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Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

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Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#81

Post by magicalist »

AlexMuir wrote: post #39

At the risk of megadownvoting here... Megaupload never complied with DMCA requests - I made several as part of some research and never received any response. The site charged for access to, and provided advertising around, pirated content. The site paid people (users/staff - it's a fine line) to provide popular content. It went to extraordinary lengths to hide the identity of its operators. Now if people believe that…

> Megaupload never complied with DMCA requests - I made several as part of some research and never received any response.

Er, was this content that you held the copyrights to? That statement seems to imply otherwise, which wouldn't really be ok (or itself compliant with the DMCA).

Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#82

Post by muuh-gnu »

surement wrote: post #71
rorrr wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rapidshare is Swiss based, and it responds to DMCA claims. I doubt it will go down any time soon.

Megaupload is Swizz based, and it went down.

> Megaupload is Swizz based

No, they were Hong Kong based. Rapidshare (Switzerland/Germany) has already been sued there, and won, so their (current) business model, for the time being, is not accessible for american "shock and awe" justice.

Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#83

Post by sophacles »

earbitscom wrote: post #62
sagarun wrote: post #24

FBI doesn't have any 'job' other than chasing down bunch of movie "pirates"?

Why is pirates in quotes? The article says these guys made over $150M in half a dozen years breaking international treaties and operating illegally. Stopping them is exactly what the FBI's job is. It's not like they're going after jay walkers.

Probably because:

   pi·ra·cy/ˈpīrəsē/
   Noun:	
   1. The practice of attacking and robbing ships at sea.
   2. A similar practice in other contexts, esp. hijacking.
Is not the same as "making a copy of something in violation of copyright rules".

Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#84

Post by robryan »

e1ven wrote: post #55
qeorge wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't disagree with you, but its hard to deny that MegaUpload was full of copyrighted material. I always got the impression they were complying with the law in the most minimal sense, but had no real interest in preventing copyrighted works from being hosted on their site. In some ways MegaUpload reminds me of YouTube. Its hard to deny that they got big by providing access to copyrighted material, but have since be…

That's the thing, right? "Complying in a minimal sense" is still complying. It shouldn't matter if their hearts were as dark as pitch. We can't legislate the hearts of men. We can only use their actions in determining their fate.

Depends about the wording of the law, can someone have 1 person who has the job of fulfilling the DMCA requests even though the workload would require say 10 people to respond in a reasonable amount of time?

Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#85

Post by jcromartie »

AlexMuir wrote: post #39

At the risk of megadownvoting here... Megaupload never complied with DMCA requests - I made several as part of some research and never received any response. The site charged for access to, and provided advertising around, pirated content. The site paid people (users/staff - it's a fine line) to provide popular content. It went to extraordinary lengths to hide the identity of its operators. Now if people believe that…

Some people may use Megaupload for hosting legit files, but I've personally never seen it used in any context other than pirated content. I wonder what the percentage of traffic is for pirated/legit content?

Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#86

Post by rbanffy »

> According to the indictment, MegaUpload is responsible for at least $500 million in losses for the owners of the copyrights in question.

I really can no longer stand such outlandish claims. Do they mean they would have sold 50 million more movies at US$ 10 each if the site didn't exist? Or do they think they'd have sold 500 million downloads for US$1 each? Or 5 billion for 10¢? In fact, they most probably got a couple extra sales from people who really loved a movie they downloaded to the point of buying the DVD (or BD) version.

Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#87

Post by AlexMuir »

magicalist wrote: post #81
AlexMuir wrote: post #39

At the risk of megadownvoting here... Megaupload never complied with DMCA requests - I made several as part of some research and never received any response. The site charged for access to, and provided advertising around, pirated content. The site paid people (users/staff - it's a fine line) to provide popular content. It went to extraordinary lengths to hide the identity of its operators. Now if people believe that…

> Megaupload never complied with DMCA requests - I made several as part of some research and never received any response. Er, was this content that you held the copyrights to? That statement seems to imply otherwise, which wouldn't really be ok (or itself compliant with the DMCA).

That statement doesn't imply anything of the sort. I acted as agent for the copyright holders.

Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#88

Post by anamax »

gte910h wrote: post #44
adestefan wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you read the actual press release and not the little WSJ blurb, then you'll see that DoJ's indicment said that MegaUpload actually did not comply with the DMCA safe harbor provisions and they did directly promote piracy. Of course, it's now up to them to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this is true. As for the not US citizens, it's covered via the Berne Convention: The laws of the country where the copyright…

>Of course, it's now up to them to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this is true. Federal prosecutors have a 95 conviction rate for trials that go to jury. Almost everyone plea bargains.

> Almost everyone plea bargains.

Yup, because the feds have amazing resources and the "law" is such that everyone is guilty of enough "crimes" to get 100 years.

In other words, feds win a rigged game.

Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#89

Post by underwater »

nphrk wrote: post #5

Why did they charge the graphic designer and the developers?

That's pretty scary. I used to work for a company that had similarities of MegaUpload. It was all above board; I was paid a salary, didn't have any ownership in the company, and we obeyed the law. To think I could have been arrested for what I saw as a day-job is not cool.

Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#90

Post by Karunamon »

rplnt wrote: post #47
AlexMuir wrote: post #39

At the risk of megadownvoting here... Megaupload never complied with DMCA requests - I made several as part of some research and never received any response. The site charged for access to, and provided advertising around, pirated content. The site paid people (users/staff - it's a fine line) to provide popular content. It went to extraordinary lengths to hide the identity of its operators. Now if people believe that…

I too am glad that someone finally went for the big guys. Rapidshare should be next in my opinion. They only make money on piracy and they know it. On the other hand, I hate when p2p networks are targeted (thepiratebay for example). Sure, they too make some money but nowhere close to paid sites like the megaupload and they don't even host the pirated content.

Rapidshare just fought (and won) an antipiracy case not too long ago.

*EDIT

More like a series of cases, actually. German courts seem much more level headed than their US couterparts. Details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RapidShare#Legal_issues

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