RIP Megaupload

I'm scared.

No, this is misinformation: megavideo.bz or whatever is NOT the link to the DDOS site. The link the article talks about leads to an Anonymous chatroom, and I never saw it widespread without telling anything...plus it says "anon" in its name. This is probably just misinformation to defame Anonymous.

edited 20th Jan '12 7:10:55 AM by Anfauglith

Ah... I was linked to it via forums unrelated to anonymous. That's good to hear.

edited 20th Jan '12 7:13:14 AM by Psyga315

Well, this sucks, but I can't exactly blame the FBI for what they did.

Why not?

Megauplaod did comply with takedown notices: They've deleted stuff I uploaded on DMCA complaints. They should be in the clear, basically.

As for the claim that they changed links instead of deleting content, that's bullshit: Downloaders re-seeded for reduncancy in order to keep the links up. Most warez had mirrors, but these were typically user-operated mirrors.

Megaupload didn't cooperate with the pirates. It passively, sluggishly and reactively complied to DMCA complaints. They did the bare minimum, but they did it.

This is like if they outlawed P 2 P programs because you can use them to spread piracy. Sigh.

If this is true, I suppose they have a legitimate reason to shut down Megaupload.

Hopefully this will send a message that SOPA isn't needed (which is probably why the Do J did it in the first place).

So if we accidentally clicked on the .bz link we're still in trouble?

Probably not actually in trouble, but I don't recommend doing it again.

I think it's depending on where we got the link from. For example, if you got it from an anonymous chatroom, then it might be the DDOS triggerer, but if you got it from somewhere else, then it might just be a normal page.

I don't think he can. Last I checked, had a 500 Internal Error.

edited 20th Jan '12 10:31:55 AM by Psyga315

I got it from a blog post about the MU takedown and I didn't think it was this, of all things. I got a 500 error and closed the tab after about two seconds.

Normally, I would say we should just wait and see. If everyone plays fair, megaupload will come out of this alive and unharmed.

But they're not playing fair. They're throwing every charge they can think of at them. I mean, racketeering? Unless that means something very different from what I understand, I can't believe that would ever apply.

No, it was not a DDOS site from Anonymous That's a myth...the DDOS sites look different and hell, they even ask you to hide the IP before starting. So no.

edited 20th Jan '12 10:35:29 AM by Anfauglith

Are you sure?

The DDOS sites (for the ones that didn't use LOIC) ask you to hide the IP before starting, they say Anonymous or #opmegaupload or such...so no, it was not. People mixed up these sites with the rumor of malware that makes you attack websites, that's how this whole thing started. No 10 years of jail for accidentaly clicking something.

edited 20th Jan '12 10:41:31 AM by Anfauglith

That's...a relief.

I really hope that Anonymous's attacks don't backfire and lead to SOPA being passed.

I believe that they raised awareness about the Megaupload issue, so they were succeful.

Still kind of a dick move.

Well the mere existence of copyrighted material on a website, as done by users and not the owner of the site, should not be the owner's fault. The DMCA outlined what needed to be done and so long as Megaupload did the minimum they should be acquitted. That's not to say they clearly don't know what is going on but there's no legislation out there, or criminal law, that suggests that they must do everything that record labels demand of them. That would be unfair as well.

Besides, I figure that the likely result of all this is that any new upload site will simply ask users to encrypt their data using a random key that only the user has possession of. Then, the owners can't possibly know what people are uploading to their servers and then you can't possibly sue them.

The thing that honestly surprised me most about all this was that one rapper that was supposedly CEO.

Kind of reminds me when Napster got the smackdown. Also I keep reading this thread as RIP Megamind.

Forever Bad.

The thing is, the fact that the movies were still on their servers does nothing to prove that they didn't comply with the takedown requests — the same would be true had they taken them down and then someone had reuploaded them later (which happens 9 times of 10 when copyrighted material gets taken down). Unless I'm mistaken (and someone correct me if I am), under the DMCA, takedown notices don't obligate MU to continue to police their servers to make sure copies of the copyrighted material never come back (which would be completely infeasible). They just obligate them to take down the material cited in the takedown notice. So I'm calling "bullshit" on that section of the indictment.

edited 20th Jan '12 12:45:04 PM by Hsere