Is this really the message the US DOJ and White House want to be giving the day after mass, widespread protests happened concerning a fear that this new law would be used to take down websites? Honestly, this is a big "# you" to the protestors, showing that the government already has this power thanks to the last law they passed: ProIP (which they promised they'd never abuse).

The indictment itself is so full of hyperbole ("Mega Conspiracy") it sounds like it was written by the entertainment industry itself...

Anyway, I'm sure we'll have much more to say about all of this... but wow is the timing dumb on the government's part. Not only does it undermine the argument for PIPA/SOPA, but it raises significant questions about whether or not the feds already have too much censorship power.

Originally posted by THE_PROFESSIONAL
If I had important work files and I lost them, I would sue the crap out of the government for millions. Lots of people store important files

I pity the ignorant fools that stored important work files on MU. Everyone else hit the ← button as soon as they reached the front page.

If you were stupid enough to upload company files onto a Hong Kong, China based company's server you need to be shot for being dangerously ignorant!

I love proxy servers! the anonymity that one receives using them is just grand!

Always trace the servers IP to physical(not virtual) locale people, and when in doubt DO NOT USE IT!

Common sense will safe guard you from harming yourself.

This is terrible! They stole all documents, as well as all databases of all users who used megaupload EVER. Anyone that has ever downloaded a copyrighted file over megaupload is now in the hands of the US government, and they have the right to press charges to each and everyone of you, regardless of where you're located, so long as you used megaupload! And statistics show about 25% of the internet in fact used megaupload, so that's alot of potentially arrested people.

don't know if this has been posted anywhere but i thought i should post, in case anyone has material that they feel important, get it out while you can. This is from anonymous's twitter feed:

MegaUpload - Closed.
- FileServe - Closing does not sell premium.
- FileJungle - Deleting files. Locked in the U.S..
- UploadStation - Locked in the U.S..
- FileSonic - the news is arbitrary (under FBI investigation).
- VideoBB - Closed! would disappear soon.
- Uploaded - Banned U.S. and the FBI went after the owners who are gone.
- FilePost - Deleting all material (so will leave executables, pdfs, txts)
- Videoz - closed and locked in the countries affiliated with the USA.
- 4shared - Deleting files with copyright and waits in line at the FBI.
- MediaFire - Called to testify in the next 90 days and it will open doors pro FBI
-Org torrent - could vanish with everything within 30 days "he is under criminal investigation"
- Network Share mIRC - awaiting the decision of the case to continue or terminate Torrente everything.
- Koshiki - operating 100% Japan will not join the SOUP / PIPA
- Shienko Box - 100% working china / korea will not join the SOUP / PIPA
- ShareX BR - group UOL / BOL / iG say they will join the SOUP / PIPA

We need to fight for the right to have a free and open internet without regulations and things like this. We all need to get together to sign a petition against this.

From what I've read, there are also legitimate and legal uses of MU, which is really upsetting to me. I am an "open source" advocate, FSF, all that, but I've been been around before the internet was created.

Alot of people have tossed around analogies, so here is mine:

One member of a banking institution is embezzling money, so they shut down the whole bank, and all the members suffer because they can't access their money. It's OVERKILL. It's a message, and that is all. I read through threads here, and have read all 17 pages so far. Alot of the discussion has me incensed, but I was gone for about a week from ATS, and I come back to this. ARGH!

As facts have it, MU is back in action, using the .bz country code for it's TLD. bz is the country code for Belize, Brazil, and you are still able to access your account if you change the .com to .bz. Hope that helps. Being an IT geek, I see what happened, and how MU activated it's backup servers. Smart people. Always keep a backup.

To research the whois on a ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain), you need to go to uwhois.com (the universal whois) to find out information. Of course, none is listed, as you need to research by ip address, and that particular section belongs to Brazil.

See, the government can shut down a .com, easy peasy, just by blocking a dns record. Blocking country codes is a totally different story. The topic of imminent domain, airspace, and sovereign rights now come into play. Is Brazil playing political asylum? Is this about politics, or about piracy? Hasn't MU been in business for years?

All MU had to do was change dns records to point to a new nameserver, as easy peasy as editing a simple text file.

Like as has been said, take one down, 5 more take it's place. Better yet, take one down, and the victim can just change the dns records. I'm grabbing my popcorn. This will be interesting.

First of all I believe that laws like SOPA are dangerous. It gives too much power to a group with very limited oversight. That being said it outrages me the number of you that pontificate about how you are not stealing movies or music you are sampling, or that it is your belief that you are entitled to these things or they are too expensive because of blah blah blah. I have never used Mega Upload but from the descriptions provided by most of you on this thread it would have a legitimate use, but the problem with open internet is the fools that squander it. If these kinds of sites were generally used for the free flow of original thought and not the flow of something as trivial as pirated entertainment it would not have been an issue. Your not using the internet for open exchange of ideas. You are not researching. From the sounds of it there are a lot of you don't want to pay for your music or want to say that you have seen every movie that has come out this year but don't make enough money to buy them. If you believe that the product that is produced is not worth paying for maybe you really don't need it. We as a world society are not entitled to these things. I understand there are movies that you wont enjoy, songs on that new album that you think is fluff between singles, but there are others that like that fluff. There are some that like the movies that you do not. If you don't like a movie then I am sorry. Move on. If you can't afford to take the chance of purchasing a movie that might not like then just rent it. This is why society is in decline. The world is full of people who believe that these things are owed to them. People who believe that they should have a great job, live in a large house, drive a new car, own the fanciest whatever and even be entertained. In the past people worked hard and even had to fight for their rights to even dream of having these things. If you want these things then be willing to go out and earn it.

SWIM is pi$$ed... SWIM doesn't have a MU account or any other acount for file sharing. But SWIM has a cracked PSP 3000 with CFW that can play games ranging from NES to PSX to PSP. SWIM has only used the free downloads and has downloaded games that usually were over 10+ years old. Considering these games aren't available for purchase anymore because they are so old why is it illegal to dl them? I mean prescription drugs have a 10 year patent before other companies can start pumping out generic pills of the same chemical for dirt cheap. So if SWIM's games aren't available for retail and are 10+ years old and the original companies aren't making or selling the games anymore couldn't SWIM consider that it's "patent" has expired and therefore is available for download? This is really frustrating to my friend SWIM. >:-\

Originally posted by arwefree
This is terrible! They stole all documents, as well as all databases of all users who used megaupload EVER. Anyone that has ever downloaded a copyrighted file over megaupload is now in the hands of the US government, and they have the right to press charges to each and everyone of you, regardless of where you're located, so long as you used megaupload! And statistics show about 25% of the internet in fact used megaupload, so that's alot of potentially arrested people.

so the feds are going to go after a billion people are they ?

if there were to go after any users then it would be the people who uploaded 'stuff' to MU because you had to have a account, so they have a lot more data on the uploaders, just think how many people downloaded a particular file, it could be thousands they will go for the easy option of the single uploader than go after a thousand people in a hundred different countries, people in China, Russia, France & Switzerland won't extradite people to the USA & the rest of the people in the other EU countries will go to the EU court saying that they cannot be extradited to the USA because of the torture issues & that other people like the ones in Russia, China etc are not being sent over there, furthermore it will also depend on where the server was located that the file you downloaded was hosted & the chances are that most of the servers in the USA served people in the USA both uploading & downloading.