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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

#321

Post by etherealG »

adestefan wrote: post #207
gte910h wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, people do really believe when their government tells them a person is guilty.

As someone who has sat on a Federal jury that is definitely not true. As a matter of fact there were people that were outright convinced against the government and were only swayed when it was shown to be a pretty solid open and shut case.

thanks for this post, it helps to know from someone who's actually been in the situation. out of interest, are you at all involved in the law profession? how did they handle explaining complicated law language etc. to you as a juror?

Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#323

Post by plf »

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…

Personally, even though I had a premium account, what worries me the most is the precedent this sets. I think everyone should be worried.

Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#324

Post by wladimir »

nextparadigms wrote: post #206

So is Youtube next? Otherwise this really is just selective justice.

I'm afraid they won't stop until they control all horizontal digital communication between people. This includes sites like YouTube, forums, social network sites, everything that makes the internet "alive".

The control mechanisms needed to enforce copyright are the same as those needed to prevent freedom of communication between people. If they get their way, they will be invasive in every aspect of human communication. That is not compatible with a democracy.

Fundamental values are at stake here.

Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#325

Post by fijal »

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…

FYI downvoting mostly affects posts with no content or poor reasoning (usually both). I don't agree with you, but I will not downvote you because of that.

I'll only answer one point:

> Megaupload never complied with DMCA requests

[not even arguing whether it's true or not]

As far as I understand, people who are not residents of the US don't have to comply with DMCA requests any more they have to comply with Iranian request to take down something that insults Islam. I even personally think that insulting Islam is genuinely more harmful than copying copyrighted content, so it would be very hard to argue that DMCA requests are "good" while Iranian gov ones "bad".

The only reason why I can think it's wise to comply with DMCA is because US has 43% of world's military budget and it's a very scary thought because it attack independence of everyone else.

Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#326

Post by aes256 »

nl wrote: post #202
newhouseb wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds like a somewhat clever loophole around DMCA requirements. Host the same/duplicate file at an approximately infinite number of different URLs and take them down one by one as DMCA requests come in for specific links. This seems like a someone complicated loophole to write around because even if the DMCA was changed to allow takedowns of media and it's duplicates (if it doesn't already) you could combinator…

That's not how the DMCA works - you can notify the site of the content and require them to remove the content and/or any links to it. Read some samples from ChillingEffects: http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512/notice.cgi

A more nuanced version of the system newhouseb is proposing would be one in which, for every 'upload' of the file that receives a DMCA takedown notice, the associated download link could be deleted (i.e. complying with the notice as far as the rights holder is aware) but another one almost immediately created, linking to the same content.

The host could simply claim another user uploaded it after the DMCA notice was received and the original link removed.

Presumably DMCA notices don't apply to future uploads as well? That would be almost completely unenforceable for a service like Megaupload.

Edit: Just a couple more proposals for such a system. First, the link re-creation could be conducted randomly at different times after deletion for different uploads, giving the impression that it is not the result of an automated process.

Second, a host could publish all the DMCA notices they receive, providing a plausible explanation for why all the content is 're-uploaded' soon after being taken down. Surely a host can't be held responsible if its 'users' take it upon themselves to almost immediately re-upload any content taken down by DMCA notices?

Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#327

Post by Anderkent »

VMG wrote: post #320
rg3 wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not 720p, but I don't think that was really the main point. By the way, I just got the link by going to YouTube and searching for "the dark knight part 1". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuaUcGr32SM

Well, starting at about part 6 it displays a copyright message for me so you can maybe call this an extended trailer. The point is that YouTube doesn't offer a movie experience that is comparable to what was available on megaupload.com

The point is it still provides access to and advertising around pirated content.

Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#328

Post by pbhjpbhj »

A1kmm wrote: post #315
SomeCallMeTim wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regardless of precedent or merits on this case, the fact that it exists at all makes it harder to justify the existence of SOPA or PIPA. They didn't need either act to be passed to arrest a bunch of people in New Zealand, after all.

It is an extradition proceeding, not charges under New Zealand law (according to http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/6288082/NZ-... ). For the request to go ahead, the alleged offence need to be an extradition offence ( http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1999/0055/latest/D... ) - which means that the alleged conduct of the defendants would be a crime in New Zealand if it was done here, and would b…

Presumably this is why Universal have been talking of "conspiracy", they'll have tried to find some sort of loophole to avoid NZ from applying a local "safe harbour" law. Not that NZ probably have a choice about it all ...

Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#329

Post by pbhjpbhj »

adestefan wrote: post #209
DennisP wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your link says the state of Virginia is claiming jurisdiction because some of the servers were there. The lesson I guess is if you're going to run a site like this, don't host it in America. There's no indication that any laws of New Zealand were broken. The NZ cops simply cooperated in enforcing U.S. law.

The Berne Convention stipulates that the laws of where the copyright is registered takes precedent.

Can you quote me Berne on that one - it seems strange because copyright is an unregistered right. USA as one of the last countries to accede to Berne retains some registration systems as a way for rights holders to get access to greater fines in court. But this is not a widespread system.

Do you mean the country of origination of the copied work?

Re: Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

#330

Post by pbhjpbhj »

freehunter wrote: post #133
noonespecial wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First they come for the sites that are 90/10 pirate to legit. Seems reasonable. Then 80/20. Then 70/30. Now they're getting the process streamlined. How far will they go? 20/80? 10/90? When will it be too much? When does it become un reasonable?

Slopes aren't always as slippery as you may believe. The point of this is that the site actively promoted and profited from piracy. This isn't Facebook with someone posting a few lines from a song, this is The Pirate Bay. Think of it like this: have you ever successfully argued to a cop that you only drive over the limit 10% of the time ? What matters is the deliberateness of the speed you were doing when you got cau…

>"This isn't Facebook with someone posting a few lines from a song, this i"

No, this is YouTube with people posting whole movies.

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