MegaUpload Users Plan to Sue the FBI over Lost Files

[YosemiteSam]

MegaUpload Users Plan to Sue the FBI over Lost Files

hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people used the site to share research data, work documents, personal video collections.

As of today, these people are still unsure whether they will ever get their personal belongings back.

In a response, Pirate Parties worldwide have started to make a list of all the people affected by the raids, and they are planning to file an official complaint against the US authorities.

“The widespread damage caused by the sudden closure of Megaupload is unjustified and completely disproportionate to the aim intended,” they announce.

“For this reason Pirates of Catalonia, in collaboration with Pirate Parties International and other Pirate Parties, have begun investigating these potential breaches of law and will facilitate submission of complaints against the US authorities in as many countries as possible, to ensure a positive and just result.”

“This initiative is a starting point for legitimate internet users to help defend themselves from the legal abuses promoted by those wishing to aggressively lock away cultural materials for their own financial gain.”

Complete Story

 

[Yeagermeister]

Good luck with that

 

[Hoofbite]

People who used the site legitimately should have never lost their files.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

People who used the site legitimately should have never lost their files.

People who are using it for work related material don't seem too legit to me, at the very least they seem pretty stupid using a site that is a known pirate site...it probably does not help their case that two businesses that are filing the suit have PIRATE in their name, using a pirated site and want to claim about legit business files being lost.

As someone else said...good luck with that.

 

[Hoofbite]

People who are using it for work related material don't seem too legit to me, at the very least they seem pretty stupid using a site that is a known pirate site...it probably does not help their case that two businesses that are filing the suit have PIRATE in their name, using a pirated site and want to claim about legit business files being lost.

As someone else said...good luck with that.

Stupid or not, anyone who used the site legally shouldn't lose anything.

I downloaded stuff from there. I think I uploaded a movie clip from a vacation so a friend who went with me could have the clip. I've even uploaded stuff to that site that was school-related.

Why should anyone care what other people do on a site if they are using it legally?

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Stupid or not, anyone who used the site legally shouldn't lose anything.

I downloaded stuff from there. I think I uploaded a movie clip from a vacation so a friend who went with me could have the clip. I've even uploaded stuff to that site that was school-related.

Why should anyone care what other people do on a site if they are using it legally?

Uh...maybe they would care if they are smart and don't want to lose legit files that are being stored on a site that is known for storing illegal files and could run a high risk of being shut down.

If my car needed body work on it, I would not take it to a shop that is mostly known to be a chop shop.

If I needed to board my dog for the weekend I would not send it to some place that is mostly known for having dog fights.

If I wanted to take the wife out for a night on the town I would not take her to a bar that is known for high drug traffic and bar fights.

If I wanted to store personal or business files I would not put them on site that is mostly known for piracy.

If I wanted to take the wife out shopping for jewelry, I would not take her to a store that is known for mostly selling stolen jewelry.

But I am kind of silly like that.

 

[YosemiteSam]

People who are using it for work related material don't seem too legit to me, at the very least they seem pretty stupid using a site that is a known pirate site...it probably does not help their case that two businesses that are filing the suit have PIRATE in their name, using a pirated site and want to claim about legit business files being lost.

As someone else said...good luck with that.

Actually, these types of sites are heavily used by legit companies to transfer large files between people / locations. (large media, data sets, etc) When these types of sites first started appearing, they were created and used for legit purposes. Pirates saw that they could exploit the service, and did so.

Remember, early on. People didn't have 5mb connections to their house or work. Not only that, upload speeds were choked, while download speeds were faster. So direct sharing wasn't always possible. (ie, FTP, etc) Most email providers wouldn't allow attachments over 2-10mb either. Some still don't.

 

[theogt]

I don't pirate much material anymore, if any. I've used megaupload legitimately. I knew people used it to pirate just like any other similar site. I don't think it had any particular reputation different from other similar site -- it was just one of the most popular. I don't think there's any real argument here that this should have been done such that legit users were not harmed. The "should have known better" argument just doesn't pass the smell test here.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

I don't pirate much material anymore, if any. I've used megaupload legitimately. I knew people used it to pirate just like any other similar site. I don't think it had any particular reputation different from other similar site -- it was just one of the most popular. I don't think there's any real argument here that this should have been done such that legit users were not harmed. The "should have known better" argument just doesn't pass the smell test here.

Well I guess being dumb is not against the law.

Maybe we can change the old saying of a fool and his money are soon parted to a fool and his files are soon parted. :laugh2:

 

[YosemiteSam]

Uh...maybe they would care if they are smart and don't want to lose legit files

Umm, no. Nobody has to right to take your legit files just because someone you don't know is doing something they shouldn't.

These people have a valid complaint and the FBI or whoever else should have thought about this already. They can't legally confiscate information that isn't theirs and not illegal and keep it.

This is the MPAA paying government officials to do stuff they shouldn't. The MPAA needs to get their ***es handed to them. People should go to jail for corruption too.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Umm, no. Nobody has to right to take your legit files just because someone you don't know is doing something they shouldn't.

These people have a valid complaint and the FBI or whoever else should have thought about this already. They can't legally confiscate information that isn't theirs and not illegal and keep it.

This is the MPAA paying government officials to do stuff they shouldn't. The MPAA needs to get their ***es handed to them. People should go to jail for corruption too.

Sure they can. Does not mean they can keep them or destroy them. But they can shut a site down while doing and investigation and say it is all evidence and take their time sifting through everything.

People on here like to talk about personal responsibility but it seems it only comes into play when it fits their side of the arguments.

If you are stupid enough to use a site for legit files that is known far and wide as a site that is widely used for illegal content...you run the risk of that site being shut down. If you were smart and responsible in the first place you would never use that site for important business files.

And if they use the RICO act they can do pretty much what they want with the stuff on there.

I don't support the RICO act but it has wide powers. People can lose pretty much everything from the get go when it is used.

Sorry...I just don't feel sorry for people that lost stuff on there because I think if something is that important you would not put it on a site that is mostly known to be used by pirates and uploading/downloading illegal material.

Sue me.:laugh2:

 

[tupperware]

What if the files weren't business related? I'd agree that it probably isn't wise to rely on megaupload for your critical files. But what if they weren't so critical. Is it still okay to lose those files forever?

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

What if the files weren't business related? I'd agree that it probably isn't wise to rely on megaupload for your critical files. But what if they weren't so critical. Is it still okay to lose those files forever?

Never said it was OK to lose those files forever. Never said I liked the idea of it.

I just said it is stupid for people to put them on there if it were legit and important to them or business and that I don't feel sorry for them.

I am sure my stance will be misunderstood, misconstrued, multilated,(oxford comma) and taking out of context to make it seem like I am on the side of the FBI over this issue...when that is not the case.

 

[Khartun]

Never said it was OK to lose those files forever. Never said I liked the idea of it.

I just said it is stupid for people to put them on there if it were legit and important to them or business and that I don't feel sorry for them.

I am sure my stance will be misunderstood, misconstrued, multilated,(oxford comma) and taking out of context to make it seem like I am on the side of the FBI over this issue...when that is not the case.

:laugh1:

 

[tupperware]

Never said it was OK to lose those files forever. Never said I liked the idea of it.

I just said it is stupid for people to put them on there if it were legit and important to them or business and that I don't feel sorry for them.

I am sure my stance will be misunderstood, misconstrued, multilated,(oxford comma) and taking out of context to make it seem like I am on the side of the FBI over this issue...when that is not the case.

I'm not even sure what your stance is. If you think people are stupid for hosting business files on the site I would agree with that. It still doesn't address the fact that it's wrong. It seems like your stance was that, those who uploaded the business files don't seem too legit and are stupid for it. Therefore, they don't deserve their files back.

That's what I got from it at least.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Sure they can. Does not mean they can keep them or destroy them. But they can shut a site down while doing and investigation and say it is all evidence and take their time sifting through everything.

Hmm. Actually, I'm not sure they have the right to search private parties information stores. This would be like getting a warrant against a self-storage company and then using to search all their customers storage for criminal paraphernalia. Any information they find in someones storage that wasn't directly named on the warrant probably wouldn't be admissible in court. Each storage unit is considered personal property of the person who holds the lease on it and should require a warrant to search that person's property. The same would go for data stores on a server.

I'm obviously not a lawyer, but this sounds correct.

If you are stupid enough to use a site for legit files that is known far and wide as a site that is widely used for illegal content...you run the risk of that site being shut down. If you were smart and responsible in the first place you would never use that site for important business files.

Again, a self-storage unit would not work that way. The site would be ceased, but they would have to return everything to anyone not named on the warrant and couldn't use anything against them.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

I'm not even sure what your stance is. If you think people are stupid for hosting business files on the site I would agree with that. It still doesn't address the fact that it's wrong. It seems like your stance was that, those who uploaded the business files don't seem too legit and are stupid for it. Therefore, they don't deserve their files back.

That's what I got from it at least.

I don't think they are legit because they are stupid for doing it. Does not mean I don't think they should get their files back.

I would never put any business files on a site that is known to be widely used for piracy. IF I did and the site was shut down and the files I uploaded were important and sensitive documents I would expect I would be fired for uploading them to a site like that in the first place.

There are other ways to backup important business files. There are other ways to transfer important business files to someone else.

 

[Dallas]

You guys argue more just to argue. The USA has the right to shut this place down if they have valid proof it is involved in these illegal activites. The good folks will get filtered out.

Also..legit enterprise businesses should have either SFTP or FTPS server in place for these purposes, hell I have a couple of them for my customers alone. Why on earth you want your sensitive data involved in an offsite drop box location where you have ZERO control once archive bits have been applied. You want to delete it? Ok it's gone from your file manager view but I STILL HAVE IT IN MY archive snapshots. At SOA we are not allowed to keep data externally unless it is non sensitive data. Whoa to the user who is caught doing it, actually.

If you need access to my files legitamately, then you CALL ME and you ask me and I set you up a valid authenticated account, which I can audit at my leisure. You then use that to come inside my house to get your files.

Far more is involved in this than most realize.

I used to handle IT services for litigation @ BP Alaska. This was normal SOP for the DOJ. They show up w/ court order for 300 users HDs and we seized them and then we would do audits on all of them searching for the suspected smoking gun emails, which we typically found. This sometimes took months, sometimes a year or more, its normal. It will all get sorted out in the end. The bad accounts and there will be millions will be seized and the legitimate users will have his/her information back. It's actually easier w/ MU because everyone has an actual account. Validation will most likely take a while, because they are after the big fish here. The little valid fish will get left out in the cold for a while, but the information will be provided back to the customers, just not in the time frame they probably are hoping for.

Sucks...yes...but its pretty SOP and I have no sympathy for any souls using a well known point-click download site for piracy files to have his/her "research" data associated with.

Maybe they should have read more about the giant site in the 1st place.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I don't think they are legit because they are stupid for doing it. Does not mean I don't think they should get their files back.

I would never put any business files on a site that is known to be widely used for piracy. IF I did and the site was shut down and the files I uploaded were important and sensitive documents I would expect I would be fired for uploading them to a site like that in the first place.

There are other ways to backup important business files. There are other ways to transfer important business files to someone else.

What file sharing site would you use that you know 100% isn't used for piracy?

btw, they aren't just used for backup. Media companies share large files like videos or hi-res images. People transfer large databases of information. Especially scientists and education facilities can transfer data files that reach terabytes in size.

I used to work for a marketing company. We normally transferred 20 to 150 files a day that were 300mb to 2gb compressed in size.

We had to have five Internet different connections in our office just to handle the bandwidth we used transferring files to our customers each day. (We had a pair of Fatpipe WARPs, to manage all of them) Most of these file sharing companies didn't even exist when we started that.

 

[YosemiteSam]

You know nothing Dallas Snow. :laugh2: