[UPDATE] Feds Take Down Megaupload

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Haha! Yes! Finally some god damn consequences against those who actually deserve it in this whole piracy thing. Stop going after freaking google and youtube and go after sites like this!

Your joking right? If they can set precedent laws with this youtube could well be next with all the anime and music content on there...

No slippery slope bullshit that was actually a threat with SOPA. This is a single takedown of a single site giving blatant disregard for piracy laws and, with this new revelation, was actually encouraging it and giving out benefits to their users for doing it.

There is a distinct difference between MegaUpload's objective and Youtube's. Youtube actually gives a fuck about enforcing piracy laws. Megaupload encouraged breaking it.

It's not bullshit[footnote]well it is, but not in the way you mean it[/footnote]; that's the way the American court system works. Every time a judge makes a ruling on a subject, it sets precedent, which all of the other judges at that level and lower have to pay attention to, as if it was actually the law instead of an (often flawed) interpretation of the law. Bad precedent is never a good thing, and Tay was exactly right: depending on how this goes, precedent that could be used to take down Youtube could very well be set.

Well if you don't hold any belief that the government and judicial system can differentiate between what Megaupload does and what Youtube does then I guess that's your belief. However I can see how MegaUpload is a piracy haven and now, if charges hold, actively worked towards expanding and profiting off it is different than what Youtube does.

It's possible to step too far. But equally bad is not stepping at all.

They can't because it's literally the same thing, and both Youtube and Megaupload have the same response to illegal content: only do anything about it if it gets reported. And let me tell you, there's copyrighted movies and TV shows that have been up on Youtube for /years./

 

[Ldude893]

On related news, Anonymus has gone nuts over this. They've taken several sites down because of this. Normally, I'm not too fond of their actions but confronted with this stupidity, it's hard to feel pity for their victims.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/19/technology/megaupload_shutdown/
http://techland.time.com/2012/01/19/anonymous-claims-doj-riaa-mpaa-sites-hit-for-megaupload-bust/
http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_19777444?source=rss

The statement 'sh*t just got real' doesn't even cover it.

 

[Awexsome]

And what were they doing to supposedly "encourage" and "reward" pirates again, besides owning a file hosting service very much like youtube?

The indictment accuses the suspects of being members of "the Mega Conspiracy, a worldwide criminal organization whose members engaged in criminal copyright infringement and money laundering on a massive scale."

the indictment noted, "For much of its operation, the Mega Conspiracy has offered an 'Uploader Rewards' Program, which promised premium subscribers transfers of cash and other financial incentives to upload popular works, including copyrighted works, to computer servers under the Mega Conspiracy's direct control and for the Conspiracy's ultimate financial benefit."

That.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/justice-fbi-crack-megaupload/story?id=15396526#.TxirWfnNlGV

So some PEOPLE that worked AT megaupload were rewarding pirates by giving them money to upload copywriten content not the actual company. Ok then, now can you tell me what MEGAUPLOAD was doing to supposedly "encourage" and "reward" pirates again, besides owning a file hosting service very much like youtube?

I've seen willful ignorance before but... man. I gave you the link and everything dude.

It arrested the ones in charge of the conspiracy the whole company was operating. They received those benefits THROUGH the Megaupload system. If it were only the individuals and not the company the entire company wouldn't be at fault and this would be a whole government conspiracy instead. PLEASE tell me you don't think that...

 

[SageRuffin]

didn't megaupload have a "pro" account feature that you pay money get? (correct me if i'm mistaken).

Now they've taken away a service, without warning that people have been paying to use legally for years. And they're charging everyone except the American so far.

Yep. It was simply called "MegaUpload Premium" or some such. The lowest grade was like $10US for 3 months I think. Not a bad deal and the download speeds with quite expedient.

Haha! Yes! Finally some god damn consequences against those who actually deserve it in this whole piracy thing. Stop going after freaking google and youtube and go after sites like this!

And for all the people using Megaupload/megavideo/etc for perfectly legal reasons? This could happen to any hosting site, and probably will.

For those sites like MegaUpload who obviously benefit from piracy and do little to nothing to prevent it they deserve it. There's a large difference to a site like Youtube which SOPA threatened to a site like MegaUpload.

dude you don't even know what you are talking about megaupload, just like youtube has modirators that take down pirated material, the only difference is that on youtube the video will be called copyrighted material X, but on megaupload the uploader calls the file some random stream of bullshit like 147N987H2ND89H12 so it is near immpossible for the moderators to find. Then he uploader posts the link on a forum or directory and bam the pirates can find it the the mods don't have a clue.

Oh but you have no idea what you're talking about my friend. Comparing megaupload's efforts and youtube's to combat the copyright infringement as equal efforts is laughable anyway but the charges aren't just for hosting infringing content. Charges such as money laundering, conspiracy, and others are behind this.

They weren't just ok with their services being used for piracy. They were actively encouraging it through rewards and plans on how to get around it.

And what were they doing to supposedly "encourage" and "reward" pirates again, besides owning a file hosting service very much like youtube?

Agreed. As a person who used the site for, oh, I dunno... maintaining backups just in case I had a hard drive failure while upgrading my PC, I'd love to see some factual evidence about how MU in particular would actively "encourage and reward" these rambunctious pirates that you, Awexsome, believe are so rampant.

Otherwise, I'll admit, you're doing a damn fine job of trolling.

 

[Awexsome]

Hello America. Fix your Government.

Regards, rest of the world.

Hello, Japan, UK, Russia, Italy, Greece, Australia, and various others. Please fix your respective Goverments as well.

Regards, Canada I guess...

Ah, but you see, unlike the US, those countries tend to have relatively little power outside of their own borders. Compare that to the US that seems to believe anywhere on earth is "US jurisdiction".

It's possible to step too far. But equally bad is not stepping at all.

Woah there Confucius, think about it. When you go too far, it's really hard to go back. When you've gone nowhere, it's pretty easy to get going.

Point is that no, it's not equally bad. Going too far is always worse, especially in these cases. Once you get that boulder rolling, it's not gonna stop.

That still reads like, "Do nothing because it's too dangerous" to me. So long as the moves they make are good ones I'll support them like this and write and protest about the ones that aren't like SOPA.

Then you're reading it wrong. It means that you should be fucking careful before you do anything drastic, because drastic measures have a way of escalating and getting out of hand. Doing nothing never gets out of hand, and it gives you an excellent opportunity to think about what you should actually do and how you should it before you get started on doing it. Get what I'm sayin' bro?

It's not drastic though. If you think it is fine. It's a company receiving due punishment for breaking and conspiring to break the law. The thing that probably hurts them worse is the conspiracy part more than just hosting files.

 

[TheDooD]

I needed to quote this from the original Venture Beats article...

"The government has also charged the following individuals in the indictment:
Finn Batato, 38, a citizen and resident of Germany, who is the chief marketing officer;
Julius Bencko, 35, a citizen and resident of Slovakia, who is the graphic designer;
Sven Echternach, 39, a citizen and resident of Germany, who is the head of business development;
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;
Andrus Nomm, 32, a citizen of Estonia and resident of both Turkey and Estonia, who is a software programmer and head of the development software division;
Bram van der Kolk, aka Bramos, 29, a Dutch citizen and resident of both the Netherlands and New Zealand, who oversees programming and the underlying network structure for the Mega conspiracy websites.
Dotcom, Batato, Ortmann and van der Kolk were arrested today in Auckland, New Zealand."

TO SUMMARIZE:
The United States government just took down an international website and filed criminal charges against the parties involved EXCLUDING THE AMERICAN CEO.

Why do I find this horribly funny? (rhetorical)

Yea I find this complete bullshit... The GOV wants people to start going London on their shit. Which we can do easily we have the numbers, the booze and don't forget the bricks.

 

[Awexsome]

didn't megaupload have a "pro" account feature that you pay money get? (correct me if i'm mistaken).

Now they've taken away a service, without warning that people have been paying to use legally for years. And they're charging everyone except the American so far.

Yep. It was simply called "MegaUpload Premium" or some such. The lowest grade was like $10US for 3 months I think. Not a bad deal and the download speeds with quite expedient.

Haha! Yes! Finally some god damn consequences against those who actually deserve it in this whole piracy thing. Stop going after freaking google and youtube and go after sites like this!

And for all the people using Megaupload/megavideo/etc for perfectly legal reasons? This could happen to any hosting site, and probably will.

For those sites like MegaUpload who obviously benefit from piracy and do little to nothing to prevent it they deserve it. There's a large difference to a site like Youtube which SOPA threatened to a site like MegaUpload.

dude you don't even know what you are talking about megaupload, just like youtube has modirators that take down pirated material, the only difference is that on youtube the video will be called copyrighted material X, but on megaupload the uploader calls the file some random stream of bullshit like 147N987H2ND89H12 so it is near immpossible for the moderators to find. Then he uploader posts the link on a forum or directory and bam the pirates can find it the the mods don't have a clue.

Oh but you have no idea what you're talking about my friend. Comparing megaupload's efforts and youtube's to combat the copyright infringement as equal efforts is laughable anyway but the charges aren't just for hosting infringing content. Charges such as money laundering, conspiracy, and others are behind this.

They weren't just ok with their services being used for piracy. They were actively encouraging it through rewards and plans on how to get around it.

And what were they doing to supposedly "encourage" and "reward" pirates again, besides owning a file hosting service very much like youtube?

Agreed. As a person who used the site for, oh, I dunno... maintaining backups just in case I had a hard drive failure while upgrading my PC, I'd love to see some factual evidence about how MU in particular would actively "encourage and reward" these rambunctious pirates that you, Awexsome, believe are so rampant.

Otherwise, I'll admit, you're doing a damn fine job of trolling.

Aha! my first trolling accuser! It's an honor. Look earlier in the thread for the indictment's charges: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/justice-fbi-crack-megaupload/story?id=15396526#.TxirWfnNlGV Call them on bullshit if you want but then I'd take you as just another government conspiracy theorist.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Greaaat, now I can't watch old TV programmes that don't get shown anymore, thanks US government.

Oh boy, here we go... Anonymous was on the warpath within fifteen minutes. They're systematically shutting down government and record company websites in revenge. The RIAA and the MPAA sites are already down.

I see this ending well.

Anonymous - 'Don't fuck with our porn!'

 

[Awexsome]

Haha! Yes! Finally some god damn consequences against those who actually deserve it in this whole piracy thing. Stop going after freaking google and youtube and go after sites like this!

unfortunately, several Independent artists use used Megaupload to give out singles and albums to fans, so what about them?

I guess they were pirating their own music, right?

Those independent artists should've found a site that wasn't willfully breaking the law then. Unfortunate for those independent artists but they did nothing wrong so they're free to continue elsewhere. Megaupload however will face those money laundering, conspiracy, and copyright charges though.

 

[tthor]

No more Megaupload? No more Megavideo?! No more Megaporn?!?!?!?! WHY, GOD, WHY!!!! D'x

 

[snagli]

Heh. I wager ?10 that this whole thing started because some FBI big shot didn't want to wait 54 minutes to watch his favourite episode of Jersey Shore.

 

[skullpile]

And what were they doing to supposedly "encourage" and "reward" pirates again, besides owning a file hosting service very much like youtube?

The indictment accuses the suspects of being members of "the Mega Conspiracy, a worldwide criminal organization whose members engaged in criminal copyright infringement and money laundering on a massive scale."

the indictment noted, "For much of its operation, the Mega Conspiracy has offered an 'Uploader Rewards' Program, which promised premium subscribers transfers of cash and other financial incentives to upload popular works, including copyrighted works, to computer servers under the Mega Conspiracy's direct control and for the Conspiracy's ultimate financial benefit."

That.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/justice-fbi-crack-megaupload/story?id=15396526#.TxirWfnNlGV

So some PEOPLE that worked AT megaupload were rewarding pirates by giving them money to upload copywriten content not the actual company. Ok then, now can you tell me what MEGAUPLOAD was doing to supposedly "encourage" and "reward" pirates again, besides owning a file hosting service very much like youtube?

I've seen willful ignorance before but... man. I gave you the link and everything dude.

It arrested the ones in charge of the conspiracy the whole company was operating. They received those benefits THROUGH the Megaupload system. If it were only the individuals and not the company the entire company wouldn't be at fault and this would be a whole government conspiracy instead. PLEASE tell me you don't think that...

"In exchange for payment, the Mega Conspiracy provides the fast reproduction and distribution of infringing copies of copyrighted works from its computer servers located around the world. Premium users of the site... are able to download and upload files with few, if any, limitations."

Describing the operation of the site and relations with users the indictment noted, "For much of its operation, the Mega Conspiracy has offered an 'Uploader Rewards' Program, which promised premium subscribers transfers of cash and other financial incentives to upload popular works, including copyrighted works, to computer servers under the Mega Conspiracy's direct control and for the Conspiracy's ultimate financial benefit." <---- from the article, no where does it say that megaupload was giving the uploaders money the "rewards program" ran from the mega conspiracy people, try again.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Google is next!

 

[slipknot4]

Haha! Yes! Finally some god damn consequences against those who actually deserve it in this whole piracy thing. Stop going after freaking google and youtube and go after sites like this!

What about Reave? I made a remix for him a while back and he sent me the patches and midis through Megaupload. What about Ludotk who spreads his music on Mega? What about all legitimate users who have been fucked over?
Megaupload was great and it had the best fucking use of jQuery I've seen for a long time and now it's gone because some ass couldn't buy another solid gold RV.

 

[Baneat]

And what were they doing to supposedly "encourage" and "reward" pirates again, besides owning a file hosting service very much like youtube?

The indictment accuses the suspects of being members of "the Mega Conspiracy, a worldwide criminal organization whose members engaged in criminal copyright infringement and money laundering on a massive scale."

the indictment noted, "For much of its operation, the Mega Conspiracy has offered an 'Uploader Rewards' Program, which promised premium subscribers transfers of cash and other financial incentives to upload popular works, including copyrighted works, to computer servers under the Mega Conspiracy's direct control and for the Conspiracy's ultimate financial benefit."

That.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/justice-fbi-crack-megaupload/story?id=15396526#.TxirWfnNlGV

MU hasn't had uploader rewards in over 8 months.

 

[Coldster]

I must say, I have no idea if it really is or isn't a site that allows users to pirate media, but I think it sounds fishy that Megaupload claims that "the vast majority of Mega's Internet traffic is legitimate" means that they know AT LEAST some of their website visitors are not legit and the fact that so many people seem to think they have violated the law in some way. Can't say I can take a side in this, so I'll stay on the fence until all the blank details are filled in.

 

[Beryl77]

i personally think there going to do more harm then good in the long run. eye for an eye just doesn't work out well for anyone

Despite what I wrote, I agree with you. I've never been an "eye for an eye" person. It's just that I couldn't help it but feel some satisfaction when I read it.