Megaupload Shut Down

[chrunch]

Today Megaupload has gotten shut down by the FBI, due to "online piracy", and it's been costing over $500 million dollars for copyright holders. Read about it here

The Department of Justice announced Thursday that it has conducted a major action to shut down MegaUpload, a popular file-sharing site widely used for free downloads of movies and television shows.

After receiving indictments from a grand jury in Virginia for racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and other charges on Jan. 5, federal authorities on Thursday arrested four people and executed more than 20 search warrants in the U.S. and eight foreign countries, seizing 18 domain names and an estimated $50 million in assets, including servers run in Virginia and Washington, D.C.

MegaUpload is a "digital locker" that allows users to store files that can then be streamed or downloaded by others. Its subsidiary site MegaVideo became very popular for the unauthorized downloads of movies and TV shows. Users whose uploaded content proved particularly popular were paid for their participation.

DOCUMENT: Read the indictment against MegaUpload

In a joint statement, the Justice Department and FBI called the action "among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States."

Ira Rothken, an attorney for MegaUpload, said in an interview that he only learned of the actions in a press release this morning and had not yet read the entire indictment. "Our initial impression is that the allegations are without merit and MegaUpload is going to vigorously contest them," he said. "We have deep concerns over due process and assets being taken without the opportunity for a hearing."

According to the indictment, the operators of MegaUpload earned more than $175 million in illegal profits and caused an estimated $500 million in harm to copyright holders.

The site is advertised as having more than 50 million daily visitors, according to federal authorities.

Four of MegaUpload's operators have been arrested in New Zealand, while three more remain at large. The seven each face a maximum of 55 years in prison.

Not listed on the indictment is rapper Swizz Beatz -- real name Kasseem Dean -- who, according to a report in the New York Post, is the CEO of MegaUpload. Beatz is married to pop singer Alicia Keys.

Rothken said that Beatz had not been running the site but that recently there had been "a transition period going on."

The news is sure to be welcome in the entertainment industry, whose leaders have faced a recent setback in their push for the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act. The proposed bills, if passed, would make it easier for U.S. courts to go after piracy sites that, unlike MegaUpload, operate entirely overseas.

Critics who believe the bills are heavy-handed and don't adequately protect civil liberties conducted a U.S. Internet "blackout." As many as 10,000 websites went black Wednesday, among them Wikipedia, Craigslist and Reddit. The protest helped to pressure lawmakers to oppose SOPA and PIPA.

The Obama administration announced its opposition to the bills in their current forms Saturday.

 

[The Void]

I'm actually very mad at this. Not all of Mega Upload's files are pirated. How about Torrent, where most of their downloadable files are pirated? Why didn't the FBI shut that down? These federal agent guys sure like pissing us off. :(

Not only that, but the Mega Upload guys got arrested! Come on! As if taking the whole network down wasn't enough! Seriously! This is just... absurd.

 

[Mercurybro]

I'm actually very mad at this. Not all of Mega Upload's files are pirated. How about Torrent, where most of their downloadable files are pirated? Why didn't the FBI shut that down? These federal agent guys sure like pissing us off. :(

Apparently it's because they opened up servers on U.S. soil, making it much easier for charges to be filed against them.

read

 

[Sydian]

I've come up with the theory that a major site will go down every month, leading up to December 21st and then Jesus comes down and steals the Internet. The Mayans were right. Not in the ways we expected, but they were on to something. They knew. They knew.

 

[TRIFORCE89]

It's separate from SOPA and PIPA. There is piracy on the Internet, let's not pretend that there isn't. The conspiracy claims and crime ring aspects of this case is particularly interesting if it is true. And apparently, they've been working on this for a while and have built up some evidence.

No, not everything uploaded over megaupload violates copyright. I've used it for academic purposes plenty of times. If there was intentional wrong-doing the part of the site's owners/creators and the server was located in the US, then that was just plain stupidity on their part.

With that said though, I don't think the site should have been shutdown when it does have common legitimate uses. Who would have taken over though, I'm not sure. But, trying to think of a real-world example, does the government shut down a mafia-run sandwich shop when they go after their owners? Hypothetical question. I don't know the answer. I'm inclined to think "yes", but I'm not sure.

 

[Shanghai Alice]

As I stated in another thread, the simple fact of the matter is that they done goofed, and now the US wants to make an example out of them.

Understandable, actually, after the Pirate Bay slipped through their fingers.


EDIT: Still, the pirated:legitimate ratio is irrelevant. If a speakeasy also sold Coca-Cola and Sprite in addition to bootlegged alcohol, it's still in violation of the law. File sharing works the same way.

One legal enterprise doesn't legitimize an organization, but one illegal enterprise criminalizes it.

 

[Zet]

I'm actually very mad at this. Not all of Mega Upload's files are pirated. How about Torrent, where most of their downloadable files are pirated? Why didn't the FBI shut that down? These federal agent guys sure like pissing us off. :(

Not only that, but the Mega Upload guys got arrested! Come on! As if taking the whole network down wasn't enough! Seriously! This is just... absurd.

You should really look up what torrents are and how they work.

 

[Mr. X]

Yeah. A .torrent file isn't piracy. The files that it contains download information for could be though. Although, the vast majority of torrents do contain pirated content. Have you ever seen a torrent that didn't have pirated content? They exist, but I haven't.

But still, the founder was convicted of credit card fraud, hacking, insider trading, and embezzlement in the past. I'm sorry, but his record speaks against him. He might try to hide behind 'The users decide the content' but really? Given his record, I'm willing to bet that he created that site to cater primarily to pirates and to profit off of them.

Haven't bothered checking the other people arrested, but odds are that their records are not snow white either.

I'm loling at anon's response though. It's the predictable mass ddos'ing spree, but still lolz worthy.

 

[Akio123]

Okay let's be honest here, Megaupload is the go to place to download things for free. The servers take a couple minutes and you can download entire DVDrips and blueray rips in no more than like...8 minutes was my longest wait?

I mean I loved it...but let's be real opening servers on US soil, esspecially when all the SOPA/PIPA crap is going on, is just a boneheaded move. >_>

Also, guys...there are PLENTY of other filesharing sites out there. Yes, this was the go to one, but I guarantee you in a month everyone will just go to Fileserve or Mediafire or something. This isn't the worst thing to happen.

 

[miltankRancher]

I haven't got the chance to download anything from megaupload and such, but seemed absurd to me that these guys, who just made sharing files easier, faced 55 years in prison, while Michael Jackson's doctor, indicted of manslaughter, only faces five.

SOPA/PIPA Logic?

 

[The Void]

I haven't got the chance to download anything from megaupload and such, but seemed absurd to me that these guys, who just made sharing files easier, faced 55 years in prison, while Michael Jackson's doctor, indicted of manslaughter, only faces five.

SOPA/PIPA Logic?

This has nothing to do with SOPA/PIPA but if the same agents arresting the megaupload guys have got something to do with SOPA/PIPA, then their logic is probably what influences the bill.

 

[Ho-Oh]

I mean I loved it...but let's be real opening servers on US soil, esspecially when all the SOPA/PIPA crap is going on, is just a boneheaded move. >_>

I'm pretty sure both Megaupload as a whole and the servers were created long before anybody cared for/could do anything about SOPA/PIPA. :x

I never used Megaupload much so I don't really care for this news, however if that sort of thing happened to Youtube, then yeaaah that would suck (except for now that's kind of unlikely).

 

[Akio123]

I'm pretty sure both Megaupload as a whole and the servers were created long before anybody cared for/could do anything about SOPA/PIPA. :x

I never used Megaupload much so I don't really care for this news, however if that sort of thing happened to Youtube, then yeaaah that would suck (except for now that's kind of unlikely).

#completemisinterpretation

Of course I know they were created long before, what I'm saying is that given that filesharing has always been a hot button issue, is that's its kind of dumb to have a filesharing sharing sites hosted on hosted on US soil and advertise the way it did. I mean even on Facebook you could see Megaupload ads.

I mean at least other filesharing sites are a little more discrete; Megaupload plastered itself everywhere. What I'm saying is that this was bound to happen. It's kind of like Megaupload was a modern day Nabster (Well when it was illegal).

 

[Captain Fabio]

Oh look, MegaUpload. https://109.236.83.66/

They will be back.

::EDIT::

That went down quick! XD​

​

 

[Jayster23]

80% of streamers on the internet are now having a cry.

Now will be the time where most website try and find a loophole and get around the piracy laws in America like the Pirate bay. I dunno arresting them just for a website. So what companies lose profit. They are still massive otherwise they wouldn't be producing music, videos, movies etc. Stop having a whinge and leave things how it is.

 

[Hybrid Trainer]

I've been following this since someone told me about it last night, I think it's disgraceful that the owners are being jailed and the fact that they have funny licence plate names are being brought up like it's evidence. Just because they have a car that has a licence plate that says 'guilty' doesn't mean they've gone out and stole the crown jewels.
This whole thing is so pathetic. I thought these people were suppose to be mature and grown up but so far they just look like bullies who are tackling people they simply don't like.

How about Torrent, where most of their downloadable files are pirated? Why didn't the FBI shut that down?

Torrents don't work like that. Imagine file sharing sites are like a big shopping centre, torrents are like you buying something off your friend. When you seed a torrent you're basically uploading it so that someone else can download it. No file hosting website involved so you can't just shut it down without monitoring every single computer in the world.

 

[AshPikastar]

I was really surprised to hear about this yesterday. I had always used Megaupload to send files to AMV production groups for my parts and would sometimes watch Anime on the site. I couldn't believe they took it down. At first I thought it was the SOPA but after reading some articles about it, I had found out it wasn't because of it.

 

[Jorah]

I'm sad since I used Megaupload every now and then for years ;_; I was amused by "Anonymous"'s DDoS revenge attack, purely for the way the media portrayed it. "Anonymous hacks the FBI!!!" XD

 

[Rogue planet]

All this is going to do is annoy people by wiping out previous uploads. I think it's probably more about making an example of MU to send out a message rather than seriously trying to impact file sharing.

They've only put a dent in the past, not the future. There are countless alternatives to MU, if they try and take them down, more will pop up. If they seriously crack down, then sites outside America will just rise to take their place.

 

[Ray Maverick]

This is utter bullcrap! Just let the internet be.