Megaupload shut down

[Fernbay]

Feds shut down file-sharing giant over piracy violations


2:38 p.m. CST, January 19, 2012
One of the world's largest file-sharing sites was shut down Thursday, and its founder and several company executives were charged with violating piracy laws, federal prosecutors said.

An indictment accuses Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to thwart online piracy.

The Justice Department said in a statement that Kim Dotcom, formerly known as Kim Schmitz, and three others were arrested Thursday in New Zealand at the request of U.S. officials. Two other defendants are at large.

Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.

The Hong Kong-based company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO.

Before the site was taken down, it posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were "grotesquely overblown."

"The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch," the statement said.

A lawyer who represented the company in a lawsuit last year declined comment Thursday.

Megaupload is considered a "cyberlocker," in which users can upload and transfer files too large to send by email. Such sites can have perfectly legitimate uses. But the Motion Picture Association of America, which has campaigned for a crackdown on piracy, estimated that the vast majority of content being shared on Megaupload was in violation of copyright laws.

The website allowed users to download films, TV shows, games, music and other content for free, but made money by charging subscriptions to people who wanted access to faster download speeds or extra content. The website also sold advertising.

The indictment was returned in the Eastern District of Virginia, which claimed jurisdiction in part because some of the alleged pirated materials were hosted on leased servers in Ashburn, Va.

Dotcom, a resident of Hong Kong and New Zealand, and a dual citizen of Finland and Germany, made more than $42 million from the conspiracy in 2010 alone, according to the indictment.

Dotcom is founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer of Megaupload.

Feds say 7 from Megaupload.com ran massive worldwide piracy website

Published January 19, 2012

McLEAN, Va. – Federal prosecutors have shut down one of the world's largest file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, on charges of violating piracy laws -- a day after a 24-hour blackout of popular websites such as Wikipedia drew national attention to the issue.

"This action is among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States," the Justice department said in a statement about the indictment.

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SOPA -- What It Is and Why It’s Bad
Relieved users welcome Wikipedia's return after 24-hour blackout

The indictment accuses seven individuals and two corporations -- Megaupload Limited and Vestor Limited -- of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. It was unsealed on Thursday, and claims that at one point Megaupload was the 13th most popular website in the world.

Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.

The Hong Kong-based company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO. Beatz declined to comment through a representative.

The individuals in the criminal enterprise -- a worldwide ring led by colorful Australian Kim Dotcom, aka Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor. Each person involved faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on racketeering charges, five years for conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, 20 years on money laundering charges and five years on related charges.

Dotcom is a German who legally changed his last named to "Dotcom." He was once convicted of a felony but he has repeatedly denied engaging in piracy, , according to CNET.com.

The indictment comes the day after a 24-hour "blackout" of Wikipedia, a protest doodle on the homepage of Google, and numerous other protests across the Internet against proposed anti-piracy legislation that many leading websites -- including Reddit, Google, Facebook, Amazon and others -- contend will make it challenging if not impossible for them to operate.

The Protect Intellectual Property Act under consideration in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House are bills backed by the motion picture and recording industries intended to eliminate theft online once and for all. S. 968 and H.R. 3261 would require ISPs to block access to foreign websites that infringe on copyrights.

Online piracy from China and elsewhere is a massive problem for the media industry, one that costs as much as $250 billion per year and costs the industry 750,000 jobs, according to a 2008 statement by Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

But how exactly the bills would counter piracy has many up in arms.

[admin]

Its very bad news.

[best4less]

I am closing my Mega A/C real quick lol

[admin]

I am closing my Mega A/C real quick lol

How ? You cant.

Obviously this effects us here as we were using Megaupload to share files. I suppose we will have to look for another service that allows a similar service.

It makes you wonder how long all file sharing sites such as Rapid Share are now going to last.

[admin]

Does anyone know of any other service that allows users to upload, such as the uploader box we had on Austech ?

[fandtm666]

seen a fair bit of late stored on filesonic

[bazzle01]

I wonder what other sites are being targeted?

May have to learn how to post torrents.

Bazzle

[Tradesman]

cant they move thier servers somewhere else and start again? i know thats not easy though.

[mickstv]

Does anyone know of any other service that allows users to upload, such as the uploader box we had on Austech ?

Was the megupload a free system or you were you paying a monthly fee ?


Mediafire might be worth having a look at and it has an embedded dropbox. Link below







Mick

[best4less]

How ? You cant.

Obviously this effects us here as we were using Megaupload to share files. I suppose we will have to look for another service that allows a similar service.

It makes you wonder how long all file sharing sites such as Rapid Share are now going to last.

I will let Feds close my A/C LOL

Hope they like Porn

[weirdo]

How ridiculous
What's next? They're gonna shutdown the companies that developed Nero and DVDFAB and the like

[best4less]

I wonder how they got racketeering charges

[porkop]

Does anyone know of any other service that allows users to upload, such as the uploader box we had on Austech ?

[LeroyPatrol]

How ridiculous
What's next? They're gonna shutdown the companies that developed Nero and DVDFAB and the like

They would like to. Pressure was put on DVDecrypter and others to not develope any new versions.

We'll have to just start a new internet.

...........Leroy

[admin]

Plenty of shit going down over this...

HACKERS aligned with the global cyber-collective known as Anonymous have claimed responsibility for taking down the websites of the US Department of Justice and Universal Music Group in retaliation for charges levied earlier today by the agency against content-sharing site Megaupload.com.
Both Universalmusic.com and Justice.gov crashed and remained down as of 6pm ET.

Earlier today, the FBI shut down Megaupload.com and charged the site's founders and five others with internet piracy crimes for running "an international organized criminal enterprise."

"The government takes down Megaupload? 15 minutes later Anonymous takes down government & record label sites," a group affiliated with "Anonymous" wrote on its Twitter account.

The account, under the name @YourAnonNews identifies itself on Twitter as the infamous hacker collective, saying "We are Anonymous, We are legion, We never forgive, We never forget, Expect us."

"Megaupload was taken down w/out SOPA being law. Now imagine what will happen if it passes. The Internet as we know it will end. FIGHT BACK," the group added, in a reference to the ongoing battle in Congress over the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).

The proposed legislation would crack down on the online sharing of pirated copies of music, movies and other material.

Investigators said there was no connection between arrests in their two-year investigation of Megaupload.com and the political firestorm that erupted this week over the pending vote on SOPA, according to The Wall Street Journal.



Read more:

[LeroyPatrol]

Online piracy will never be stopped. It will get pushed underground.

..........Leroy

[kevin1341]

Hi All, Looks like this is only the start.
Got this on the 12-01-12.

Dear Kevin

This email is being sent to you from Willow TV International, Inc. ("Willow TV"), which owns the exclusive rights to distribute and stream cricket matches in the United States and Canada, as well as the rest of North America, including the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and the national cricket matches for Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa amongst other boards, for the 2010-2011 season ("Copyright Protected Matches"). Willow TV filed a Federal lawsuit against various website owners that we allege illegally sold pirated downloads and video streams of the Copyright Protected Matches. A copy of the abbreviated lawsuit filed in court in available here. Willow TV subpoenaed the records of these various websites and the evidence indicates that you purchased at least one of the illegal streams offered by at least one of these defendants in violation of law.

It is a violation of Willow TV's copyright and the law to purchase or view the illegal stream whether it was knowing or unknowing. Under 17 U.S.C § 501 et seq., anyone who participates in the infringement of a copyright is liable for statutory damages up to $30,000 per infringement, and up to $150,000 if the infringement is willful.

Willow TV will fully pursue this lawsuit to the fullest extent of the law against those who operate businesses and illegally provide pirated cricket matches in violation of their rights; however, it has no interest in pursuing a lawsuit against the viewers and fans of cricket matches, so we would like to deal with the evidence that has been presented to us in the best way possible.

We would like to provide you a way out of the continued exposure to liability that comes with viewing cricket matches illegally through pirated websites.

Complete Release and Waiver of Liability Offer.

Willow TV will provide you with a onetime release of all claims and liability for any and all past illegal downloads or streaming views of cricket matches you may have purchased or viewed from any of the defendants listed in the attached lawsuit. The release will be provided on the condition that you commit to watching any of your future cricket matches legally through for the next year. The authorized service is currently $14.99/month and allows you, the customer, to watch the live video streaming of all cricket content offered by Willow TV, on its website (and on its channel on YouTube, and on smartphones, etc.) for a period of one year. Willow TV is the official license holder for various cricket boards worldwide for this period (including Cricket boards of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England and others), and it is the only way to watch these matches legally in North America. After the 12 month period, on request, you will receive a release of all past claims and liability from Willow TV for any crickets matches you may have purchased or viewed in violation of Willow TV's exclusive rights to distribute and stream those matches in North America.

If you wish to take advantage of this offer for a full release of liability please visit the website , and purchase the monthly package of $14.99. (Or you can directly buy it by clicking here). Please use the same email id to which this email is sent, as your login id on willow.tv while making the purchase.

After one year of continued service, the release email will be sent to you on request to legal@willow.tv.

Alternatively, if you have subscribed to the Willow Cricket Channel on DISH Network or DIRECTV, you can email legal@willow.tv with a copy of your bill showing your active subscription, with your first and last name indicated clearly as the subscriber on file.

If you do not wish to commit to viewing cricket matches legally through Willow TV you may contact us and we will provide you with a settlement demand based on the number of your purchases and streaming views of cricket matches that were in violation of Willow TV's rights ($200 per match or $1000 for a package purchased from a pirate site) and a release will be provided after final settlement, or simply do nothing and we will continue our investigation against you and we may be forced to name you as a defendant to the lawsuit. If you are named as a defendant we will pursue the full statutory damages provided in 17 U.S.C § 501 et seq.


Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.
Willow TV.

Expecting other mail like this in the future.
Like to see them get blood from a stone.

Cheers
Kevin

[circuit]

Someone needs to tell that mob where they can stick their piece of "willow".

[LeroyPatrol]

Wow Kevin, keep us updated.

Leroy

[best4less]

Kevin Wasn't it that little shit Boarder / Chinese student who was staying with you ( renting a room )

But he went back to China owing you lots of money

So when they catch up to him can they give you the details to

I can delete this post if you like mate