Megaupload shutdown

2012-01-19 18:20:08

#1

Ilocano: buuuurrrrrrppppp.......; +341|6906

http://money.msn.com/business-news/arti … =ansmony11

Popular file-sharing website Megaupload shut down

McLEAN, Va. (AP) - One of the world's most popular file-sharing sites was shuttered Thursday, and its founder and several company officials were accused of facilitating millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content.

An indictment accused Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue. The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to make it easier for authorities to go after websites with pirated material, especially those with overseas headquarters and servers.

Megaupload is based in Hong Kong, but some of the alleged pirated content was hosted on leased servers in Ashburn, Va., which gave federal authorities jurisdiction, the indictment said.

The Justice Department said in a statement said that Kim Dotcom, 37, and three other employees were arrested Thursday in New Zealand at the request of U.S. officials. Three other defendants are at large.

...

Dotcom had his name legally changed. He was previously known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor. He is founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer of Megaupload.

Officials estimated it could be a year or more before Dotcom and the others arrested in New Zealand are formally extradited.

The others arrested were Finn Batato, 38, a citizen and resident of Germany, the company's chief marketing officer; Mathias Ortmann, 40, a citizen of Germany and resident of both Germany and Hong Kong, who is the chief technical officer, co-founder and director; and Bram van der Kolk, aka Bramos, 29, a Dutch citizen and resident of both the Netherlands and New Zealand, who oversees programming.

Still at large are Julius Bencko, 35, a citizen and resident of Slovakia, the site's graphic designer; Sven Echternach, 39, a citizen and resident of Germany, head of business development; and Andrus Nomm, 32, a citizen of Estonia and resident of both Turkey and Estonia, head of the development software division.

But what I found curious:

The company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO. He was not named in the indictment and declined to comment through a representative.

2012-01-19 18:22:54

#2

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5597|London, England

Were they supposed to go through every single document uploaded and test them for copyright infringement? What a stupid case.

"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat

2012-01-19 18:23:48

#3

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5418|Sydney

There's already a thread about SOPA...

2012-01-19 18:24:06

#4

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5597|London, England

Jaekus wrote:
There's already a thread about SOPA...

Has nothing to do with SOPA.

"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat

2012-01-19 18:29:43

#5

Ilocano: buuuurrrrrrppppp.......; +341|6906

I did bring it up on the SOPA thread, but was ignored. Megaupload had a stateside server, so SOPA wasn't needed to take it down.

But what I wanted to bring up on this thread, is that, why, the CEO, was not indicted. Because he's a musician and married to Alicia Keys? Maybe he was the turncoat.

2012-01-19 18:36:05

#6

Jay: Bork! Bork! Bork!; +2,006|5597|London, England

He's probably just a figurehead.

"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat

2012-01-19 18:48:58

#7

Hurricane2k9: Pendulous Sweaty Balls; +1,538|5941|College Park, MD

Kind of messed up but then again bad things happen to people with retarded names like "Swizz"

https://static.bf2s.com/files/user/36793/marylandsig.jpg

2012-01-19 18:50:51

#8

eleven bravo: Member; +1,399|5498|foggy bottom

Tu Stultus Es

2012-01-19 18:57:53

#9

BVC: Member; +325|6935

Yet again the NZ government sucks on the entertainment industry's sav.

They arrested the wrong fat rich white guys.

2012-01-19 19:13:43

#10

Roc18: `; +655|6030|PROLLLY PROLLLY PROLLLY

Is Megaporn down too?

https://g.bf3stats.com/pc/gcv8Vckg/roc18.png

BF3s.com Public Leaderboard

2012-01-19 19:33:22

#11

Hurricane2k9: Pendulous Sweaty Balls; +1,538|5941|College Park, MD

Yes it is

2012-01-19 19:42:06

#12

RTHKI: mmmf mmmf mmmf; +1,741|6976|Cinncinatti

i guess it was megaupload for porn eh

dont worry hurri youll get a lad someday

2012-01-19 20:01:23

#13

bugz: Fission Mailed; +3,311|6551

It was only a matter of time before something happened to Megaupload. They charge a monthly fee (or did when I last checked it out) and host legitimate and copyrighted material on their own servers. I'm sure they were quite happy to have thousands of pirates pay a monthly subscription and half heartedly remove illegal files as the claims rolled in.

Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/ebug122

2012-01-19 23:14:56

#14

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5418|Sydney

Jay wrote:
Jaekus wrote:
There's already a thread about SOPA...
Has nothing to do with SOPA.

lol, you'll have to explain how it isn't.

Amazing coincidence?

2012-01-19 23:20:04

#15

-Sh1fty-: plundering yee booty; +510|5713|Ventura, California

I heard that the shutting down of Megaupload was retaliatory of the government because of Wiki, reddit, and craiglist's 24h shutdown to protest SOPA and PIPA.

And above your tomb, the stars will belong to us.

2012-01-19 23:26:36

#16

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5418|Sydney

FBI shuts down Megaupload.com, Anonymous shut down FBI

2012-01-19 23:34:50

#17

-Sh1fty-: plundering yee booty; +510|5713|Ventura, California

I love Anonymous so much It's nice to see the people have a way to fight back.

And above your tomb, the stars will belong to us.

2012-01-19 23:36:07

#18

-Sh1fty-: plundering yee booty; +510|5713|Ventura, California

I can't believe they get away with stuff like shutting down the FBI website though.

And above your tomb, the stars will belong to us.

2012-01-19 23:37:33

#19

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5418|Sydney

Of course they can get away with it. No one (ie. meaning the authorities) really know where they're based, if there is a base at all, and how to track them.

2012-01-19 23:49:30

#20

-Sh1fty-: plundering yee booty; +510|5713|Ventura, California

I'd like to see Anonymous continue to take down sites regularly until SOPA is put to death along with it's twin evil sister PIPA.

And above your tomb, the stars will belong to us.

2012-01-19 23:59:33

#21

AussieReaper: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°); +5,761|6392|what

Shame. I didn't use mega upload much, but it was great for hosting game patches and provided a good service.

Stupid of them to host a US server.

2012-01-20 00:03:51

#22

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5418|Sydney

Can't they just host in a different country? Or is it because of the domain?

2012-01-20 00:08:48

#23

-Sh1fty-: plundering yee booty; +510|5713|Ventura, California

I've got a friend online talking to me about something called the Dark Net that people like anonymous use. He's saying not to google it or try to get into it. I'm not sure whether I should laugh or take this somewhat seriously.

Can anybody fill me in on what he might be trying to communicate?

And above your tomb, the stars will belong to us.

2012-01-20 00:19:00

#24

Ty: Mass Media Casualty; +2,398|7014|Noizyland

Reading the Internet commentary about this has made me feel a little sick. All this talk about waging war on behalf of fallen Megaupload, all the Anonymous shit and the fear that Megaupload is the first "victim" of SOPA...

Get your shit straight people.

The raid on Megaupload and Kim Dotcom was the result of an operation that has been going on for a considerable amount of time. It's not like taking down Youtube because a kid posted a video of them singing Lady Gaga into a hairbrush. Megaupload is a site that allows the free sharing of files, sure, but it has also enabled piracy on a huge scale and the operators have done little to nothing to curb it. Why?

This is why.

Money. Dotcom is a huge racketeer, he has made millions and millions from essentially selling material that isn't his. He is a criminal even so far that he has a massive lair situated on a volcano in Auckland. Megaupload isn't a victim of SOPA, it's not a victim at all. Of course this is up to the courts to decide and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. My point is that Megaupload has done more than enough to earn the wrath of the law and Dotcom isn't an innocent multi-millionaire victim.

This isn't about SOPA though, and all these Internet vigilantes have the completely wrong idea. I've seen so many posts about how people will have to "download everything they can before SOPA is passed". That is the completely wrong end of the stick and is awful for all those who oppose SOPA on rational grounds. People aren't opposed to SOPA because it takes away peoples' "right" to download shit for free over the Internet. It is about granting overbearing powers to copyright holders, copyright laws themselves, fair use, corporate censorship, freedom of information, free speech, unjust penalties to name a few - and on a global scale with the US creating a law that is going to impact countries around the world. I'd like it if SOPA dealt with piracy, the fact that it doesn't is another reason to oppose it.

People are so willing to showcase their ignorance on the Internet, I'd appreciate if those assuming they're on my side/that I'm on their side would actually learn a thing or two about the situation first.

Also a tip, (not that I think anyone here is dumb enough to fall for it,) but with Megaupload down a lot of opportunists have created sites and advertised them around saying that they are back doors into Megaupload or Megaupload recovery sites. I'd say most of them just spread viruses and try to steal your personal information. Interestingly it showcases another weakness in granting powers to take down websites.

[Blinking eyes thing]
Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/tzyon

2012-01-20 00:36:16

#25

Spearhead: Gulf coast redneck hippy; +731|6929|Tampa Bay Florida

THANK YOU Ty. On the one hand, SOPA is flawed and shameless. On the other, I get the strange feeling that 80 percent of the people bitching are doing it because they love to pirate. There is a fine line between "not wanting SOPA because its corrupt and inefficient", and "we should legally be able to pay money to third parties so we can illegally download stuff". Honestly as someone who does not take pleasure in pirating, it is worrying to me that so many people in this generation feel entitled to illegal content just because it's "free".

It is a funny coincidence, that this happened the day after the 24 hour blackout.

-Sh1fty- wrote:
I can't believe they get away with stuff like shutting down the FBI website though.

Right, because government websites are known for being popular and slick. They don't even care that their website still looks like its in the 90's..

Last edited by Spearhead (2012-01-20 00:39:50)

BF2S Forums Megaupload shutdown

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