Megaupload Wins Evidence Disclosure Battle

[bakan]

If they had handled this with more care and subtlety instead of busting in and bullying new zealand and megaupload, they could of gotten those scumbags at MegaUpload who were helping pirates.

Megaupload did remove illegal content, they just didn't have the staff to remove it faster than it was uploaded.

Didn't they also give tools to publishers, so they could remove illegal content, or at least block it from public access?

In my opinion this whole case was just a big stunt forced by some good lobbying.

 

[getoffmycloud]

Megaupload did remove illegal content, they just didn't have the staff to remove it faster than it was uploaded.

Like asking one janitor to clean up after several hundred monkeys all flinging poo at the wall...

Megaupload might have a veritable infestation of pirated/illegal material, but that's on the people uploading, not the company itself. Would be nice to see the JD get a good swift slap upside the head for these shenanigans, Gibbs style.

But it is the companies responsibility to remove this stuff so if it is being uploaded quicker than you can take it down you hire more people to do the job.

 

[Evil Smurf]

Ha! Take that U.S. government! Hey guys assuming MU wins, I will pay for a round of beers at the pub for us all

 

[draythefingerless]

If they had handled this with more care and subtlety instead of busting in and bullying new zealand and megaupload, they could of gotten those scumbags at MegaUpload who were helping pirates.

Megaupload did remove illegal content, they just didn't have the staff to remove it faster than it was uploaded.

You seem to be oblivious to the fact that they found evidence of staff of megaupload running a piracy circle, wherein they were cutting deals with uploaders of pirate material. THAT is why they got taken down.

 

[likalaruku]

Good. Hope it gets thrown out.

And I'm not saying they have no right to prosecute Megaupload, even if I don't agree with it. I'm saying that seizing their assets before any sort of legal proceedings even begin[footnote]Didn't it also happen the day after SOPA was supposed to pass? Gosh darn, what a coinkydink. [/footnote], and refusing to then share the evidence is just impressively sleazy at best.

& that whole thing about them taking MU down the day after SOPA could have passed & still doing it despite the laws not being passed isn't helping them.

 

[Tony2077]

well let see if the evidence they have is worth all this.

 

[AnarchistFish]

So they didn't want to give them access to the evidence they were using against them? How else are they supposed to know what to defend themselves against? This whole thing was dodgy enough to begin with but that is a bit much. That and the fact that this whole debacle has effectively gimped file sharing over the internet unless you want to use torrents or get your own hosting (or use email attachments, bleh). I miss Megaupload.

Doing it wrong. It's barely any harder if you know what to do.

 

[Doom-Slayer]

But it is the companies responsibility to remove this stuff so if it is being uploaded quicker than you can take it down you hire more people to do the job.

The thing is though every single time a company goes and says "hey..you have illegal content on your website" and points to it, then MU will remove it. Asking them to check every piece of content if its illegal is unreasonable considering the way the site works, all big publishers can do is find illegal content, point to it and tell them to get rid of it, which they do.

The main things they are being sued for is not that they HAVE illegal content, its that they are allowing it to be downloaded and accessed(see the Pirate Bay situation).

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Since my feelings on a piracy are a well documented and often lamented fact of the forums I won't revoice them here. However I will come down in support of this development.

Yes, shocking isn't it?

There were many things about the seisure of Megavideo/upload that always made me suspicious. I may not be an expert in law but it sometimes seemed like even reading basic case law on copyright cases revealed glaring errors in the way the US handled this. Whether medgaupload should exist or not, whether piracy is morally right or not, the law should strive to be an objective truth upheld equally for all.

I know that that will never happen, but at least you can try and stay away from breaking/bending the law yourself just to bring someone in.

Of course, the real problem is the knock on effect. If Megaupload wins against the US government, especially if in the process it proves potential illegality on the part of the supreme court then it will throw all other legitimate cases of copyright enforcement into a grey area.

Captcha: question everything. Weirdly appropriate.

 

[BabySinclair]

Hmmm, well there are a number of problems here.

*snip*

Ultimatly the treaties in force for things like extraditions exist for the specific reason of forcing criminals accused of a crime by another country to stand trial in that country. The whole point of the treaty is that it doesn't nessicarly require what someone did to be a crime in the country they are being extradited from. The agreement being that both countries will turn over criminals wanted for crimes in another country.

In this case it's pretty black and white, as I understand things New Zealand does indeed have an extradition treaty with the US (which is why they are not defending it that way), that makes this an administrative matter, not a Judicial one, because the whole idea is to bring the guy to the US to stand trial in the Judicial system to find out if he's guilty or not... and that's in keeping with the agreement. The evidence the US has is more or less irrelevent to the treaty in question, as the whole idea is that it's a simple matter of us wanting to arrest him.

From where I'm sitting, a lot of people are happy to see New Zealand sticking it to the US, and others are pretty much cheering for a file sharing site fighting against the goverment with a degree of sense. The bottom line here is that there is enough evidence to bring this to trial, whether Megaupload is guilty or not, and that's why pre-existing agreements for exradition exist. Sending the guy to the US at this point isn't convicting him, it's simply forcing him to have to face the court.

*snip*

So glad someone understands the Extradition process. If I recall correctly though, the extradition itself needs to be filed with evidence of the crime to prevent countries from simply taking people without cause. With that should be a release of evidence to the accused and their attorney to see if they can fight it with a simple hearing, more or less a preliminary hearing to determine if there's enough evidence for a trial, have those in the States all the time for non-extradition cases. In that respect Dotcom has grounds depending on New Zealand's laws, which I don't know, but that matter has been resolved. The more pressing matter is the takedown of MU, which, since it was done by the US government, is in violation of US laws. It gets into the grey area of "Does the US judicial system have to follow its Constitutional mandates when processecuting a non-US entity?" Since the answer of that question is "yes", unless they were deemed an enemy of the state and under martial law for some stupid reason, then the dismissal will likely go through. If they had been willing to follow procedure, there could have been a trial but they royally botched the handling of the case and it will likely be dismissed.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

This makes me very happy.

captcha: apple pie

That's a great idea. I will celebrate with an apple pie!

 

[HentMas]

Hmmm, well there are a number of problems here.

At it's core the US goverment does have a point. What's more where the US goverment generally has a problem in not really understanding what they are dealing with, in this case there actions are pretty much appropriate. Simply put, there is no other viable way of going after an international, telecommunications based business like Megaupload than the avenue they pursued. Megaupload is more or less hiding behind it's international status to basically argue that no goverment could viably go after them without stepping on something.

Ultimatly the treaties in force for things like extraditions exist for the specific reason of forcing criminals accused of a crime by another country to stand trial in that country. The whole point of the treaty is that it doesn't nessicarly require what someone did to be a crime in the country they are being extradited from. The agreement being that both countries will turn over criminals wanted for crimes in another country.

In this case it's pretty black and white, as I understand things New Zealand does indeed have an extradition treaty with the US (which is why they are not defending it that way), that makes this an administrative matter, not a Judicial one, because the whole idea is to bring the guy to the US to stand trial in the Judicial system to find out if he's guilty or not... and that's in keeping with the agreement. The evidence the US has is more or less irrelevent to the treaty in question, as the whole idea is that it's a simple matter of us wanting to arrest him.

From where I'm sitting, a lot of people are happy to see New Zealand sticking it to the US, and others are pretty much cheering for a file sharing site fighting against the goverment with a degree of sense. The bottom line here is that there is enough evidence to bring this to trial, whether Megaupload is guilty or not, and that's why pre-existing agreements for exradition exist. Sending the guy to the US at this point isn't convicting him, it's simply forcing him to have to face the court.

I have mixed opinions on the issue itself, but I generally come down as being just as anti-pirate as I am anti-industry.

I'll also say that thumbing your nose at the US isn't the wisest move over something like this, because when the time comes and New Zealand wants our help with a crime (and it will happen given time) we're just as likely to do the same thing now, as New Zealand isn't holding up their end of things. Fears over this "becoming an administrative matter" are ridiculous because that's what it is, there is no need to provide evidence to prove him guilty at the moment as the whole idea is to bring it to trial, he hasn't bene convicted of anything. The evidence isn't needed until the trial begins, and by definition evidence and the circulation there of is kept under wraps before a trial begins. The more that stuff is circulated, the harder it is to get untainted jurors (one way or another) and the last thing we need is New Zealand going to the press and revealing what the evidence is, knowing dang well that with the interest this case ha garnered it's going to feed back into the US media and people will hear about it.

funnily enough you seem to forget that New Zeland had an agreement that the evidence would not be taken so fast, its not a problem of NZ sticking it to the US, its more of a problem that the US gov is being "muscled" by the entertainment industry to step on the treaty the US already had with NZ... something everyone knows is happening, and as such every step the US is taking will be scrutinized because we know there are third parties involved that might make the system vulnerable to doing things that fall outside of the law...

like it haves happened over and over again...

 

[SnowyGamester]

That and the fact that this whole debacle has effectively gimped file sharing over the internet unless you want to use torrents or get your own hosting (or use email attachments, bleh). I miss Megaupload.

Doing it wrong. It's barely any harder if you know what to do.

But you gotta consider everybody who doesn't know what they're doing. It was still probably the fastest and most convenient way to send stuff over the net without any prerequisites.

 

[punipunipyo]

wait... is it just me... or did anyone notice too that this guy have a last name of "Dotcom"? wow... DOT COM, like... ".COM", REALLY? how do you even get that?

The fire! Mega upload!~ I still can't believe this, the government just budge in and shuts down an entire website, and everything associated with it! acting above the law... "Who's watching the watchmen?"