Feds pull the plug on Megaupload.com

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2012/01/file-sharing-megaupload-shut-down-for-piracy-by-feds.html

Quote :

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.

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 Thurday. 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.]

RIP Megaupload. That lovely site where links would potentially stay up for years because their copyright police didn't give a shit. I'll raise a glass to you.

This is the beginning of the end.

RIP. So many good times there.

America needs to fuck-off the internet and by America I mean their government.

Hackers retaliate.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/245161/scitech/technology/us-shutters-megaupload-com-hackers-retaliate

RIP Megaupload, but you will be reincarnated.

http://www.texasinsider.org/?p=57474

People like Lamar will never win.

They shut down Napster years ago, but it hasn't stopped MP3s from being shared at all. They're all better quality now as well, in 320 kbps, compared to 128k-192k back then.

I've been using MU for years!

This is BS!

As much as people (like myself) use Megaupload for piracy, there are those who used Megaupload and sites like it for perfectly legitimate reasons. Want to send Grandma an email with all the pictures you took on your vacation? Company wants detailed schematics sent to a different office? Send them the Megaupload link.

This is akin to killing YouTube for music piracy.

Fortunatly for all of us, for every website the Feds knock off, there are 5 (Mediafire, Fileserve, and the golden oldie Rapidshare to name a few), that are more than happy to take it's place.

hey Tubes, don't list them for the FEDS

I know of one file sharing site that had its paypal account frozen after it was ratted out.

Good video.

Those c.unts.

j7wild wrote:

hey Tubes, don't list them for the FEDS

If it took the feds this long to find those sites names in a piracy context, they aren't doing their job very well.

I don't know what gives them the right. People actually use Megaupload for legitimate file storage, not just piracy. Imagine what some people lost.

Because this is 'Merica
And if you download data
Then you downwith Al-Queda

Would have been funny if they replaced Megaupload with a sup-par facebook looking community, am I right? Haha! See what I did there?
Oh wait....have we all moved on from that? Ah, my bad. Guess that's what I get for not posting that much lately.

Now I'm trying to think of a bald joke...

American Government = ruining lives on a global scale.

In saying that my sister was glad she used it just before it shut down to see her weekly show ... bahaha

Now where am I going to download all my premium porn?

Mr. Brown wrote:

Now I'm trying to think of a bald joke...

I can't even think of a bald joke anymore because all I can think about is his wonderful portrayal as Jack Bauer.

Vesper wrote:

Now where am I going to download all my premium porn?

pm me if you're lookin for a pass to a premium site...

One per member....offer expires in 24 hours :face:

That is ... holy shit

They need to get a new video editor.