Megaupload file-sharing site shut down, founder charged

Megaupload file-sharing site shut down, founder charged

www.bbc.co.uk

Megaupload, one of the internet's largest file-sharing sites, has been shut down by officials in the US.

The site's founder 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.

Investigators denied a link to recent protests against proposed piracy laws, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The US Justice Department said that Kim Dotcom, formerly known as Kim Schmitz, and three others were arrested in

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www.latimes.com

Maybe I'm overreacting but I think this is scary. Prosecutors from the US Justice Department requested these arrests to be made in New Zealand. I'm sure they have extradition treaties but I'm wondering what jurisdiction they have that allows them to do this.

Part of me believes this is going to open Pandora's Box and lead the way to more arrests similar in nature. I know that copyright is a touchy subject among members, and rightfully so, but where do we draw the line?

www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Oh god are you serious?

These nutjobs in Washington and Hollywood need to go.

Originally posted by Corruption Exposed


Maybe I'm overreacting but I think this is scary. Prosecutors from the US Justice Department requested these arrests to be made in New Zealand. I'm sure they have extradition treaties but I'm wondering what jurisdiction they have that allows them to do this.

Part of me believes this is going to open Pandora's Box and lead the way to more arrests similar in nature. I know that copyright is a touchy subject among members, and rightfully so, but where do we draw the line?

www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

What is even scarier is does the US reciprocate? If other countries allow this, does this mean that the US allows other countries to demand arrests of US Citizens for breaking the laws of their countries even if it is legal in the US????? This will definitely have a chilling effect on global trade. Who would want to buy something from a foreign country and risk any problem.

Beat you by 9 mins.

US laws work in New Zealand? Are you serious..
This is just like the UK hacker attempting to be turned over to the USA. It wont work, that New Zealand guy does not have to board the US plane, hes a NZ citizen.

This just goes to show you that the U.S. government doesn't need the SOPA or PIPA bills to prosecute alleged 'violations'. They seem to have laws in place now to take care of "pirates"!

Otherwise.. WTF? A Kiwi prosecuted under American laws?!?!? Anyone from there please tell me if you have similar 'piracy' laws? Is New Zealand not capable of dealing with this guy?

Doesnt sweden provide good services? I say wikileaks, piratebay, megaupload and all the others move their servers or at least have a backup in a internet friendly country.

WHOOT, they took the Kimble down (again)...sad, megaupload was the 2nd best platform, glad Rapidshare is still available....
en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by boncho
Beat you by 9 mins.

LOL, yes you did...

I imagine the mods will be along shortly to close this thread.

Nice find

The copyright warnings have been displayed for a very long time... Ignorance is no excuse for the law.

If there is a product for sale, at a price, and people are taking that product for FREE, that is STEALING.

No matter how you justify it, or defend it, stealing is wrong, and inside of every human is constant awareness of this.

You know right and wrong!

Just because it is available in digital form, doesn't make stealing it okay.... Society is lost when people have no respect for property and rights to it.

reply to post by Fractured.Facade


I will copy and paste the same response I just put in another thread:

All I can say is that I'm sure glad I listen to most my music on YouTube or download free podcasts which are legal. I honestly don't care about the principal of it, I used to rip music off for years (go ahead flame me) but Stephen Harper would have no problems extraditing a Canadian to the U.S. over illegal downloads so this is a risk I'm just not going to take.

Canadian internet providers are as draconian as it gets, that's not including all the new crime laws coming into effect. Friends, it was fun while it lasted, internet freedom is pretty much gone now.

Originally posted by Fractured.Facade
The copyright warnings have been displayed for a very long time... Ignorance is no excuse for the law.

If there is a product for sale, at a price, and people are taking that product for FREE, that is STEALING.

No matter how you justify it, or defend it, stealing is wrong, and inside of every human is constant awareness of this.

You know right and wrong!

Just because it is available in digital form, doesn't make stealing it okay.... Society is lost when people have no respect for property and rights to it.

What a downer...

Anyway, Sopa is NOT just about piracy. It's about Govt. control and they are just using the piracy angle to justify taking even more control away from the people and put it in the hands of the Govt.

If you want to stay free, you can't pick and choose with these guys. You have to stand for the entire issue.

Right or wrong is not what we need to look at. The REAL question is since when does the Govt. care about piracy? What's their REAL angle? What's their REAL gain? You know they do nothing without a gain for them.

Peace

a sad day....

Damn... what a load of rubbish.. u.s going too damn far....

were all living in amerika and its wundarbar...
all heil der fuhrer.!!

who the hell do the damn americans think they are ? wtf are they doing arresting people who arent even american ? total damn bollox if any other country did that america would scream bloody murder and invade them.. more damn american hypocrisy and repression...

when the hell are amricans going to grow some damn balls and remove that oppressive regime they call a government ?

Originally posted by boncho
Beat you by 9 mins.

This news inspired some very fast responses and boncho's thread does seem to have precedence (and hopefully isn't itself preceded by yet another).

Let's please continue discussion there, and sorry for the hassle.