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Barkey Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#26: Jan 19th 2012 at 4:08:08 PM

Who knows? Maybe this was some backroom agreement between the DOJ and MU that they could stop SOPA if MU fell on the sword to prove that the Government can combat copy infringement just fine with the laws in place now.

FBI: Lay low for about 6 months, and then feel free to start up Ultra Upload, with our blessing...

Baff Since: Jul, 2011
#27: Jan 19th 2012 at 4:09:32 PM

It was probably retaliation against the Stop-SOPA movemnt, specifically at the blackouts (such as what Wikipedia did), and posted protests (tvtropes).

edited 19th Jan '12 4:11:01 PM by Baff

I will always cherish the chance of a new beggining.
wuggles (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#28: Jan 19th 2012 at 4:10:43 PM

Maybe it'll be like the time they shut down Tv-links.com (or whatever the original was). It got reopened with links anyway after the owner got arrested.

CaissasDeathAngel House Lewis: Sanity is Relative from Dumfries, SW Scotland Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
House Lewis: Sanity is Relative
#29: Jan 19th 2012 at 4:11:01 PM

[up][up] Suspected but wrong, that's just the timing. This is a case that's gone on for a couple of years now.

edited 19th Jan '12 4:11:11 PM by CaissasDeathAngel

My name is Addy. Please call me that instead of my username.
Baff Since: Jul, 2011
#30: Jan 19th 2012 at 4:11:34 PM

[up][up]

Because he was released. The US wants to extradite him do.

[up] Well, nevertheless, it comes at a very particular time.

edited 19th Jan '12 4:12:16 PM by Baff

I will always cherish the chance of a new beggining.
Sparkysharps Since: Jan, 2001
#31: Jan 19th 2012 at 4:12:01 PM

Well, that fucking sucks.

I mean, I'm not 100% in on the "PIRACY, FUCK YEAH!" crowd, but this really puts a damper on things for me on finding rips of region-locked stuff. (Look, Japan. Selling DVDs at around $75 bucks a pop is already shitty enough, but you have no excuse for doing that and making them unplayable on a US player. No fucking excuse.)

SavageHeathen Pro-Freedom Fanatic from Somewhere Since: Feb, 2011
Pro-Freedom Fanatic
#32: Jan 19th 2012 at 4:16:49 PM

It saddens me that people (some of them non-cops) knew the police was planning a sting for years and not a single person bothered to give the victim a five-o warning. What's wrong with humanity?

edited 19th Jan '12 4:17:44 PM by SavageHeathen

You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.
Psyga315 Since: Jan, 2001
Barkey Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#34: Jan 19th 2012 at 4:20:01 PM

It saddens me that people (some of them non-cops) knew the police was planning a sting for years and not a single person bothered to give the victim a five-o warning. What's wrong with humanity?

Odds are they knew Savage, they probably realized off the bat that it was better to fight it publicly then go on the lamb or something stupid like that.

This is good, it's good publicity for a number of reasons. It says SOPA is unnecessary.

SavageHeathen Pro-Freedom Fanatic from Somewhere Since: Feb, 2011
Pro-Freedom Fanatic
#35: Jan 19th 2012 at 4:22:39 PM

If I'd been'em, I'd have had every single hard drive use full disk encryption. Once the heat comes in, someone flips off the switch and now they can't access any data. Then you eat the key, so to speak, eat the ensuing contempt charge (as it's traditional).

Perhaps they did and we don't know yet.

edited 19th Jan '12 4:23:00 PM by SavageHeathen

You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.
Colonial1.1 Purveyor of Obscurity from The Marvelous River City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Purveyor of Obscurity
#36: Jan 19th 2012 at 4:23:42 PM

...Not many are that dedicated, Heathen.

"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."
SavageHeathen Pro-Freedom Fanatic from Somewhere Since: Feb, 2011
Pro-Freedom Fanatic
#37: Jan 19th 2012 at 4:26:51 PM

They're techies: The wild mass guess comes standard issue. They're supposed to have a plan for when The Man sends its thugs to raid your place: Not having its is a breach of basic hacker etiquette.

If you run a software company and you don't have a plan to befuddle and obstruct the Internet Police, you almost deserve gettin' screwed. wink

edited 19th Jan '12 4:29:00 PM by SavageHeathen

You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.
Discar Since: Jun, 2009
#38: Jan 19th 2012 at 4:28:34 PM

The only problem is that I doubt the feds particularly want to access their servers. So going through all that would just make them look suspicious.

Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.
SavageHeathen Pro-Freedom Fanatic from Somewhere Since: Feb, 2011
Pro-Freedom Fanatic
#39: Jan 19th 2012 at 4:30:29 PM

Full-disk encryption is far from suspicious: It's best practices for any company that might potentially host sensitive client (or company) data: The goal's to make it harder to access if the servers get compromised.

You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.
0dd1 Just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2009
Just awesome like that
#40: Jan 19th 2012 at 4:55:53 PM

But all that does when the feds show up is make it look like you have something to hide, and with that you're pretty much already convicted by public opinion. I personally don't believe in the doctrine behind that, but most people do, and in their eyes you're effectively confessing to a crime by doing that. It makes sense if you're handling sensitive information, yes, but Megaupload wasn't exactly doing that (save for the accounts of people who paid for premium accounts...the very few people).

edited 19th Jan '12 4:57:37 PM by 0dd1

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.
breadloaf Since: Oct, 2010
#41: Jan 19th 2012 at 5:02:46 PM

Yeah, I do have one thing to say, Savage is correct about mass encryption. That's typical of any software related company to go through all sorts of crazy security hoops.

stevebat Since: Nov, 2009
#42: Jan 19th 2012 at 5:40:20 PM

Apparently the U.S. Cares more about copyright infringement than the drug war going on at the southern border.

Apocalypse: Dirge Of Swans.
Psyga315 Since: Jan, 2001
#43: Jan 19th 2012 at 5:44:38 PM

Or any ongoing wars.

edited 19th Jan '12 5:44:51 PM by Psyga315

Joesolo Indiana Solo Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
Indiana Solo
#44: Jan 19th 2012 at 5:59:43 PM

Good riddance!

I'm baaaaaaack
Hsere Lazy Bum/ Workaholic Since: Jan, 2010
Lazy Bum/ Workaholic
#45: Jan 19th 2012 at 6:06:30 PM

Personally, I don't think I can make up my mind about this until I know what proportion of their content was actually infringing. I've heard claims either way from both the involved parties and people who used the sites. Some say there was almost nothing but infringing material, while others say they fully complied with DMCA notices within a few days. I'm suspicious of those "500 million dollars lost" and "150 million dollars made by Mega Upload" figures from the media companies, just based upon the fact that they were provided by the ones who wanted the site shut down in the first place. I'd like to see the math they used to come up with those figures. If I had to guess (and it would be just a guess), I'd say that some "creative interpretation" was conducted to get those figures.

If it's true that they complied with all (or nearly all) of the takedown requests they were served, and that most of their traffic was, as they claim, legitimate, then...shit. One more good facet of the internet killed because it didn't jive with the way the leech on society known as "the RIAA" wanted things to be.

If, on the other hand, they ignored takedown notices, piracy was rampant, and they explicitly facilitated it, then, well, I can't really fault the DOJ for shutting down a site that was breaking the law on a massive scale. Maybe the law needs to change, but all they're doing in this case is shutting down a website committed to criminal activity. Of course, we'll see what kind of sentences they hand down — I expect they'll be pretty damn draconian, if the media companies get their way. The key word back there is FACILITATED though, not just let some of it slip by — it's not Mega Upload's job to police their users, any more than it's my landlord's job to go through my dresser to make sure I'm not hiding drugs.

Anyone have any insight into which scenario might be the case? I never really used the site, myself.

edited 19th Jan '12 6:08:49 PM by Hsere

"If there is such a phenomenon as absolute evil, it consists in treating another human being as a thing." -John Brunner
stevebat Since: Nov, 2009
#46: Jan 19th 2012 at 6:12:57 PM

Heres an article with a copy of the script Some of these charges are just insane: Racketeering, Conspiracy, Money Laundering. With labeling of Mega Conspiracy. WHO THE FUCK WROTE THIS SHIT?

-Reads Further- I don't have to be a lawyer to see that the opening allegations are bullshit and unfair.

edited 19th Jan '12 6:14:12 PM by stevebat

Apocalypse: Dirge Of Swans.
Colonial1.1 Purveyor of Obscurity from The Marvelous River City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Purveyor of Obscurity
#47: Jan 19th 2012 at 6:16:11 PM

Well, how clean were the admins?

"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."
stevebat Since: Nov, 2009
#48: Jan 19th 2012 at 6:22:35 PM

Paragraph 24 can be summed up as:

Megaupload had a way to immediately shut down (effectively delete from their servers) terrorist propaganda and Child Pornography. Therefore they should be shut down for not showing the same care about COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. Child Pornography=Copyright infringement.

edited 19th Jan '12 6:23:05 PM by stevebat

Apocalypse: Dirge Of Swans.
Chaosjunction Since: Feb, 2010
#49: Jan 19th 2012 at 6:28:44 PM

Pretty sad. It's been a while since I've downloaded stuff from Megaupload and I haven't watched anything on Megavideo lately either, I tend to use faster sites now, but I'm sure at some point this will affect me, so I'm sad.

Hsere Lazy Bum/ Workaholic Since: Jan, 2010
Lazy Bum/ Workaholic
#50: Jan 19th 2012 at 6:30:03 PM

Most of those charges at least make sense based upon what I've read so far, but money laundering and racketeering? What's their justification for that?

Also, from what I've read of this so far, a pretty common theme seems to be "Mega Upload's design facilitates filesharing, therefore it is clearly intended to facilitate piracy." Hell, maybe they should go for Google Docs next.

Actually, now that I think about it, that may not be out of the question. Nah, Google's got too much cash to hire lawyers and too much brand loyalty for the RIAA & Co. to pull that off. Scary thought for any kind of service that doesn't have those kind of astronomically deep pockets, though.

Score one for those who say this is about maintaining control, not preventing theft.

EDIT: So does anyone know anything about the legality of the indictment and the raid itself? My legally-ignorant gut feeling is, "a grand jury approved the indictment, therefore the raid is legal and they're complying with the idea of checks-and-balances", but that could be completely wrong.

Also, whose goddamn bright idea was it to decide that indictments don't need to cite their sources when stating facts and figures? Because I would kind of like to punch them.

edited 19th Jan '12 6:36:49 PM by Hsere

"If there is such a phenomenon as absolute evil, it consists in treating another human being as a thing." -John Brunner

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