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Megaupload Founder Goes From Arrest to Cult Hero

nytimes.com

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Re: Megaupload Founder Goes From Arrest to Cult Hero

#51

Post by delackner »

ericdykstra wrote: post #27
billpatrianakos wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's too simplistic. Lets take the example of a gun. The gun industry makes a product that can be used for intentional harm or for protection. One company sells a 35mm handgun to the general public and another sells assault rifles to the general public. A reasonable person knows an assault rifle is not for protection (and don't get pedantic and say "well depends where you live", etc. because you know what I mean).…

Dropbox and Box are file syncing/backup services, and MegaUpload is a filesharing service. Both types have different legitimate use-cases. Youtube is also very much about sharing movies and music, but since youtube videos are publicly viewable, it's easier to monitor and take down. How is MegaUpload supposed to monitor a bunch of passworded "VacationPhotos.rar" files? Just because it might be a Hollywood movie doesn'…

> Dropbox and Box are file syncing/backup services, and MegaUpload is a filesharing service. Both types have different legitimate use-cases.

What are you talking about? Here is a dropbox public link to a photo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/q1rw9irkhyn400d/Boston%20City%20Fl...

Just as with megaupload, any person with that link is able to download that file. The paying customer is the person hosting the file, and just as with dropbox, anyone who only has a small volume of files doesn't have to pay anything.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people are using dropbox, google drive, and any number of other companies today for EXACTLY the kind of piracy that megaupload stands accused of. The main difference seems to be that those other companies are not as successful and try very hard to present a public face that emphasizes their other features, like file syncing.

Re: Megaupload Founder Goes From Arrest to Cult Hero

#52

Post by xtracto »

ktizo wrote: post #12
shin_lao wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What he does is probably illegal, according to copyright laws, but is it that immoral? The problem to me is the amount of physical violence he endured, compared to the amount of physical violence he caused. It's as if the police would beat down someone who didn't tip a street performer.

What he does is probably illegal, according to copyright laws My understanding is that what some of the users were doing was possibly illegal under US law, but probably unlawful most everywhere else, and that what he was doing was possibly unlawful but not illegal pretty much everywhere, including in the US. Knowingly facilitating copyright infringement is a charge that can be leveled at every industry that provides…

Yup, for example in Mexico it is not ilegal to share stuff in the internet as long as it is not done for profit.

For that reason, the tool that Dotcom provided (Megaupload) was used mainly for legal purposes.

Re: Megaupload Founder Goes From Arrest to Cult Hero

#53

Post by TimJRobinson »

Can't say I like the company, it's good that a lot of their files are legitimate but they really didn't care about pirated files in the slightest. One of my friends ran a company selling physical software and hired outside help to find and serve DMCA notices to sites hosting cracked full versions of the software. Megaupload generally complied with the notices but every single time the file was taken down it was put up again a few days later (the exact same file with the exact same file size). They could have implemented even a very basic md5 check to stop this from happening but they chose not to because they knew it would bring more profits if they didn't.

Re: Megaupload Founder Goes From Arrest to Cult Hero

#54

Post by 02good »

Does the punishment match the crime?

Not all countries have the same penal system for copyright infringement. This of course does not favor the US. Where is ACTA when we need it? ;)

Even under US law, criminal copyright infringement only carries a maximum of 5 years. Legal experts correct me if I'm wrong. Can we assume that's not 5 years per item?

Now, assuming that's true, what if he does not get the max penalty? A couple of years is not too severe. Why not just sue him for damages? He has assets. He can pay. It makes a lot more sense. The answer is likely because they are trying to send a message. Why do they need to send a message? Isn't getting sued for millions enough of a message?

Let the readers answer that one.

So, what can we do if a sentence of a few years is not scary enough? We can allege a "conspiracy". A "mega conspiracy". Then we can accuse him of racketeering. And the sentence can be much longer.

The whole thing is just a little over the top.

They should have just sued him, taken his assets and left him a broke hacker.

Instead they want to brand him a serious criminal. Not just a petty one. People are not buying it. What they see is overzealousness. The punishment does not match the crime. So he becomes a hero.

Interesting.

Re: Megaupload Founder Goes From Arrest to Cult Hero

#55

Post by nmridul »

This is what scared me from the article.

“Two helicopters and 76 heavily armed officers to arrest a man alleged of copyright crimes — think about that,” he wrote. “Hollywood is importing their movie scripts into the real world and sends armed forces to protect their outdated business model.”

What were they thinking when they sent such a large force ?

Re: Megaupload Founder Goes From Arrest to Cult Hero

#56

Post by billswift »

modoc wrote: post #22
billpatrianakos wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's too simplistic. Lets take the example of a gun. The gun industry makes a product that can be used for intentional harm or for protection. One company sells a 35mm handgun to the general public and another sells assault rifles to the general public. A reasonable person knows an assault rifle is not for protection (and don't get pedantic and say "well depends where you live", etc. because you know what I mean).…

A 35mm handgun would be hilarious:)

I heard about someone back in the 1970s who replaced the barrel of an old .38 Special revolver with a piece of pipe (about an inch-and-a-half or 40 mm) and used .38 blank cartridges to shoot golf balls about a hundred yards.

Re: Megaupload Founder Goes From Arrest to Cult Hero

#57

Post by davidw »

ArcticCelt wrote: post #42
Cushman wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a pretty savvy internet user, and I'll confess to having used Mega for the odd video when nothing else was working, but I've never heard much about Kim before this case. Now he's a folk hero. Considering the weakness of Mega's position, this case couldn't have gone much worse for the copyright industry.

What's impressive is that he went from relative obscurity to been known not only from the startup crowd like here but also from the more mainstream tech crowd that populate sites like reddit. They maybe managed to shutdown and destroy his business but they also involuntarily made sure that his next business venture will have an enormous amount of free publicity by been talked about on all tech blogs and social news w…

Well, if their case did go the way they wanted, his next venture may be selling smokes to the other inmates.

Re: Megaupload Founder Goes From Arrest to Cult Hero

#58

Post by davidw »

cabalamat wrote: post #45
J3L2404 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NZ is being oppressed by the US? Like the whole pirate revolution fantasy, there is no basis in reality. IP is not going away anytime soon, at least in free countries. The pirate party would have to be, at least in the US, one of the two major parties and even then it would be difficult. Either people can choose how to license their work or there are no licenses. I don't see a middle ground.

> NZ is being oppressed by the US? Of course it is. What is the Trans-Pacific Partnership if it isn't the latest attempt to bludgeon other countries in toeing the USA's (i.e. the MAFIAA's) line in IP? > Like the whole pirate revolution fantasy, there is no basis in reality. There are currently Pirates elected in 7 countries, which is good going for a movement that's only been in existance for 6 years. Other politicia…

> Savvy creators,

Other savvy people realize that the way things are going, making any kind of living at creating information goods is going to be increasingly difficult, so they go do other things. In some cases, that's no great loss, in other cases, we are the poorer for it in terms of never getting to see what they may have created.

See: "that which is not seen" ( http://bastiat.org/en/twisatwins.html )

Re: Megaupload Founder Goes From Arrest to Cult Hero

#59

Post by s_henry_paulson »

Tangaroa wrote: post #10

He's a hero because he let people warez and they lost their favorite source for warez when his system was shut down. Everything else -- the FBI fuckups, the legitimate users losing data, and so on -- is a secondary justification for supporting a warez site. Those issues can be opposed on their own without making the warezer-in-chief into a hero.

No, he's a hero because he's standing up to illegal practices by the US government and entertainment industry that can go as far as strong-arming another nation into breaking their own laws at their behest.

Of course there is pirated stuff on MegaUpload, there's pirated stuff on every cloud hosting service.. every single one of them. Anecdotally, I use Google Docs and Dropbox to share music with people, should the government raid them and take all of their servers?

Whether or not you feel this is a piracy hub is beside the point, because if there was a reason to shut the site down, the people responsible should be able to present evidence of criminal activity in order to justify their actions.

The fact that they undertook a military raid, and tried to collect evidence after the fact is a clear sign that they did not have a strong case to begin with.

More than anything he's becoming a hero because the RIAA and MPAA have been using lawsuits to demand hundreds of thousands of dollars from middle-class parents, the elderly, and many others who are often innocent of crimes they are accused of. This has become a rallying point for many to stand up to these organizations tactics, because it's only been a one-sided battle using questionable practices for the past decade.

Re: Megaupload Founder Goes From Arrest to Cult Hero

#60

Post by J3L2404 »

s_henry_paulson wrote: post #59
Tangaroa wrote: post #10

He's a hero because he let people warez and they lost their favorite source for warez when his system was shut down. Everything else -- the FBI fuckups, the legitimate users losing data, and so on -- is a secondary justification for supporting a warez site. Those issues can be opposed on their own without making the warezer-in-chief into a hero.

No, he's a hero because he's standing up to illegal practices by the US government and entertainment industry that can go as far as strong-arming another nation into breaking their own laws at their behest. Of course there is pirated stuff on MegaUpload, there's pirated stuff on every cloud hosting service.. every single one of them. Anecdotally, I use Google Docs and Dropbox to share music with people, should the go…

The US military was not involved, contrary to popular belief.
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