

The Justice Department said in a statement said that Kim Dotcom, formerly known as Kim Schmitz, and three other executives were arrested Thursday in New Zealand at the request of U.S. officials. Two other defendants are at large.

Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.

Complete Story

 

[bbgun]

Why is the govt doing private companies' bidding? Let them sue copyright violators in civil court.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Why is the govt doing private companies' bidding? Let them sue copyright violators in civil court.

Because lobbyists pays an ROI of 10 to 1 over other avenues of attack. Besides, why not pay someone in government to do something illegally for you since if you do it, you go to jail.

 

[StevenOtero]

Darn, there goes my premium account.

 

[casmith07]

Why is the govt doing private companies' bidding? Let them sue copyright violators in civil court.

Because piracy is a crime, and the government prosecutes federal crimes.

 

[StevenOtero]

Give em hell

http://rt.com/usa/news/anonymous-doj-universal-sopa-235/

 

[StevenOtero]

Related: http://cowboyszone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228638

 

[Dallas]

Give em hell

http://rt.com/usa/news/anonymous-doj-universal-sopa-235/

No offense Otero but supporting this is outlandish. You have no idea the damage this group has done to legit businesses around the world the past 5 years or so.

This one cool thing doesn't excuse the consistent blatant violations this group is responsible for, nor the loss of millions and millions of regular joe's CC#'s and money around the world.

I think you need to do a bit more reading about Anon before pumping sunshine because you happen to agree with them in this one instance.

 

[Duane]

No offense Otero but supporting this is outlandish. You have no idea the damage this group has done to legit businesses around the world the past 5 years or so.

This one cool thing doesn't excuse the consistent blatant violations this group is responsible for, nor the loss of millions and millions of regular joe's CC#'s and money around the world.

I think you need to do a bit more reading about Anon before pumping sunshine because you happen to agree with them in this one instance.

I think it's more about UMI taking down a MegaUpload video on YouTube that it didn't own the copyright to and basically saying they didn't care if they didn't own the copyright.

 

[StevenOtero]

No offense Otero but supporting this is outlandish. You have no idea the damage this group has done to legit businesses around the world the past 5 years or so.

This one cool thing doesn't excuse the consistent blatant violations this group is responsible for, nor the loss of millions and millions of regular joe's CC#'s and money around the world.

I think you need to do a bit more reading about Anon before pumping sunshine because you happen to agree with them in this one instance.

I should have noted that I was being sarcastic. I've done a lot of research on Anonymous, and most of the research points to them being government funded and trained.

Just another False Flag by the elite's that run the world.

 

[Staggerlee]

Because piracy is a crime, and the government prosecutes federal crimes.

Why is it criminal and not civil?

 

[bbgun]

Why is it criminal and not civil?

Probably because the nature of the "theft" crosses state lines and other boundaries. The curious thing is that copyright holders used to sue individual users on Napster and other P2P sites in civil court, winning big settlements to boot. Now the Feds do their dirty work for them.

 

[iceberg]

RIAA and MPAA have also been taken down.

cyber-warfare has started.

http://www.geek.com/articles/news/a...y-taking-down-doj-universal-records-20120119/

 

[iceberg]

Probably because the nature of the "theft" crosses state lines and other boundaries. The curious thing is that copyright holders used to sue individual users on Napster and other P2P sites in civil court, winning big settlements to boot. Now the Feds do their dirty work for them.

the entire SOPA act to me is nothing more than power and control of the internet and very little to do with stopping piracy.

 

[tupperware]

I should have noted that I was being sarcastic. I've done a lot of research on Anonymous, and most of the research points to them being government funded and trained.

Just another False Flag by the elite's that run the world.

Illuminati?

 

[iceberg]

I should have noted that I was being sarcastic. I've done a lot of research on Anonymous, and most of the research points to them being government funded and trained.

Just another False Flag by the elite's that run the world.

then this group funded by the government is taking out government sites along with several top pro-SOPA sites.

 

[tupperware]

then this group funded by the government is taking out government sites along with several top pro-SOPA sites.

A grand diversion.

 

[JonJon]

the entire SOPA act to me is nothing more than power and control of the internet and very little to do with stopping piracy.

That's the way I see it. If something doesn't change, it's only a matter of time before youtube goes down.

 

[StevenOtero]

then this group funded by the government is taking out government sites along with several top pro-SOPA sites.

Exactly, it's called a False Flag.

 

[vta]

Exactly, it's called a False Flag.

Validating the need for more oversight and control