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10 years ago the Feds shut down Megaupload

torrentfreak.com

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Re: 10 years ago the Feds shut down Megaupload

#71
post #18
post #9

The peak for warez communities was right around 2006. I distinctly remember how popular those forums and other sites were. There were ridiculous amounts of pirated software and media being shared, and most of that content was in fact hosted on Megaupload or RapidShare. If you knew people (from IRC) you could get invited to scene torrent sites which was a much more efficient way of getting what you want. I mean, every…

What I miss the most about this "peak warez" period (and most of the mid to late 00s, basically) is the huge amount of blogs uploading rare old music. During this sweet period I was able to get a lot of very rare music from all over the world (as a bouns, you could in practice guarantee that it was virus-free since unlike actual warez these files weren't executable. Yes, I know that dedicated attackers can still find…

I miss Audiogalaxy the most. Napster et al were a great early taste of being able to access most things I could think of (much like Youtube and friends became later) but Audiogalaxy was where I could find groups of people and when someone had an album by an artist I liked, I might see they also had others from the same label or genre, so I'd get those too.

I found so many things back then, and during that time period my musical knowledge/familiarity grew three sizes.

Re: 10 years ago the Feds shut down Megaupload

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you be okay if large for profit companies didn’t have to abide by open source licenses? What’s the incentive to make movies or music just to be given away for free? Would you work for free?

>Would you be okay if large for profit companies didn’t have to abide by open source licenses? Are we pretending that they all do?

Who will pay them if no one pays for their content?

Re: 10 years ago the Feds shut down Megaupload

#73
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you be okay if large for profit companies didn’t have to abide by open source licenses? What’s the incentive to make movies or music just to be given away for free? Would you work for free?

> Would you be okay if large for profit companies didn’t have to abide by open source licenses? Yes. I believe in the MIT licensing model. > What’s the incentive to make movies or music just to be given away for free? Firstly, almost all the money made from movies/music is not made by the artists who created. It goes to the shareholders of large corporations. Secondly, I believe in the hacker ethic of free informatio…

So are you saying that large companies operate with a 100% profit margin?

If people can’t afford something that means they should have a right to it anyway?

If a company can’t afford my labor at the price I set, they don’t get to take advantage of my labor.

Re: 10 years ago the Feds shut down Megaupload

#74
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Digital music that you purchase hasn’t had DRM for over a decade.

according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Music there are lots of countries where you can not buy DRM free music from amazon (afaiu what the OP was referring to) so the problem is how to find a shop where you can buy your super rare tracks ... (i assume some will also be bootlegs or other fan-made recordings - you wont find those in a shop)

You know there are other companies that sell music besides Amazon? You might have heard of them - they are a 3 trillion dollar market cap company that’s been selling DRM free music since 2008.

Re: 10 years ago the Feds shut down Megaupload

#75
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you be okay if large for profit companies didn’t have to abide by open source licenses? What’s the incentive to make movies or music just to be given away for free? Would you work for free?

I would work for free if I didn't need money to get any and all things, from basic necesities to frivolous luxuries

Yes we all have an addiction to food and shelter. But somehow people think that others should work for free for their enjoyment.

Re: 10 years ago the Feds shut down Megaupload

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you be okay if large for profit companies didn’t have to abide by open source licenses? What’s the incentive to make movies or music just to be given away for free? Would you work for free?

> Would you be okay if large for profit companies didn’t have to abide by open source licenses? Disney created an empire out of recycling "open source" folklore tales, then did use that influence to screw over copyright for generations to come. This last decade it's been busy gobbling up anything worthwhile it hasn't already recycled 20 times.

The open source crowd didn’t whine about closed source software. They created their own alternatives. Instead of clamoring for others to give their stuff away, work with like minded people to create your own.

Or is your time more valuable trading labor for money like most people?

Re: 10 years ago the Feds shut down Megaupload

#77

The successor, mega.nz, is genuinely a great service. I know doctors who use it for (legally) sending patient scans, with the key sent OOB, for example. It has a nice linux CLI, mega-cmd, and is intelligently made, cheap, and widely available.

Yes, MEGA is amazing. Unlike Megaupload, I have only used MEGA for personal use and not pirated content download. I think MEGA being fully encrypted was their answer to them being targeted for hosting any illegal content (with MEGA, they were hosting encrypted files, which they don't have access to themselves because the encryption key remains with the client). Did it take off as the replacement for pirated content s…

Yeah there is a lot of pirated content on MEGA, but there are a ton of other sites available that have started recently.

I have been a day one user of MEGA and haven't had an issue.

Re: 10 years ago the Feds shut down Megaupload

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you be okay if large for profit companies didn’t have to abide by open source licenses? What’s the incentive to make movies or music just to be given away for free? Would you work for free?

I think we both agree both situation are wrong. If a company doesn't abide the OSS license of my software I need to sue. I want companies to sue me for eg. redistributing their content without permission. Not being fined by the government with my own money.

So if a large corporation with an army of lawyers uses your open source code, how successful do you think you will be at winning the lawsuit?

Re: 10 years ago the Feds shut down Megaupload

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Would you be okay if large for profit companies didn’t have to abide by open source licenses? Disney created an empire out of recycling "open source" folklore tales, then did use that influence to screw over copyright for generations to come. This last decade it's been busy gobbling up anything worthwhile it hasn't already recycled 20 times.

The open source crowd didn’t whine about closed source software. They created their own alternatives. Instead of clamoring for others to give their stuff away, work with like minded people to create your own. Or is your time more valuable trading labor for money like most people?

> Instead of clamoring for others to give their stuff away, work with like minded people to create your own.

I'm not the one "clamoring" for anybody to give anything away.

Disney didn't work with any of the original creators of these tales, nor their surviving relatives, yet they took that "stuff" and made it solely their own.

> Or is your time more valuable trading labor for money like most people?

I think shared culture is more valuable than having it exploited and gate-kept for purely commercial purposes.

Yet we now live in a world were institutions and people can get "punished" for singing happy birthday.

It's plainly absurd, but by now so normalized that most people stopped caring or even questioning the kind of power and influence Disney has amassed trough it's questionable practices.

Re: 10 years ago the Feds shut down Megaupload

#80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The open source crowd didn’t whine about closed source software. They created their own alternatives. Instead of clamoring for others to give their stuff away, work with like minded people to create your own. Or is your time more valuable trading labor for money like most people?

> Instead of clamoring for others to give their stuff away, work with like minded people to create your own. I'm not the one "clamoring" for anybody to give anything away. Disney didn't work with any of the original creators of these tales, nor their surviving relatives, yet they took that "stuff" and made it solely their own. > Or is your time more valuable trading labor for money like most people? I think shared cu…

Are you willing to take the time and give your talents away without compensation?
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