What's clear now thanks to this whole affair is that PIPA and SOPA are completely unnecessary. Megaupload is the stated target of those bills. Here we are, with no new laws passed, seeing infringers charged and domains taken offline.
Why isn't the media playing up this angle more? It writes itself.
Yes, people will start claiming PIPA and SOPA are unnecessary, and they may be taken of the table. Hurray!
Of course, this now means that much of the evil stuff in PIPA and SOPA is already reality, but instead of being angry about it, we're now breathing a sigh of relief.
In the mean time, the feds will start taking down sites left, right and center, and across the globe, without any form of due process. And we'll be cool with it, because things could have been so much worse with PIPA and SOPA...
We're not seeing "infringers charged" here. Megaupload is gone. The entertainment industry has been playing judge and jury, with the feds as their executioners, and the justice department giving it a thin veneer of legal process.
PIPA and SOPA are more of less a reality without the laws actually being passed. That in itself is way scarier than the actual content of those laws. And thanks to this wonderful sleight of hand, it will now be perceived as if it were a good thing.
Wow, I didn't even connect the two. That's a great point. Now that I think about it, I see it as proof of two things:
1. It just takes enforcement of current laws, not passing of new ones, to fight piracy.
2. This really proves that SOPA is the result of heavy lobbying by companies that think passing a bill fixes their problems, because if the US government saw piracy as such a problem, there would be way more takedowns of companies like Mega Conspiracy and way less censorship bill-passing.
What's clear is that, under current laws, you can generate 150M+ before current laws can stop you. Again, not saying SOPA is the answer, but let's not ignore that these guys operated for years like this. If they're proven innocent, it says one thing. If not, it proves that the burden of proof and the procees takes far too long to be effective.
Because the media are amongst those behind it remember.
The target of those bills is greater than just online piracy, I think you'll find they are capable of being used for all sorts of counterfeiting and unorthodox competition. For example theres a site that has been a buzz with some of my friends, selling knock off games workshop models. Those laws can be used to block those sites as well.
Its all about maximising profits, and protecting markets. Hence the current methods eat into said profits to enforce and are unacceptable for profit creation.
The end of the article seems to say that Megaupload is US-based. As I understood it, many of the provisions in SOPA were designed for use against non-US sites. I suppose that if Megaupload had operated purely on foreign soil the US may not have been able to bring this case.
What's really surprising about all this, besides the very strange and bogus charges, is how they are handling this. They are going after "copyright infringers" like they are some kind of drug cartel leaders.
It's really amazing how things have changed at the top regarding copyright infringement, that they treat copyright infringers as some of the most wanted criminals. What's next? Sending the drones after them? Giving the chair to the Megaupload or ThePirateBay's founders? It's becoming really ridiculous.
>They are going after "copyright infringers" like they are some kind of drug cartel leaders.
And thus far they're about as effective at impeding my access to copyrighted content as they are impeding my access to illegal drugs. Fortunately trying to limit access to copyrighted material doesn't drive people's money to possibly terrorist organizations, but that's another issue.
What confuses me even more is they applied US laws to those who live outside the US?
So the law of America and desires of the copyright cartel trump every other country's laws?
Overall this seems like a big orchestrated F U to the opponents of SOPA (the Internet).
Really if they provided us, what we all are screaming for - better access and selection to their product on the Internet, MegaUpload and future services wouldn't be a concern. Ridiculous!
Updated:
Further some of those behind MegaUpload are artist's of the RIAA.....
The Berne Convention, signed by pretty much the entire world, including all of the countries involved with this case, states that "the copyright law of the country where copyright is claimed shall be applied".[0]
"They had not one but three Samsung 83" TVs, and two Sharp 108" TVs. Someone owned a "Predator statue." Motor bikes, jet skis, artwork"
The list is awesome. They probably compiled very similar lists in 1917 in Russia about the possessions of capitalist pigs: the lists justified expropriating the listed grossly excessive goods into hands of workers and peasants.
That's what the article implies: they were too thick and therefore got expropriated. Raskulachili!
That's pretty much the situation. But I think the lesson is the other way around: if you make $150M and don't share it with the fatcats in Washington through some strategic campaign contributions to protect your business model, prepare to have some Federal Acronym Agency come busting down your door.
If Megaupload had played ball and used some of that cash to buy a few Representatives and maybe a Senator or two, they'd probably be fine.
How not to die if your business model is (borderline) illegal:
-delete your chat logs and email
-don't have sensitive(incriminating, personal) information in logs at all (see 37sig story)
-don't use your own (illegal) product
-"outsource" the code to a "separate" entity, obfuscate it, claim ignorance and trade secret
-donate to senators, judges, prosecutors, presidents
All pretty obvious, I'm sure you can think of more, if your Mazerati depends on it.
> and they claim that Megaupload purposely offers no site-wide search engine as a way of concealing what people are storing and sharing through the site.
So if my site doesn't have a search engine, I'm at risk of being seen as purposely concealing what my users are doing?
Finally the DOJ is launching a case against someone in the top 1%!! Perhaps they didn't buy (aka donate to) enough Congressmen & Senators to protect themselves... :-)
For me, there is a big difference between what I considered a garbage site like Mega Upload, and a site like The Pirate Bay. The first paragraph of this article is appalling. While I won't be surprised that TPB owners make a lot of money, the description of the cars, the aliases, looks like mafia guys coming from movies. TPB stands for civil liberties, right of sharing stuff like Wikileaks files in addition to Hollywood movies... I don't know, I may be wrong, but I won't miss Megaupload.
"Even the graphic designer, 35-year-old Slovakian resident Julius Bencko, made more than $1 million in 2010 alone." ugh what a disgusting comment as though graphic designers shouldn't be paid for their work regardless of the status of the company.
I think the salience of the article is in how Megaupload became conspicuous after their ad campaign. That made them a focal point of the entertainment industry's wrath.
I'm confused, if "knowledge of infringing material and do nothing about it" cause you have no safe harbor. Any big content site like YouTube must know some of it's users are abusing the service, but they're more likely to handle it after there's complain.
Or how can you tell whether a file is copyright infringement or not? censoring all uploads, non sense.
Huge difference between knowing there's some infringing content somewhere versus reviewing, rewarding, and noting an uploader because of "10+ Full popular DVD rips (split files), a few small porn movies, some software with keygenerators (warez)." Censoring all uploads is hyperbole.
YouTube is probably not the best example, because they built their userbase on allowing copyright-infringement until they were big enough to negotiate directly with the content owners. If Megaupload had sold out to Google or some other legit business with deep pockets, they would not have been busted.
I really didn't know that ARS partook in smear campaigns like this. This is so utterly one sided that it's disappointing. Simple fact of the matter is, copyright holders could use an abuse tool to remove content and had said content removed.
In order for the MPAA/RIAA claim that copyright infringement causes large monetary damages to ring true, we must see profits increase in these industries.
If profits do not increase, then Megaupload did not impact profits.
Not necessarily. There are long term trends, cyclical trends, write-offs, etc. I don't see how one can look at a single indicator, profits, and then have insight into detail. It's a rather tenuous assertion.
I still don't get it. Why couldn't the same be done to thepiratebay? Because the FBI can't access their internal emails? That's it?
If I recall, the pirate bay "thumb their noses at international laws, all while pocketing significant advertising revenues from trafficking in free, unlicensed copyrighted materials." as well.
Wouldn't this action only be valid if MegaUpload was only used for illegal activity? Obviously, there were copyrighted files, but I am pretty sure (and as somebody else mentioned) there was also plenty of legal activity. This legal side of the business was also destroyed, which does or seem legal.
'piracy' is about control and the failure of the media industry to manage their product. Megaupload's only crime is to be outside of that control. I just don't understand why the media industry makes a product it can't control - perhaps they should be making something else?
And, what, stop making music or movies or TV shows?
That's heartless. What about the millions of people who have decided they are entitled to free entertainment for life? What are they going to do with all that free time that they won't be spending in front of a TV stuffing their faces with cheetos? They'll be lost, adrift!
Megaupload had servers in the USA with Carpathia Hosting.
That makes them subject to US law.
SOPA/PIPA are aimed at situations where the servers are all offshore and the business has no connection to the US.
When I read the details of the story, I feel like this isn't meaningfully different from a few years back when there'd be warehouses of DVDs or VHS tapes,and hundreds of duplicators seized along with bags of cash.
The medium change, but the crime appears to have remained essentially the same.
There were two interesting things to me:
1) the email from Kimble to PayPal where he was clearly trying to cut off PayPal to his competitors whilst keeping it for himself; trying to convince PayPal that they shouldn't do business with those other guys.
2) the type of evidence they have makes me wonder if it was an inside job, or perhaps even a setup by a competitor who hacked into their systems. It doesn't feel like a case the FBI would pick up without a strong bootstrap.
[+] [-] nostromo|14 years ago|reply
Why isn't the media playing up this angle more? It writes itself.
[+] [-] rickmb|14 years ago|reply
Yes, people will start claiming PIPA and SOPA are unnecessary, and they may be taken of the table. Hurray!
Of course, this now means that much of the evil stuff in PIPA and SOPA is already reality, but instead of being angry about it, we're now breathing a sigh of relief.
In the mean time, the feds will start taking down sites left, right and center, and across the globe, without any form of due process. And we'll be cool with it, because things could have been so much worse with PIPA and SOPA...
We're not seeing "infringers charged" here. Megaupload is gone. The entertainment industry has been playing judge and jury, with the feds as their executioners, and the justice department giving it a thin veneer of legal process.
PIPA and SOPA are more of less a reality without the laws actually being passed. That in itself is way scarier than the actual content of those laws. And thanks to this wonderful sleight of hand, it will now be perceived as if it were a good thing.
Maybe not yet checkmate, but definitely: check.
[+] [-] firefoxman1|14 years ago|reply
1. It just takes enforcement of current laws, not passing of new ones, to fight piracy.
2. This really proves that SOPA is the result of heavy lobbying by companies that think passing a bill fixes their problems, because if the US government saw piracy as such a problem, there would be way more takedowns of companies like Mega Conspiracy and way less censorship bill-passing.
[+] [-] earbitscom|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rjd|14 years ago|reply
The target of those bills is greater than just online piracy, I think you'll find they are capable of being used for all sorts of counterfeiting and unorthodox competition. For example theres a site that has been a buzz with some of my friends, selling knock off games workshop models. Those laws can be used to block those sites as well.
Its all about maximising profits, and protecting markets. Hence the current methods eat into said profits to enforce and are unacceptable for profit creation.
[+] [-] batterseapower|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aqme28|14 years ago|reply
The feds took a long time to gather the evidence they needed for a warrant before they took Megaupload down.
Under SOPA, all that would be needed is the accusation of copyright infringement alone.
That's a pretty important distinction.
[+] [-] itsnotlupus|14 years ago|reply
Think of how many copyrights could have been saved if only some new draconian laws had allowed swifter actions.
[+] [-] code_duck|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nextparadigms|14 years ago|reply
It's really amazing how things have changed at the top regarding copyright infringement, that they treat copyright infringers as some of the most wanted criminals. What's next? Sending the drones after them? Giving the chair to the Megaupload or ThePirateBay's founders? It's becoming really ridiculous.
[+] [-] drivebyacct2|14 years ago|reply
And thus far they're about as effective at impeding my access to copyrighted content as they are impeding my access to illegal drugs. Fortunately trying to limit access to copyrighted material doesn't drive people's money to possibly terrorist organizations, but that's another issue.
[+] [-] paul9290|14 years ago|reply
So the law of America and desires of the copyright cartel trump every other country's laws?
Overall this seems like a big orchestrated F U to the opponents of SOPA (the Internet).
Really if they provided us, what we all are screaming for - better access and selection to their product on the Internet, MegaUpload and future services wouldn't be a concern. Ridiculous!
Updated: Further some of those behind MegaUpload are artist's of the RIAA.....
[+] [-] ordinary|14 years ago|reply
___
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_convention
[+] [-] wmf|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rmc|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pauldmartin|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] guard-of-terra|14 years ago|reply
The list is awesome. They probably compiled very similar lists in 1917 in Russia about the possessions of capitalist pigs: the lists justified expropriating the listed grossly excessive goods into hands of workers and peasants.
That's what the article implies: they were too thick and therefore got expropriated. Raskulachili!
[+] [-] Kadin|14 years ago|reply
If Megaupload had played ball and used some of that cash to buy a few Representatives and maybe a Senator or two, they'd probably be fine.
That's how business works today.
[+] [-] JBiserkov|14 years ago|reply
-delete your chat logs and email -don't have sensitive(incriminating, personal) information in logs at all (see 37sig story) -don't use your own (illegal) product -"outsource" the code to a "separate" entity, obfuscate it, claim ignorance and trade secret -donate to senators, judges, prosecutors, presidents
All pretty obvious, I'm sure you can think of more, if your Mazerati depends on it.
[+] [-] charliesome|14 years ago|reply
So if my site doesn't have a search engine, I'm at risk of being seen as purposely concealing what my users are doing?
[+] [-] oliciv|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lani|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nekojima|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thomasjoulin|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] roel_v|14 years ago|reply
...seriously? Because the Wikileaks files wouldn't have made it out into the world without the pirate bay? Please.
[+] [-] JulianMiller520|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] nitrogen|14 years ago|reply
And what does their choice of license plate have to do with their guilt or innocence, anyway?
[+] [-] firefoxman1|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] guelo|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] koevet|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JumpCrisscross|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] albb0920|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sbov|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tzs|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] flomo|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] sabret00the|14 years ago|reply
I mean, they arrested the graphic designer!...
[+] [-] narkee|14 years ago|reply
If profits do not increase, then Megaupload did not impact profits.
[+] [-] mc32|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GigabyteCoin|14 years ago|reply
If I recall, the pirate bay "thumb their noses at international laws, all while pocketing significant advertising revenues from trafficking in free, unlicensed copyrighted materials." as well.
[+] [-] furyg3|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rimantas|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GBKS|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Mordor|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jonhendry|14 years ago|reply
That's heartless. What about the millions of people who have decided they are entitled to free entertainment for life? What are they going to do with all that free time that they won't be spending in front of a TV stuffing their faces with cheetos? They'll be lost, adrift!
[+] [-] a9|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jean_valjean|14 years ago|reply
The medium change, but the crime appears to have remained essentially the same.
There were two interesting things to me:
1) the email from Kimble to PayPal where he was clearly trying to cut off PayPal to his competitors whilst keeping it for himself; trying to convince PayPal that they shouldn't do business with those other guys.
2) the type of evidence they have makes me wonder if it was an inside job, or perhaps even a setup by a competitor who hacked into their systems. It doesn't feel like a case the FBI would pick up without a strong bootstrap.
[+] [-] BiosElement|14 years ago|reply