Megaupload busted by the feds!

There's a duplicate thread on this, so here's a duplicate post

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?

I'm confused. Where did they arrest him? Was he in the US? If not, where is the jurisdiction??

Hi Ceili

In the foxnews story the New Zealand police arrested him (in Auckland?) - must be an extradition treaty between the two countries.

Thanks Ros - I looked to see before I posted the story and did a search for megaupload and didn't find Andrew's post.

Is this normal, I mean, don't you have to go to court to be extradited?
This is shocking! Truly..

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.

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.

Hmmm - Filesonic has stopped public sharing - no doubt shitting themselves after what happened to Megaupload.

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.

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