That wasn't Anon...

It's undeniable Megaupload acted more than a little shady, as evidenced by the DoJ's indictment, posted just a few hours ago. Of course the MPAA's uncorroborated, erroneous claim that Megaupload caused more than $500 million in copyright damages reeks of the same ass-pulling bullshit we've come to expect from the Entertainment industry. But when you realize that site founder Kim Dotcom made more than $54 million in 2010 alone--largely through the sharing of copyrighted files--you do begin to wonder if he had it coming...

Fuck, you're right I got my facts mixed up. Didn't a few people from Anon have something to do with it though?

I had some important files on Megaupload, as well as had downloaded some important files which now may be permanently lost if I ever forget to back up my hard drive. I saw someone in support of this use an analogy, equating Megaupload to a warehouse that stored both stolen and legitimate goods, making it sound for the feds to raid it. Well this is more like the feds raiding said warehouse and burning everything inside, copyrighted or not. I imagine that the fair number of small businesses that use file-sharing sites such as Megaupload are going to be hurt from actions such as these far more than multi-million dollar companies such as Universal Media are hurt from copyright infringement.

It's fucked up on all levels, and this sets a precedence. What's next? Rapidshare? Mediafire? They're no different from Megaupload, after all.

So essentially the government, FBI, whoever the fuck, already has the power to shutdown sites such as Megaupload if they want. So, they just want to make their dick bigger with SOPA/PIPA? Fuck that.

Yeah, the "$500 million" claim is absurd, but if even half of the stuff in that indictment is true, MegaUpload certainly wasn't acting purely as a file-hosting service. Can't say I'm too thrilled about it being shut down, but it certainly doesn't look entirely unjustified. There were certainly better ways to go about this than taking the whole damn site down, though - even if the company executives were engaging in illegal practices, there's still a good amount of legitimate content which is now in jeopardy.

Taking down a website currently requires a lengthy legal process. SOPA basically gives the government the ability to remove the DNS address to a website at will simply due to an accusation.

That's a violation of rights is it not?

A guy on Facebook said:

"Megaupload isn't down because of SOPA. They were taken down because they were making people pay to upload pirated videos. This is called STEALING and is illegal whether SOPA passes or not. Mediafire won't be next because all their content is free anyways"

Is this true?

It's certainly true that it's not down because of SOPA, since SOPA has not been passed yet (and if we're lucky it will never be). The other part of what he says seems backwards though. According to the indictment details that were posted earlier, Megaupload were actually paying people who uploaded certain pirated DVDs. If true, dubious practices to say the least...

Wasn't it that they paid people whose uploads were downloaded a bunch of times, like an adshare type thing? Those uploads happened to be pirated DVDs, I think. Similar websites have been successfully nixed for the same reasons.

This isn't good. The last thing opponents of SOPA need right now is a bad image, and it'll be that harder to convince senators to oppose SOPA now that we all look like a bunch of angsty digital terrorists.

Yeah, that was the part that got me a little confused. I'm relieved since I thought that SOPA was passed already, phew.

Anon needs to stick a big spiked mace up their ass and die. They aren't helping!

Among those charged are site founders Kim Dotcom and Kim Tim Jim Vestor and Chief Marketing Officer Finn Batato.

Megaupload CEO Swizz Beatz, a rapper and producer and husband to pop star Alicia Keys, was not listed among those charged.


Couldnt help but chuckle while reading that.

Yeah, I'd call for an all-out cyber-war against those responsible for attacking Megaupload, not just "A few sites" at all. Believe me, they have the capability, and I'd love them to do it.
UPDATE: they are doing just that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQI0PMPj ... AAAAAAAAAA

I'm not a supporter of SOPA and PIPA (hell, no!) but this megaupload thing just seems logical to me. Sure there also were private or buisness relted uploads (I think) but regardless of what they claim, the majority are illegal music and movie uploads and imo it was just a matter of time that these hoster pages will be brought down.

Maybe this is because I come from a generation who grew up with no internet and actually buying what one liked but I think all this "boohoo, they took our uploader" is just acting like a cry-baby. What did you expect? As I said - it was basically just a matter of time and I think others hosters are soon to follow.

In "real life" a company offering (just an example) 20% legal goods and 80% stolen goods will be raided in no time once the word is out about what they do?

So... What to do? Idea! Buy a CD/DVD you like! Crazy, I know...

You'd really think the government gives a shit about the people's rights?

I love the magic number the RIAA came out with. I wonder how they calculated it. Do they really think every person that downloaded any shitty album would have actually thrown away 20 bucks without seeing what it was like first?

@grauer, Megaupload always complied with DMCA takedown notices. You could regularly find links removed. Aside form the shady dealings of the owners, the site functioned no differently than youtube (actually, given the way youtube owners bow under any whim by the Universal Music Group, I guess the'e not even that different in that respect), which probably has as much, if not more, copyrighted material (certainly as far as music goes),all of which is incredibly easy to download for free.

Anonymous can't do anything to these guys except launch a botnet attack on the sites. These attacks are ultimately pointless and I can guarantee you the feds have a lot of IPs to play with now and will be busting down some unsuspecting doors. DDOS attacks have no lasting effect on anyone, although they are a little fun to witness.

http://gigaom.com/2012/01/19/megaupload-indictment/

at least read about exactly why the site was shut down before you guys decide that they deserve to be martyred.

Never really trusted web-based download sites, and there was something seedy about megaupload too, though I can't remember when the last time I visited for some purpose might have been.

Private P2P is the only way to go.

IP addresses change every 5 minutes, or every time you reconnect to the internet. Unless they somehow track them by stalling the hackers on a line for a set amount of time (just like you would to find where someone is calling from) and find the MAC address (which is for sure somehow hidden considering Anon knows what they are doing), they can't do anything. As long as the hackers stay one step further, they can't be tracked.

But yeah, those attacks are pointless beyond just doing it for the sake of fun.

Also here is a fun quote that Anon posted on Twitter:

"Can't deal with the pirates? Don't sail the proxeas."

Dynamic IPs change. Most IPs are not dynamic.

If IPs always changed and were by nature, untraceable, police wouldn't be busting people for torrenting shit off of TPB.
PROTIP: Companies are known to engage in torrenting files so they can see the IP addresses of people stealing their shitty films.

From what's quoted in the indictment, the benefits seemed to be quite clearly targeted at pirated content, rather than simply at people who used the service a lot. I mean, it's surely possible what's in the indictment isn't true, but if it is I'd say this is simply the law working as it should, and is a great example of why we don't need PIPA or SOPA.

Don't believe everything you see in the movies...

Um, no. What is this, 1996?
IPs are generally stable, and can change every once in a while, but even if your IP changed since the last time you pirated something, they can just ask your ISP who that IP belonged to at that time and they'll be lead straight to you.

Of course Anon et al. use proxies, so it's a different matter, but you really don't know what you're talking about...

That's such BS.

Just cause someone downloaded 10 movies doesn't mean that person had any intent to buy the movie to begin with. And I'm pretty sure that's the logic the MPAA is using when coming up with their figures.

What these morons still stuck in their 1980s business model are completely ignoring is the convenience of downloads. They assume people are downloading for the same reason someone would've shoplifted records and cassette tapes.

In order of convenience.....

1. Streaming. It's instant
2. Downloading. Maybe 30 minutes to an hour wait.
3. Getting it at the store. (commute + buying)
4. Going at the times set by local theaters.

The fact Apple is making a killing off Itunes shows that the public is not a bunch of thieves and simply wants the convenience of having our entertainment not take up physical space and being able to enjoy it instantly.

I've even streamed movies I own off Netflix cause it's easier than swapping out discs.

Those companies need to learn to innovate and not bully.

SOPA is dead:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162- ... ulls-bill/

Awesome news! Everyone, raise a pint!

We still have to deal with PIPA though...

PIPA will be gone in no time, SOPA was the "Big one", so to speak
And yes, best news I have heard in ages. Perfect thing to read after waking up from a long-ass nap, too.

Of course, if you are smart enough to hack, you'll be smart enough to cover your own tracks via ip changers, proxies, etc. The FBI is not going to get anyone that hacked them.

There's still ACTA which also looks pretty bad.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/a ... doomed-yet

The European Union as a country? Fvck off... (for the website, not you of course)

Yeah, that was my bad. I'm far from my NET+, so I shouldn't have talked about a matter I'm beginning to scratch the surface of, sorry about that. But no need to get so serious or critical. Cheers.

Yeah... I'm not a patriot or nationalist at all, but come on, check your facts. It made me laugh though.

Believe it or not, none of what they're doing is actually hacking. Most of them aren't even using a botnet but LOIC, a program that constantly sends requests to sites, basically fooling the site into believing it's trying to be accessed by more people than it can manage, which causes it to become inaccessible. Absolutely no knowledge in hacking is required to use LOIC, so I wouldn't be surprised if legions of /b/tards that believe that, say, unplugging your router for a couple of minutes is enough to protect you are attacking these sites with zero defense. Also, DDOS attacks are very illegal. And given the sites that were targeted, you can be sure that the feds will pursue anyone they can and nail them to the wall.

I did: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union (as a really realible source ), it's a long time for the EU to become a country like the USA

My policy is if I find a new album i'm interested I download it. If I have an album i'v liked for a while I go and download their discography of albums that look promising. For when I can no longer access free music is the day when I stop getting new music all together. That sounds pretty sad to me. I mean, I wouldn't have bought much anyway because I just graduated high school and I can't afford anything let alone get the music I want.

msnbc supports sopa and pipa. I'm never watching that channel again. Just goes to show that they don't have a fucking clue about what they're reporting. Neither does fox news of course. Fuck news.

great news thats SOPA is dead