[UPDATE] Feds Take Down Megaupload

[LetalisK]

Hey umm actually would like to point out that...that link to megauploads. It installs Anon's DDOS program on your comp unless you have a good malware blocker. XD Just...uhh thought you might want to know.

How exactly do you know? Thats what im wondering at this Point..

Well here's for having No-Script to block sites i dont trust, no messy autodownloading for them!

And before a Mod gets hammer-happy, no i dont use it to block the escapist or encourage others to do it as well ;P

OT:

Well, there's one down, just..whats a good number, 100? 200?...well alot more to go. And no i dont agree with what they have done but given that nobody had prior notice to it, its not like we could stop it now that they went ballistic already.

My Malware Bytes program blocked the install and the on a few other sites people warning not to try and access the megauploads ip otherwise your'll get the DDOS program installed.

AW! god damn it. I only let it load a few seconds since it was taking so long, but I better go get malware bytes now anyway.

 

[Slayer_2]

I wish I could say I feel bad, but after that douchey ad they released, I'm glad to see them go bye-bye.

 

[Wintermoot]

just HOW does the US have jurisdiction outside their country?
as far as I know the internet has no leader/owner meaning nobody has jurisdiction on it (except for admins).
it,s like the Dutch government catching Texans for owning weapons.

Since most of the infrastructure of the internet passes through USA they can block out data traffic, but the content will not be erased in its source.

the thing is the US government also caught people from outside the US that British guy and somebody from New Zealand they also took down servers outside the US.

 

[samsonguy920]

This little quote just makes me shake my head.

"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."

It's the same as Clinton saying he tried marijuana but didn't inhale, or a girl being almost pregnant. You don't erase the illegality by being mostly legitimate. If that was true none of the mafia gangs would have ever been touched by the Feds.
If you can't police your own house, someone else will with worse consequences. Trying to act like you were mostly legit doesn't cut the cake. You are either all legit, or you are not.

What about Youtube then? Their webtraffic is mostly legitimate, but they do have some infringing content. Should they be shut down.

I don't hear Youtube saying that they shouldn't. Youtube does acknowledge that gray material comes through their site, but they also take steps to curb it(Sometimes being too quick on the button, assuredly). I don't hear anything about MegaUpload doing their part to curb any pirated content coming through their servers.

And, yes, the Justice Department can always do this, legitimately. SOPA would have taken away all that annoying bullshit like search warrants and due process.

man you scare me, it´s darn scary to hear a person calling search warrants and due process annoying, the two few things protecting people from rich farts and sneaky politicians or well anyone from abusing the law in there favour, the two things that forces people to pause and ask questions.

You need to change the batteries on your sarcasm meter, son. Search warrants, grand juries, and due process is all that stands between us and a government that can do whatever they want to whoever they please, regardless whatever real evidence they probably don't have.
What scares me(as it should you) is that there are a significant number of people in our own Congress who have zero problem with taking away due process. They may be in the minority, but for a time there, they had most of the other congressbeings into thinking SOPA/PIPA was a good thing or mostly harmless. It took people actually doing something and not just sitting on their ass on some street to bring some sense to the Capitol.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Those in favour of sites checking all uploads for legality, do you want all your mail opened and read by the mailman in case someone's sending you drugs in the post? Of course, the price of mail, and services products of any company that needs to use the mail, will have to go up to cover paying for these mail probing staff.

Then do you want the mailman to be jailed because someone's sending you drugs? Must be his fault, not the sender or recipient, right?

I still am not sure Megaupload's takedown was legal, but either way, to me it sure as hell proves we don't need anyone getting EXTRA powers to run roughshod over the law and due process.

Whatever comes in, it's ESSENTIAL that guilt is proven, before anyone starts being punished. At present, I don't see that happening in the SOPA bill or any of its close friends.

Also, how about war, terrorism, healthcare and a few other hundred things take priority over this, politicians?

 

[JoaoJatoba]

just HOW does the US have jurisdiction outside their country?
as far as I know the internet has no leader/owner meaning nobody has jurisdiction on it (except for admins).
it,s like the Dutch government catching Texans for owning weapons.

Since most of the infrastructure of the internet passes through USA they can block out data traffic, but the content will not be erased in its source.

the thing is the US government also caught people from outside the US that British guy and somebody from New Zealand they also took down servers outside the US.

Extradition treaties... When a foreign is at some country and his homeland request him for some crime, this country may (I said MAY) arrest him and send him home. And there's other international law that apply to the case. It's not at all illegal... but it's sure as hell uncalled for...

 

[Robert Ewing]

Megaupload is based in Hong Kong.

Most of it's founders are from New Zealand are they not? In fact, that is irrelevant, most have no affiliation with the US. (Not sure if that is right, but I might of heard that somewhere.)

So Why? Why are the feds taking it down? WHY? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

 

[MattAn24]

But copying a file that you have on your pc is not illegal.
And people dont always have to buy their own stuff, otherwise i wouldve read a lot fewer books, cause who buys all that stuff. Why cant people trade among themselves?
Oh and i dont mean to justify piracy, but rather the freedom of information. The problem is at the copying part, not the distributing part, so it makes no sense to regulate the latter.

Anonymus is not allowed to break into peoples websites, they do that without any legal basis. Theyre just vigilantes, or want to be.

I'm glad we agree on the Anonymous part at least..

But yes, copying and sharing with LOCAL FRIENDS is fine, we do that with a physical products all the time. But uploading it *for free* on the internet, where literally anyone can simply say "Well fuck paying for it when it's free!" completely at the detriment of the original creator.

TV shows are a different story. Example: Doctor Who doesn't air in Canada? Awesome, that's a legitimate reason to have someone record it for you from another country. Nerdist TV special only airs on BBC America (and not any other BBC?) Awesome, I even believe Chris Hardwick himself has said that if you're international, he wants them to see it too, it's just sucky that it's exclusive to American TV. But there are ways that THE TV NETWORKS can do this for people. Hell, letting us buy it from iTunes would be a start! Not just supplying it to the AMERICAN iTunes..

Games are a *completely* different story. Developers never deserve to have their work pirated. It's a creative work, it's intended to be *purchased*. Yes, games in general could be cheaper, but it's not excuse for piracy.

 

[chadachada123]

But copying a file that you have on your pc is not illegal.
And people dont always have to buy their own stuff, otherwise i wouldve read a lot fewer books, cause who buys all that stuff. Why cant people trade among themselves?
Oh and i dont mean to justify piracy, but rather the freedom of information. The problem is at the copying part, not the distributing part, so it makes no sense to regulate the latter.

Anonymus is not allowed to break into peoples websites, they do that without any legal basis. Theyre just vigilantes, or want to be.

I'm glad we agree on the Anonymous part at least..

But yes, copying and sharing with LOCAL FRIENDS is fine, we do that with a physical products all the time. But uploading it *for free* on the internet, where literally anyone can simply say "Well fuck paying for it when it's free!" completely at the detriment of the original creator.

TV shows are a different story. Example: Doctor Who doesn't air in Canada? Awesome, that's a legitimate reason to have someone record it for you from another country. Nerdist TV special only airs on BBC America (and not any other BBC?) Awesome, I even believe Chris Hardwick himself has said that if you're international, he wants them to see it too, it's just sucky that it's exclusive to American TV. But there are ways that THE TV NETWORKS can do this for people. Hell, letting us buy it from iTunes would be a start! Not just supplying it to the AMERICAN iTunes..

Games are a *completely* different story. Developers never deserve to have their work pirated. It's a creative work, it's intended to be *purchased*. Yes, games in general could be cheaper, but it's not excuse for piracy.

I see no difference between sharing with local friends and sharing with friends you've met online, and sharing with strangers. I see no clearly-definable difference between these, as far as what the law should recognize.

 

[zombiesinc]

And even more fail. The government really needs to start focusing on more important and pressing matters.

 

[MattAn24]

I see no difference between sharing with local friends and sharing with friends you've met online, and sharing with strangers. I see no clearly-definable difference between these, as far as what the law should recognize.

A physical product can be shared because it's ONE item. Which can be returned. A digital product (when it isn't purchased) is an item which can not be returned, you have PAID for it if you download it for free. How is the content creator getting their payment for the product that was sold TO someone else. You're STEALING a product, exactly like you would from a store, and using it for free.

TV shows are broadcast (usually) for free on a network, etc. If that particular television show is not broadcast in a particular country and you'd want to watch it? THAT is the content provider's fault and I have absolutely zero problems with downloading a TV show to watch it.

If a product is readily available and sold in your country of residence and/or you CAN purchase it, it should be purchased legally. You have no excuse. None at all.

ESPECIALLY with games. Example: If a game is only released in say, Japan, and you'd like to play it? Sure, download it, but make damn sure you make that purchase legitimate by giving the creator SOME form of payment. Otherwise, yes, you're stealing it.

A game like Call of Duty (even though I hate it with a passion), Mass Effect, Fable, Final Fantasy, Gears of War, Halo, inFAMOUS, Uncharted, etc, is available. It can be purchased. Fucking buy it like everyone else. Otherwise, you guessed it folks! You're STEALING.

This has been and will be the most obvious post of the year. I'm disappointed that it even has to be said. :/

 

[USSR]

NOT MEGAPORN! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, AT LEAST LEAVE US MEGAPORN!

I lol'd pretty damn hard at that.

 

[Wintermoot]

just HOW does the US have jurisdiction outside their country?
as far as I know the internet has no leader/owner meaning nobody has jurisdiction on it (except for admins).
it,s like the Dutch government catching Texans for owning weapons.

Since most of the infrastructure of the internet passes through USA they can block out data traffic, but the content will not be erased in its source.

the thing is the US government also caught people from outside the US that British guy and somebody from New Zealand they also took down servers outside the US.

Extradition treaties... When a foreign is at some country and his homeland request him for some crime, this country may (I said MAY) arrest him and send him home. And there's other international law that apply to the case. It's not at all illegal... but it's sure as hell uncalled for...

wasn't the British guy born and raised in Brittan?
also extradition orders are only for people who did high profile stuff like drug smuggling and murder not for downloading Lady Gaga,s new album.

 

[Wintermoot]

Megaupload is based in Hong Kong.

Most of it's founders are from New Zealand are they not? In fact, that is irrelevant, most have no affiliation with the US. (Not sure if that is right, but I might of heard that somewhere.)

So Why? Why are the feds taking it down? WHY? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

ONE server (not even a big one) was based in the US (I think somewhere near the east coast).

 

[Caverat]

Hmm, yeah I can see why we should be ashamed of ourselves. Why would we ever think about stealing from these poor, innocent people?


Man, these entertainment corporations pretty much steal from the original creators of the content anyway, and now that the Internet has become such a powerful tool of the people, they're all up in arms about how they're losing money? Huh, the world we live in today.

Okay, so theft shouldn't be prosecuted when it is committed against rich people?

Idiot.

 

[AlexWinter]

There was a Megaporn?!


Daamn...

While I'll miss megavideo I guess it was kind of illegal.

 

[apollo278]

Im surprised no one has brought up the fact that shuting down megaupload only inconvinces pirates and completly screws over everyone that used megaupload legally, kinda like DRM. Also most pirates use torrents more than file sharing sites. From what I've seen youtube is just as bad as megavideo and the reason they took mega down instead of youtube is beacuse almost everyone in america knows about and uses youtube while only a small amount even know megavideo exists. The only real way, that I can think of, to stop most pirating would be to shut down the internet which we can all agree is a very drastic method.

 

[silversnake4133]

Okay, so theft shouldn't be prosecuted when it is committed against rich people?

Idiot.

I didn't say that it's not bad. Stealing shouldn't be condoned no matter who it's done to, but when it really comes down to it, they wouldn't be where they are today if the general public didn't buy their products. And now they want to monopolize the market by barring us access to information and resources that new and budding artists and musicians would need in order to get started and noticed. Heck most of these people don't even produce what the people would eventually buy. Their companies do, they just get huge paychecks because they own their respective businesses. Sorry, but I'd rather support the artists that struggle to make it in this day and age, not the people who make bank off of them and their names.

Also, I'd appreciate it if you didn't use such slanderous language. It doesn't really make you look good if you have to resort to name-calling just to make yourself look/sound smarter or better than the person you reply to. Just saying.

 

[JoaoJatoba]

just HOW does the US have jurisdiction outside their country?
as far as I know the internet has no leader/owner meaning nobody has jurisdiction on it (except for admins).
it,s like the Dutch government catching Texans for owning weapons.

Since most of the infrastructure of the internet passes through USA they can block out data traffic, but the content will not be erased in its source.

the thing is the US government also caught people from outside the US that British guy and somebody from New Zealand they also took down servers outside the US.

Extradition treaties... When a foreign is at some country and his homeland request him for some crime, this country may (I said MAY) arrest him and send him home. And there's other international law that apply to the case. It's not at all illegal... but it's sure as hell uncalled for...

wasn't the British guy born and raised in Brittan?
also extradition orders are only for people who did high profile stuff like drug smuggling and murder not for downloading Lady Gaga,s new album.

They were arrested New Zealand, by New Zealand authorities, who executed provisional arrest warrants requested by the United States. See this treaty (http://newzealand.usembassy.gov/uploads/images/o16y8MOyHW2l-jJTxaMpeQ/ExtraditionUSNZ.pdf) between USA and NZ...

Nevertheless, USA and UK also have a treaty that allows the extradition of nationals (see. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extradition_Act_2003).

They were charge of RACKETERING, MONEY LAUNDRY and CONSPIRACY... Pretty heavy stuff.

 

[Orekoya]

In some cases, I think that wide-spread, clear cutting is required.

And since you accept that then next time those doing the cutting need only alittle less evidence for support of their tree cutting than they had this time because they've already seen you accept the action. Then next time alittle less, then next just alittle, then next time none because it's happening all the time anyways. Enjoy your barren field.