Feds Shut Down Megaupload/Megavideo

[Ryan_1523]

Could this be a sign of what's to come? What site will be next?

McLEAN, Virginia (AP) — One of the world's largest file-sharing sites was shut down Thursday, and its founder and several company executives were charged with violating piracy laws, federal prosecutors said.
An indictment accuses Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to thwart online piracy.
The Justice Department said in a statement said that Kim Dotcom, formerly known as Kim Schmitz, and three other executives were arrested Thursday in New Zealand at the request of U.S. officials. Two other defendants are at large.
Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.
The Hong Kong-based company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO. He was not named in the indictment and declined to comment through a representative.
Before the site was taken down, it posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were "grotesquely overblown."
"The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch," the statement said.
The site boasted 150 million registered users.

Rest of story: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...1fc307d67b674d

This kinda sucks. Didn't know the site was so huge.. Also didn't know Swizz Beatz was CEO. What a cool guy, I have new-found respect for him.

[NoPropsneeded]

this is pissing me off. IMO people should be allowed to do whatever the hell they want on the internet. As long as its not harming others(like hacking or sending viruses). Their going to make us pay for music now? fuck that

[Apollo]

This doesn't mean they're going to jail. It doesn't mean that particular site is going to be closed for good. They might win their case. I'm not sure how their site works because I've never used it but if it works like torrent sites then I think the only way they can get nailed is if they themselves uploaded the torrents which contain the pirated intellectual property.

[LBF]

you've seriously never used megaupload!? I use it all the time. I also notice Icefilms is offline. Apparently, though a ton of people abandoned those bills set to be voted on tuesday. Not sure it will get passed now and megaupload should be up on next wednesday.

if it's not then the bill obviously passed.

[Ryan_1523]

This doesn't mean they're going to jail. It doesn't mean that particular site is going to be closed for good. They might win their case. I'm not sure how their site works because I've never used it but if it works like torrent sites then I think the only way they can get nailed is if they themselves uploaded the torrents which contain the pirated intellectual property.

Yes, I know they can win the case. It is like a torrent site, it's supposed to be a site to send attachments to friends or family that are too big for email, but obviously most of it's use is illegitimate. What happened with the whole "The Pirate Bay" fiasco? Weren't they doing the same thing and got nailed? I figure it's a similar scenario, unless there was something shady going on behind the scenes with Pirate Bay.

[NoPropsneeded]

i used to use pirate bay a lot what happened to it?

[Joey]

IMO people should be allowed to do whatever the hell they want on the internet. As long as its not harming others(like hacking or sending viruses). Their going to make us pay for music now?

It really isn't any different than stealing a CD from HMV though.
Or walking into EB Games and stealing one of their games or something.
People have ALWAYS had to pay for music/movies/games.
Only in the last so many years has it become common practice to not even think about purchasing these things.

I buy all my music from iTunes and all my games from Steam.
As a DVD collector I have no use for files on my computer either.
I'll torrent some TV episodes from time to time, but thats about it.

I've never used MegaUpload, so I'm not affected by this at all.

[heinz57]

It really isn't any different than stealing a CD from HMV though.
Or walking into EB Games and stealing one of their games or something.
People have ALWAYS had to pay for music/movies/games.
Only in the last so many years has it become common practice to not even think about purchasing these things.

I buy all my music from iTunes and all my games from Steam.
As a DVD collector I have no use for files on my computer either.
I'll torrent some TV episodes from time to time, but thats about it.

I've never used MegaUpload, so I'm not affected by this at all.

i download illegally ALL THE TIME

BUT... people need to realize what they're doing... its straight up stealing. i'm comfortable with admitting it.

i'm comfortable admitting it, because like Mr. Hesketh, i'm a DVD collector. i SERIOUSLY use downloading movies to screen whats worth buying and whats not... i have several hundred DVDs to prove it.. and there's crap i have no conscience about stealing... hollywood "blockbusters" that dont need my money to be sucessful.. that i'd NEVER watch if i had to pay for it.. and, if it's REALLY as good as they marketed their flick to be, i WILL go and buy it... i like extra features and commentary tracks enough that its worth it to me

with music, i listen to alot of obscure lesser known artists... so if i can actually find their stuff on itunes, i buy it... unfortunately, alot of times i CAN'T find it on itunes or google music or whatever.. so i resort to illegally downloaded... BUT if the oppurtunity arises where i can actually pick up their music, i do... there's a few japanese bands i dig that are REALLY hard to find here..but when i went to japan, i made a point to pick up their CDs

besides... there's something special about physically owning a CD of an artist you really like... with the insert slips, liner notes, case and all... rather than owning a virtual copy of something..

The Jay-Zs and Kanyes of the world.... screw them... they're rich enough... im stealing their shit.... if they honestly wake up in the morning and are like, "today would be an awesome day if only i had Heinz's $15" i'd feel bad... but i'm pretty sure they wipe their asses with a $5 & $10 bill when they poop... so f' them

i'm all for the shady side of the internet... but it IS the SHADY side of the internet... and in no sane world do thieves have rights

don't fool yourselves.... you're all bad people.... i'm cool with that.

[Joey]

i'm comfortable admitting it, because like Mr. Hesketh, i'm a DVD collector. i SERIOUSLY use downloading movies to screen whats worth buying and whats not... i have several hundred DVDs to prove it.. and there's crap i have no conscience about stealing... hollywood "blockbusters" that dont need my money to be sucessful.. that i'd NEVER watch if i had to pay for it.. and, if it's REALLY as good as they marketed their flick to be, i WILL go and buy it... i like extra features and commentary tracks enough that its worth it to me

Totally cool with this. haha Done it myself.
And exactly, if it ends up being any good, I go and spend the money to have it in my collection for repeated watches.

with music, i listen to alot of obscure lesser known artists... so if i can actually find their stuff on itunes, i buy it... unfortunately, alot of times i CAN'T find it on itunes or google music or whatever.. so i resort to illegally downloaded... BUT if the oppurtunity arises where i can actually pick up their music, i do... there's a few japanese bands i dig that are REALLY hard to find here..but when i went to japan, i made a point to pick up their CDs

Totally cool as well. haha

i'm all for the shady side of the internet... but it IS the SHADY side of the internet... and in no sane world do thieves have rights

Eloquently stated, Sir Heinz.

[Joey]

you've seriously never used megaupload!? I use it all the time. I also notice Icefilms is offline. Apparently, though a ton of people abandoned those bills set to be voted on tuesday. Not sure it will get passed now and megaupload should be up on next wednesday.

if it's not then the bill obviously passed.

Nah, SOPA and PIPA are a totally different monster.

Websites like this have been getting shut down for years.
Expect MegaUpload to change their Server Location (ie MegaUpload.me) ala Demonoid.

SOPA would have allowed Internet censoring and blocking of Mass amounts of Websites. (ie ALL/EVERY SINGLE Torrent site or Illegal Content Provider)

[TheGloveinRapsUniform]

First of all, we're canadians.
Its not illegal for us to download anything or everything from the internet.
Its illegal for us to distribute.

The way i see it, and this may sound like im justifying what i do, but technically im not, i pay for my internet, and whatever comes along with it, i consider ive "paid" for it. so if they want to stop us from downloading, then yeah, keep shutting down sites, i dont mind.

[TheGloveinRapsUniform]

Nah, SOPA and PIPA are a totally different monster.

Websites like this have been getting shut down for years.
Expect MegaUpload to change their Server Location (ie MegaUpload.me) ala Demonoid.

SOPA would have allowed Internet censoring and blocking of Mass amounts of Websites. (ie ALL/EVERY SINGLE Torrent site or Illegal Content Provider)

Yeah, i think the feds really did their research on this one. A lot, if not most, streaming websites link themselves to megaupload.

So take down the big fish and all the other ones will come crashing down.

[heinz57]

i've rethought this whole megaupload fiasco...

remember a couple months ago when they did some weird thing that whenever you tried to download a video... you ended up downloading a 2 minute megaupload commercial instead?

I'M GLAD THEY'RE SHUT DOWN.

That pissed me off.

Torrents are better anyways.

[LBF]

dude, they didn't do that. first off you don't download the "megavideo song" it's a pop up, along with that party poker thing, even though it appeared in your WMP it was still a stream, not a download.

Second of all, that was if you go through icefilms because ice tried to bypass the harmless pop up when you click on the download link. So, megaupload got pissed and just blocked you from downloading off mega via icefilms and just threw pop ups at you.

Thirdly, that's still happening all you have to do is go through ice, get to mega, then highlight the adress in your adress bar and hit "enter". problem solved and you don't even have to wait that 45 seconds you used to, it's just instantly.

Fourthly, I don't consider it stealing, I consider it avoiding scams.

Fifthly, this is Rogers fault and superchannel's. These asshole douchebag's!!! charge you an extra fee to view shows that are on regular fucking cable!!! in the united states. Is that not complete bullshit!?

Sixthly, thus I only download because I don't have access to my favourite shows like Sons,Justified,Southland and I sure as hell ain't about to fall into that scam of paying extra on top of what I already fucking pay for them.

Seventh, I don't understand how the AMERICAN feds can shut down a HONG KONG based company?

In conclusion, this is a whole bunch a bull shit from Team America:World Police, fuck those douche's! Plus, you know something is faultered about your plan, when blockbuster now runs through the internet! Which is also complete bullshit, you make me have to rack up my internet bill and pay you assholes, fuck you!!

one more thing, THIS IS SPARTA!!!!!

[LBF]

btw, if torrents are so much better, why do they take so damn long?