MegaUpload file sharing site shut down for piracy by Feds-gctid49042

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MegaUpload file sharing site shut down for piracy by Feds

                      January 19, 2012 |  2:39       pm
                                                                                                                 
              
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 This post has been updated. See note below.
 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.
 [Update, 2:55 p.m.: The websites of the Justice  department and Universal Music Group, which had been involved in  litigation with MegaUpload, were down on Thursday. The sites were  attacked by members of the hacker group Anonymous in response to the  actions against MegaUpload, according to a report on CNET News.]

MegaUpload file sharing site shut down for piracy by Feds - latimes.com

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Megaupload file-sharing site shut down

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                                                                   Georgina Ball of Radio New Zealand on the Megaupload court appearance
               
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                       Megaupload, one of the internet's largest file-sharing sites, has been shut down by officials in the US.
         The site's founders have been charged with violating piracy laws.
         Federal prosecutors have accused it of costing copyright  holders more than $500m (£320m) in lost revenue. The firm says it was  diligent in responding to complaints about pirated material.
         In response, the hackers group Anonymous has targeted the FBI and US Department of Justice websites.
         The news came a day after anti-piracy law protests, but investigators said they were ordered two weeks ago.
         The US Justice Department said that Megaupload's two  co-founders Kim Dotcom, formerly known as Kim Schmitz, and Mathias  Ortmann were arrested in Auckland, New Zealand along with two other  employees of the business at the request of US officials. It added that  three other defendants were still at large.
         "This action is among the largest criminal copyright cases  ever brought by the United States and directly targets the misuse of a  public content storage and distribution site to commit and facilitate  intellectual property crime," said a statement posted on its website.
         The FBI website was intermittently unavailable on Thursday  evening due to what officials said was being "treated as a malicious  act".
         The hackers' group Anonymous said it was carrying out the attacks.
         The Motion Picture Association of America's website also suffered disruption.
   Third-party sites          The charges included, conspiracies to commit racketeering, copyright infringement and money laundering.
         A federal court in Virginia ordered that 18 domain names associated with the Hong Kong-based firm be seized.
         The Justice Department said that more than 20 search warrants  had been executed in nine countries, and that approximately $50m (£32m)  in assets had been seized.
         It claimed that the accused had pursued a business model designed to promote the uploading of copyrighted works.
         "The conspirators allegedly paid users whom they specifically  knew uploaded infringing content, and publicised their links to users  throughout the world," a statement said.
         "By actively supporting the use of third-party linking sites  to publicise infringing content, the conspirators did not need to  publicise such content on the Megaupload site.
         "Instead, the indictment alleges that the conspirators  manipulated the perception of content available on their servers by not  providing a public search function on the Megaupload site and by not  including popular infringing content on the publicly available lists of  top content downloaded by its users."
         Before it was shut down the site posted a statement saying the allegations against it were "grotesquely overblown".
         "The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay," it added.
         "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."
   Blackouts          The announcement came a day after thounited snakesnds of websites took  part in a "blackout" to protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act  (Sopa) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (Pipa).
         The US Chamber of Commerce has defended the proposed laws  saying that enforcement agencies "lack the tools" to effectively apply  existing intellectual property laws to the digital world.
         Industry watchers suggest this latest move may feed into the wider debate.
         "Neither of the bills are close to being passed - they need  further revision. But it appears that officials are able to use existing  tools to go after a business alleged to be inducing piracy," said  Gartner's media distribution expert Mike McGuire.
         "It begs the question that if you can find and arrest people  who are suspected to be involved in piracy using existing laws, then why  introduce further regulations which are US-only and potentially  damaging?"

BBC News - Megaupload file-sharing site shut down

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And the gaultlet is thrown. Welcome to the new prohibition era.

[Agya Yaw]

They did not realize the animal the Internet would become back in the mid-90's. As always it's their attempt to control and display power even against their own.
:gyenyame: