Indictment Charges Megaupload Site With Piracy

Wow this thread is growing quick! Firstly- all those who think the timing of this take down is suspect, I'm with you on that. The timing is just too good...SOPA uproar, SOPA protest, SOPA on the back burner and now a file sharing site goes down. Having said that, it would take time to put together an arrest so quickly, especially one in different countries. This says to me that TPTB knew what sort of reaction to expect and have had this op sitting in the "To Do" file for a while. That also means they have been watching these guys for a while...and didn't get them till the "politically" correct moment.....To me that is worrying.
Secondly- like a lot of things the current legislation for piracy is now outdated. Piracy used to involve some exchange of cash or services for the product being pirated. Now mostly, its all free. The legislation needs to be updated for one, but also the entertainment industries need to update their thinking too. They should look at the way the world is sharing info then try find a way to make money with it, not destroy it.
Example. Studio A made a big budget movie, got decent returns at the box office and 3 weeks after release they then sell a digital copy for a nominal fee. Currently in Australia Blu Ray movies cost between $19-$39 depending on the title/studio. That is a fair chunk of change. Now if they uploaded a 1080p Blu Ray rip and sold through a digital store for $15 they would still make a bucket load of coin and more people would be able to afford it rather than download it (in theory). I know its all much of a muchness, but if they could find a way for the current system to work for them, then i dare say the laws would be changed dramatically.
I love watching movies and the advent of blu ray was fantastic, but the costs are a killer, especially when it is all out there....so tempting. Not to mention the tech side of things gets upgraded so often as well. Just my 2 cents.
Regards,
RogueTraveller

Liberal/Left-wing brainwashing has turned Millions into "we deserve to get everything for free" entitlement-brats. Im horrified of many of the comments here. If you derive benefit from a product, you should give something in exchange. This is so basic to life and the survival of our species that its really sad to read all the pro-piracy advocacy here.

here is another saying everything is a copied - transformed - combined... hollywood copies alot of foreign films like The girl with the dragon tattoo and make it theirs.Or Bangkok Dangerous another straight copy

I'm going to copyright my image ! Then if anyone uploads a photo of me to
Facebook I'll get it shut down !
Thats how it works is'nt it ?
Alot of sports stars have rights to they're image !
I know it would only count if it wasn't they themselves who uploaded it
but I think you get the point ?


Peace

Originally posted by lucid eyes
Liberal/Left-wing brainwashing has turned Millions into "we deserve to get everything for free" entitlement-brats. Im horrified of many of the comments here. If you derive benefit from a product, you should give something in exchange. This is so basic to life and the survival of our species that its really sad to read all the pro-piracy advocacy here.

It's not just that, it's the intention, it's what they CAN do under this act (law) that is the worry.
Arbitrary takedowns of sites "They" don't like, under the guise of copyright.
This is a means to an end and a very damaging end too.

Also regarding piracy you're right... but what about when it's not just piracy?
Today it's piracy and illegal downloads.... tomorrow it's people expressing a different or alternative view from the government and then it's just the internet.

I found this take and thought I would share ..peace.... Guest Post by Alec Rawls wattsupwiththat.com...

As Congress considers vastly expanding the power of copyright holders to shut down fair use of their intellectual property, this is a good time to remember the other activities that Obama’s “regulatory czar” Cass Sunstein wants to shut down using the tools of copyright protection. For a couple of years now, Sunstein has been advocating that the “notice and take down” model from copyright law should be used against rumors and conspiracy theories, www.law.harvard.edu...


also this climateaudit.org... It has come to our attention that several Chapters of the Zero Order Draft (ZOD) of WGI AR5 are being cited, quoted and discussed on the blog that you host, Climate Audit, despite the fact that each of these chapters is clearly marked “Do not cite, quote or distribute”. We would respectfully request that you remove the relevant parts with discussions of the ZOD from your blog and, furthermore, that this does not happen with the FOD.

Originally posted by lucid eyes
Liberal/Left-wing brainwashing has turned Millions into "we deserve to get everything for free" entitlement-brats. Im horrified of many of the comments here. If you derive benefit from a product, you should give something in exchange. This is so basic to life and the survival of our species that its really sad to read all the pro-piracy advocacy here.

You talk about brainwashing yet....

YOUR ENTIRE STATEMENT IS FULL OF PROOF THAT YOU ARE BRAINWASHED.

The use of the terms "Liberal/Left-wing" is a clear indication that you connect the two as well as an obvious insight into your perception of the world. Add on that your avatar is of Israel flag over the middle east...

Shill.

Now this issue is NOT about piracy or even stealing. The government is using that term as a guise to BRAINWASH people like you! (I bet you have a premium subscription to FOX news too).

Ya know what? It absolutely pisses me off that a person has to purchase the copyrighted content in multiple mediums in order to enjoy it on their various technical devices. Buy the DVD-set, Blu-Ray set, iTunes copy, and you're out $100 for content that should be yours for only the cost of one of those items. That's like going to McDonalds and having to pay 10 times for 1 hamburger.

Originally posted by Evil_Santa

Originally posted by lucid eyes
Liberal/Left-wing brainwashing has turned Millions into "we deserve to get everything for free" entitlement-brats. Im horrified of many of the comments here. If you derive benefit from a product, you should give something in exchange. This is so basic to life and the survival of our species that its really sad to read all the pro-piracy advocacy here.

You talk about brainwashing yet....

YOUR ENTIRE STATEMENT IS FULL OF PROOF THAT YOU ARE BRAINWASHED.

The use of the terms "Liberal/Left-wing" is a clear indication that you connect the two as well as an obvious insight into your perception of the world. Add on that your avatar is of Israel flag over the middle east...

Shill.

Now this issue is NOT about piracy or even stealing. The government is using that term as a guise to BRAINWASH people like you! (I bet you have a premium subscription to FOX news too).

Ya know what? It absolutely pisses me off that a person has to purchase the copyrighted content in multiple mediums in order to enjoy it on their various technical devices. Buy the DVD-set, Blu-Ray set, iTunes copy, and you're out $100 for content that should be yours for only the cost of one of those items. That's like going to McDonalds and having to pay 10 times for 1 hamburger.

I agree with your point on the other poster but I disagree with your analogy. It's actually like having to pay ten times for one hamburger while at the same time your friend who has already purchased said hamburger legally offers you a piece of his burger but you can't eat it because it's illegal.

I say this to anyone who thinks piracy , should we shut down Copy shops that allow teachers to copy pages from books and hand them out to students? If you're against Piracy you should also be going after Xerox and Kinkos as well.

I could imagine that if Orwell was alive today he would say its worse than I thought ..peace

I don't see a problem with taking down a Hoster that for 99,9% was used to spread pirated material around. If Megaupload was important for the release of non-copyright material, i would be extremely upsed by this. But in that case...i'm not a pirate, so i don't really care but think it's a good thing. After all Megaupload made a lot of money through their paid accounts, used solely to release pirated materials. The owners knew perfectly well what they were dealing with and for years and year Copyright holders told Megaupload to delete the copyrighted content, they never followed this so now they have to pay.
I hope Rapidshare and the others are following too. Unless they could make sure that only non-pirated media was uploaded and downloaded on those sites.

A big, big concern I have with these arrests and indictment charges NOW is that WE (quit a few people and lawmakers around the globe) have been talking about what the anti-piracy laws in this country and around the world should be.

We have been talking and saying slow this SOPA/PIPA legislation train down, there are a few problems we need to talk about. In fact, many lawmakers have recently agreed, that more discussion is needed and SOPA and PIPA are not the answer.

An investigation and international coordination of arrests of Megaupload's creators and staff takes a lot of time and planning. Megaupload's business model operates like, I would imagine, a few others like them, and has been allowed to function, until now.

To take them down now with such force, in the middle of an international discussion on this very issue; is a shot across the bow to borrow former Sen. Chris Dodd's (and current CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America) recent swiftboat references. Only these shots, unlike the rest of us who just turned out the lights for a day, signed petitions or sported a spiffy avatar banner, threw people in lock up.

Right in the middle of the international discussion on what anti-piracy legislation is needed, the authorities in our government decide to chain the doors of Megaupload and throw its people in prison.

Now?

When people are at the table discussing the rights and wrongs of all this; you decide to lock up one side of the argument? Yes, many of us agree that stealing is wrong but this action seems like a completely premeditated act of, "talk all you want, but look what we can do to you," out and out bullying.

There are many sides to the arguments of what is piracy and what is sensible copyright law in this new age of technology. I mean seriously, how many times should we have to pay to "own" Avatar? We paid at the theater, we paid for the PPV, we paid for the dvd, we paid for the blueray, we paid for the mobile device version...are we there yet? There are many, many considerations in all this.

These arrests NOW, while everyone is talking about what the solutions ought to be, takes the discussion to a level that makes the debate seem dangerously hostile and will not help solve anything.

Megaupload, from my recent reading about this site, didn't just now rush in the door and burglarize the place. They have been operating for awhile - albeit - maybe not as righteously as they could be with sensible digital copyright laws and new distribution models. But why now?

This was a horrible time for these on-going investigative agencies, to pull the trigger and move into make these arrests, imho. Way to escalate tensions there .gov (sarcasm deployed).

Deep breaths everyone. Keep talking.

Shouldn't everyone who was against SOPA and PIPA on the grounds of it "over reached" be happy about this? No one is denying that this site was a pirate site...and instead of blocking it or any website linked to it...they are going directly after that one specific website with the current laws on the books.

But now it seems like people who were against SOPA/PIPA were just full of it...seems like they didn't care about "over reaching"...they just wanted their free music and movies still.


Stealing is stealing people...pay for your music and your movies and we wouldn't have any of these problems. We wouldn't have to worry about the government maybe censoring, blocking, or taking down websites.

Don't blame the government when all of you who pirate music, movies, and software...blame yourselves.

Originally posted by the2ofusr1
I could imagine that if Orwell was alive today he would say its worse than I thought ..peace

Why...because the government stopped theft???

Yes...we live in such a horrible horrible world...we are expected to actually pay for things.

Originally posted by OutKast Searcher
Stealing is stealing people...pay for your music and your movies and we wouldn't have any of these problems. We wouldn't have to worry about the government maybe censoring, blocking, or taking down websites.

We had Piracy discussions here on ATS many times. Sadly, most people don't realise that Movies, Music and other Media is created by Humans, it's their job. When everybody pirates the stuff, those people lose their jobs. You have to look no further than at the sad state of the Music Industry, that is noy ruled by 3-4 big Companies and maybe 10 so-called Independent labels. Compared to the 80's when there were 10-12 big companies and several smaller ones, it's sad. It also leads to a sad state of music. Compare todays music scene, where the charts are ruled by nothing else than Rap, Pop and maybe some modern Rock to the 80's when basically every style of Music was in the Charts and from New Wave to Metal to Rap to even Blues, everything was available.
People only think that "Oh, i want it, but i don't have the money, but i want it so i have the right to get it" thinking or they are saying that musicians make their music out of passion and love and aren't interested in making money. It's funny, weird and absolutely stupid with what "excuses" ATS-Users come up once Piracy is mentioned. They don't realise it and won't realise it.

That's why those One-Click Hoster, Piratebay and other such websites are so popular here and celebrated as the "force" against the "evil empire" of copyright holders who rightfully say that if you want the things they produce, you have to pay for them.

No....
They killed Kenyy...
Those bastards...

Megaupload was my favorite streaming source....



I can reveal a problem!
netflix, crackle, ect... dont carry seasons of morel orel...
there fore, the only way to watch it, save for adult swim, it piracy, or streaming, from pirates...

piracy is not pure, theft...

some people are pirating, because, what they want, is very rare...
origninal nintendo games: can run up to 100 usd (even more)for a working copy...
some films and t.v. shows, are imposible to find on dvd, vhs, on t.v. and netflix sure ass hell aint got em...

I ask you, copywright holders, how am I supose to watch, rare, films, hear, rare music, and play rare games...
without borrowing(stealing) them... from happy hippies, whom are willing to share...

reply to post by ShadowAngel85


Yes, it's amazing to me that people are actually claiming their rights are being taken away because they can't steal their music and movies.

I honestly feel like everyone has taken idiot pills...I wish these people would just stop and think about what they are saying. They are mad....because they can't get stuff for free...it is just unbelievable.

And to top it off...these people are cheering on a hacker group committing another illegal act because their original illegal act was taken away from them.

No one would do this in real life...no one would support the mafia laying siege to state capitals because the state took down their illegal casinos or money laundering facilities. But people lose all sense of ethics on the internet apparently.

reply to post by OutKast Searcher


Yeah , send the all pirates in Guantanamo

reply to post by AwnAegisean

piracy is not pure, theft...

some people are pirating, because, what they want, is very rare...
origninal nintendo games: can run up to 100 usd (even more)for a working copy...
some films and t.v. shows, are imposible to find on dvd, vhs, on t.v. and netflix sure ass hell aint got em...

I ask you, copywright holders, how am I supose to watch, rare, films, hear, rare music, and play rare games...
without borrowing(stealing) them... from happy hippies, whom are willing to share...

Please tell me you are not serious.

Yes...those things are up to 100 USD BECAUSE THEY ARE RARE.

You know I really really want a Lamborghini...but they are so rare and expensive....but I REALLY REALLY want it. I guess using your logic...it is ok for me just to steal it...you know....because I REALLY REALLY want it and like it a lot.


THINK about what you are saying...you would never do this in the real world...why is it ok on the internet.

reply to post by OutKast Searcher
I didn,t know they stoped any theft only that its not going to happen on that site any longer ...The law against murdering someone dosent stop murder from happening ..education and morals will reduce it and like Ron Paul said its the only way to move forward to get thing at least heading in the right direction ....peace

I don't watch movies or listen to professionally recorded music because I don't believe the current wealth disparity in today's world is ok.

SOPA worries me and I don't care either way about piracy. Our freedom on the Internet isn't just important because its something we can enjoy. Our freedom is part of our responsibility.