Megaupload closed, founders arrested by FBI

[=sw=warlord]

File-sharing website Megaupload.com has been shut down for violating piracy laws, according to reports.

The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/technology/indictment-charges-megaupload-site-with-piracy.html?_r=1) reports that the company – which, according to the indictment filed by federal prosecutors in Virginia, America, was at one point the 13th most popular website in the world – has been closed down and its founders have been charged.

http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/61543 (http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/61543)

[Timo]

All of them were arrested in NZ by our police too, didn't realise NZ was the US's bitch :(

[neuro]

yeah i was wondering why i couldnt log in today :P

[Timo]

What the NZ police had to say:



Detective Inspector Grant Wormald, of OFCANZ, said today's arrests were the result of several months coordination with the FBI and US Department of Justice.

"The FBI contacted New Zealand police in early 2011 with a request to assist with their investigation into the Mega conspiracy," Wormald said.

"We were happy to provide this assistance. Staff from OFCANZ and New Zealand police have worked with the US authorities over recent months to effect today's successful operation.

"All the accused have been indicted in the United States. We will continue to work with the US authorities to assist with the extradition proceedings," he said.

[Kornman00]

investigation into the Mega conspiracy
http://www.modacity.net/forums/images/customavatars/avatar18_46.gif (http://www.modacity.net/forums/member.php?18-Timo)

[=sw=warlord]

All of them were arrested in NZ by our police too, didn't realise NZ was the US's bitch :(
Americas just mad because Iran stole their super secret toy plane [which happened to be controlled by open sourced software lol..]

[t3h m00kz]

In response to today’s federal raid on the file sharing service Megaupload, hackers with the online collective Anonymous have broken the websites for the Department of Justice, Universal Music Group, RIAA and Motion Picture Association of America.

http://rt.com/usa/news/anonymous-doj-universal-sopa-235/ (http://rt.com/usa/news/anonymous-doj-universal-sopa-235/)

[Amit]

Ahahaha. Wow.

[NullZero]

Wow, out of the blue, shut down. Oh, 72 minutes of megavideo free, so long!

[t3h m00kz]

relevant

o0Wvn-9BXVc

http://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-to-universal-youve-got-some-explaining-to-do-111228/

[t3h m00kz]

somewhat live coverage of anon's attacks:

https://twitter.com/AnonDaily

[Siliconmaster]

This is such a shitshow

[.Wolf™]

This is interesting to say the very least.

[Timo]

ArsTechnica has got a pretty interesting article on the whole thing here: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/why-the-feds-smashed-megaupload.ars

[NullZero]

somewhat live coverage of anon's attacks:

https://twitter.com/AnonDaily
Lol they're lashing out left and right. fbi.gov is down.

http://megavideo.bz/

[Cortexian]

Sucks for all those people who were convinced that file sharing sites were better than private torrent trackers.

LMAO such fail logic right there.

[rossmum]

Lol they're lashing out left and right. fbi.gov is down.

http://megavideo.bz/
good

fuck big business and fuck the man for doing their bidding

[Kornman00]

Heh (https://twitter.com/#!/xorloser/status/160218799965077504)

The problem with DNS takedowns? IP addresses still work...http://109.236.83.66/

[neuro]

looks like they took down the actual IP now as well.

[neuro]

from Reddit, spread the word:
"Everyone should take UMG and the FBI, etc, to small claims court. For all the people that lost legitimate things, you have a grievance. Do not think about class action, small claims cannot be represented by a lawyer, so they have to send an employee. They don't show up they lose. up to ($7000?...state?) imagine 10,000 filings across the country. Those of you that don't belong to Anonymous --> Use the LAWS to hurt them, like they use it to hurt US."

derp

[=sw=warlord]

That's a pretty good idea actually.

[neuro]

http://www.khanacademy.org/video/sopa-and-pipa?playlist=American+Civics

i like this video.
ill show it to anyone i know who's dumb enough not to realise why things are bad.

[NullZero]

http://www.khanacademy.org/video/sopa-and-pipa?playlist=American+Civics

i like this video.
ill show it to anyone i know who's dumb enough not to realise why things are bad.

khan academy, yep, it's awesome

[Cortexian]

looks like they took down the actual IP now as well.
No it's up, your DNS likely hasn't resolved the new IP yet.

Solution: Use a good DNS (I recommend OpenDNS).

[Rook]

Sucks for all those people who were convinced that file sharing sites were better than private torrent trackers.

LMAO such fail logic right there.
I myself prefer torrents but that comment makes no sense. Don't think that's the point of the situation.

[Cortexian]

MegaUpload was shut down because of its hosting of copyrighted materials (see: piracy).

Lots of people actually buy accounts on these sharing sites instead of getting on a good private torrent tracker because they think that it's safer (only the host knows your IP/info) and because there are usually multiple links to the same thing in case some of it gets caught/removed.

Now, most likely, all these peoples IP's are in the hands of the agencies that shut down MegaUpload. Sucks to be them.

Meanwhile in private-tracker-land, my real IP and information isn't being shared with anyone, not even the tracker.

[dark navi]

MegaUpload was shut down because of its hosting of copyrighted materials (see: piracy).

Lots of people actually buy accounts on these sharing sites instead of getting on a good private torrent tracker because they think that it's safer (only the host knows your IP/info) and because there are usually multiple links to the same thing in case some of it gets caught/removed.

Now, most likely, all these peoples IP's are in the hands of the agencies that shut down MegaUpload. Sucks to be them.

Meanwhile in private-tracker-land, my real IP and information isn't being shared with anyone, not even the tracker.

With 50 million users a day, I doubt they will sift through all of the logs and charge users. They obviously just wanted the people who ran the site, which can still happen to private torrent trackers (http://torrentfreak.com/xtremespeeds-bittorrent-admin-busted-110730/).

[EX12693]

So how 'bout this ACTA. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement)

[king_nothing_]

They obviously just wanted the people who ran the site, which can still happen to private torrent trackers (http://torrentfreak.com/xtremespeeds-bittorrent-admin-busted-110730/).
Eh? It says one person in particular was questioned under suspicion of being a member of a release group.

[Amit]

So how 'bout this ACTA. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement)

SOPA: Check (mostly).
PIPA: Check (sort of).
ACTA: Time to go to work.

[jcap]

Although I'm disappointed that Megaupload and its sister sites are dead, after a day of reading up on the indictment I do understand where charges are coming from.

Most people assumed that Megaupload qualified for the safe harbor provision under the DMCA that protects service providers from the content their users upload. While Megaupload did have a DMCA form, they didn't comply with the requests in accordance with the law. Their response to DMCA takedown notices was to simply disable the offending URLs in the request without deleting the file. Since Megaupload also had a deduplication service, the same file on their servers could have hundreds of URLs, and the file would never be completely deleted. Megaupload is accused of intentionally neglecting their obligation to delete offending content, even illegal content such as CP. The owners are also accused of searching their databases to infringe on copyrights internally. Plus, there's some money laundering charges in there or something.

The extradition is also understandable. The owners were stupid to be knowingly breaking the law, yet they hosted the website in the US. Since they were breaking US laws from inside the US, it makes sense that they should be extradited to be prosecuted under US laws. Basically, I see it the same as committing murder in the US and fleeing the country. Granted, it's not as extreme, but it's the same concept.

The thing I find most amazing in all of this is the support for Megaupload and the HATE for the US government and big corporations. Out of curiosity, I looked up an article on the Wall Street Journal, which is considered to be a largely conservative newspaper. The article had over 200 user comments, and while waiting for the comments to load, I expected the majority to be anti-piracy. I was SHOCKED to see that the overwhelming majority of the comments was actually criticizing the US for being in bed with Hollywood and blaming Obama for wasting taxpayer money on defending corporations opposed to targeting REAL issues such as illegal immigration. Many people who commented also brought up their anger in being unable to access their legitimately hosted files they uploaded to Megaupload. They mentioned that they used Megaupload to share files too large for email, and as backup storage.

Just to clarify whose side I'm on...I'm against the takedown, but I understand why it happened.

[Amit]

Best post I've seen on Modacity in months.

[Cortexian]

With 50 million users a day, I doubt they will sift through all of the logs and charge users. They obviously just wanted the people who ran the site, which can still happen to private torrent trackers (http://torrentfreak.com/xtremespeeds-bittorrent-admin-busted-110730/).

Eh? It says one person in particular was questioned under suspicion of being a member of a release group.
Correct, I'm on XtremeSpeeds and that whole fiasco was blown over in less than a week since the authorities had no evidence. They were just hassling the main site admin because they couldn't get any proof that there was any wrong-doing.

Private trackers are hard to take down since the tracker itself doesn't host anything.

[DarkHalo003]

*Hosts everything in Denmark*

[TVTyrant]

*Hosts everything in Denmark*
Or Sweden

[Kornman00]

2592
"ohai" (http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/20/10199528-megaupload-founders-homes-raided-5m-in-luxury-cars-seized)

[Cortexian]

He ran and hid so he had time to delete his personal CP collection of course.

What else do you use sharing sites for? lololol

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

What else do you use sharing sites for? lololol

Nuclear porn.

[Amit]

Nuclear porn.

LOL'd.

[TVTyrant]

Fuuuuuucck did you see his house?

[Amit]

Bitches are pimpin' ain't they?

[arbiter901]

http://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-seizure-order-null-and-void-says-high-court-120318/

[EX12693]

LOL

[Amit]

All you in the South. You're fucked.

[Nero]

Lmao.. haha... xD

[Timo]

oops

[Matooba]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw04ckfO-yA
Update "MegaBox?"
Kim Dotcom reveals details of MegaUpload successor


2012 hasn't exactly been the best year for Kim Dotcom. MegaUpload, the popular file sharing website he helped to create, was shut down by the US government in January. It also executed a raid of his home in New Zealand at the same time. Dotcom was briefly put in jail, along with other MegaUpload team members, and he and his legal team have been fighting in court and awaiting a possible extradition to the US to face online piracy charges ever since.


In the midst of all this, Dotcom has been hinting for months that he will relaunch a successor to MegaUpload. Today, the first concrete details of this new service were revealed in an article for Wired, which will be called simply Mega.

Dotcom and his partners say that Mega will still allow users to upload and share files via a remote server. Unlike MegaUpload, users who upload files to Mega will be able to one-click encrypt any of them from within a web browser. After that is done, the user receives a unique key to decrypt that file.

The end result is no one but the person uploading the file to the server will have any way to know what that file's content will be like, including (in theory) the Mega administrators. Dotcom claims:

"If servers are lost, if the government comes into a data center and rapes it, if someone hacks the server or steals it, it would give him nothing. Whatever is uploaded to the site, it is going to be remain closed and private without the key."

Mega partner Mathias Ortmann adds there is a way for companies such as movie studios and music publishers to still go after copyrighted content that is uploaded to Mega's servers. Ortmann says, "If the copyright holder finds publicly posted links and decryption keys and verifies that the file is an infringement of their copyright, they can send a DMCA takedown notice to have that file removed, just like before."

Wired's article claims that the new Mega service will launch sometime later this year but did not give a specific date. Lol

Source: Neowin (http://www.neowin.net/news/kim-dotcom-reveals-details-of-megaupload-successor-mega)

[Ryx]

http://kim.com/mega/#/

[Kornman00]

Kim Dotcom can sue NZ: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57572970-93/court-rules-kim-dotcom-can-sue-new-zealand-spy-agency/