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Megaupload busted by the feds!

 
 
Reply Thu 19 Jan, 2012 04:02 pm
Quote:
McLEAN, Va. – Federal prosecutors have shut down one of the world's largest file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, on charges of violating piracy laws -- a day after a 24-hour blackout of popular websites such as Wikipedia drew national attention to the issue.
"This action is among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States," the Justice department said in a statement about the indictment.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/01/19/feds-shut-down-file-sharing-website/#ixzz1jwa7dxDF


That's one down, maybe 10 or so big ones left.

PS

Foxsports wrote:
Megaupload was led by colorful Australian Kim Dotcom -- aka Kim Schmitz, or Kim Tim Jim Vestor. He is a a resident of both Hong Kong and New Zealand, and a dual citizen of Finland and Germany, who legally changed his last name to "Dotcom."


wikipedia wrote:
Kim Schmitz (born January 21, 1974), also known as Kimble[1] and Kim Dotcom,[2] is a German entrepreneur best known as the founder of the Megaupload website and associated sites.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Schmitz

I think I trust wikipedia more.
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Type: Discussion • Score: 2 • Views: 3,115 • Replies: 10
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rosborne979
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Jan, 2012 07:56 pm
@hingehead,
There's a duplicate thread on this, so here's a duplicate post Wink

If this story is accurate, then it worries me.

If the FBI (or any government agency) can arrest the owners of any site just for allowing its users to upload large files, then almost anyone on the Internet who owns a server and has users could be held accountable for something their users put onto their server. And from there it isn't a far stretch to imaging providers being held accountable for anything that flows through their routers.

Under this paradigm Copyright infringement could be used as a legal pry-bar to open virtually anything on the Internet.

If they need to protect Copyrights (and I'm not sure they do in some cases), then I think they should only be able to go after the people who upload Copyrighted material, not the people who's systems they use to do it.

How come they don't arrest Bill Gates for allowing his computer software to be used to do all the copying?
Ceili
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Jan, 2012 08:20 pm
I'm confused. Where did they arrest him? Was he in the US? If not, where is the jurisdiction??
hingehead
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Jan, 2012 08:22 pm
@Ceili,
Hi Ceili

In the foxnews story the New Zealand police arrested him (in Auckland?) - must be an extradition treaty between the two countries.
hingehead
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Jan, 2012 08:23 pm
@rosborne979,
Thanks Ros - I looked to see before I posted the story and did a search for megaupload and didn't find Andrew's post.
0 Replies
 
Ceili
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Jan, 2012 08:25 pm
@hingehead,
Is this normal, I mean, don't you have to go to court to be extradited?
This is shocking! Truly..
Lustig Andrei
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Jan, 2012 08:32 pm
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/technology/indictment-charges-megaupload-site-with-piracy.html

Here's the NY Times story on the same topic from my thread that Rosborn referred to.
0 Replies
 
hingehead
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Jan, 2012 08:36 pm
@rosborne979,
It's kind of like the SOPA thing - bust google because you can use it to search for a blog that links to a filesharing site.

Some related tweets

@Falkvinge
MegaUpload didn't just have 150 million members. It also had 150 million voters.

@FuckingMorgan
Confused by #sopa ? Explanation: If someone does a ram raid in a Chevy Suburban, they shut down General Motors. Yr welcome.
0 Replies
 
hingehead
 
  1  
Reply Sun 22 Jan, 2012 04:13 pm
Hmmm - Filesonic has stopped public sharing - no doubt shitting themselves after what happened to Megaupload.
0 Replies
 
hingehead
 
  1  
Reply Sun 22 Jan, 2012 04:17 pm
@Ceili,
Quote:
Is this normal, I mean, don't you have to go to court to be extradited?


I'm no legal expert but I think the Feds can issue an arrest warrant of some kind - which another country can act, but then there is a judicial extradition hearing. I doubt NZ would not follow the legalities - they're kind of good like that - they've consistently held to the principle that US navy ships with nuclear weapons are not allowed to harbour in their waters for decades. And as the US Navy is not keen to say which ships have nuclear capability no US Navy ships go to NZ. - I guess what I'm saying is NZ is not the 51st state and an extraordinary rendition is not likely.
0 Replies
 
hingehead
 
  1  
Reply Mon 23 Jan, 2012 07:44 am
Confirmation of extradition hearing
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/23/world/asia/new-zealand-megaupload
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The U.S. shut down Megaupload and announced indictments against seven people
The site's founder, Kim Dotcom, and three others appear before a New Zealand court
Dotcom's lawyer says his client denies the charges, criticizing the authorities' approach
Prosecutors say Dotcom presents an "extreme" flight risk and should not be granted bail
0 Replies
 
 

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Megaupload Shut Down By The FBI - Discussion by BumbleBeeBoogie
FBI closes down top file-sharing site - Discussion by Lustig Andrei
 
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