Fuck the MPAA/RIAA
Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand
231–240 of 1001 posts
Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is about Megaupload, completely different business.
Not completely different, actually, they're pretty much the same. The only difference is the "we encrypt everything so we don't know what users upload" trick, which seems to have worked so far (and branding and stuff).
No, it was not "pretty much the same" as Dropbox.
Megaupload took steps to specifically support piracy. When a movie studio would report a pirated copy of one of their movies, Megaupload would tell the studio they removed it but in reality they would only make it so the specific link the studio new about would stop working. They would not delete the underlying file and any other links would continue to work.
This failure to remove the underlying file was not a technical limitation. When child porn was reported they were able to kill the reported link and the underlying file, thus breaking all links to it.
Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand
#233You know how it is. You search someone's home, you set aside the evidence, and you promptly forget about it for 12 years. I dislike Kim Dotcom as much as the next gal or guy, maybe even more, but this is weird.
Thats just how much time money buys you in appeals, challenges and what not.
Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
sad to see that kind of comments in HN. I feel that 10 years ago there was more room for accepting that a political opponent should be free to speak up. now our educated masses are pushing for prison and extradition because they don't belong to the axis of good.... you def cannot be for opensource and its values and say things like that
Kim is not a political opponent, he is a convicted criminal who now very deep in fake news, conspiracy myths and other lies. This is not someone who has just a different opinion on some things, but one with a long history of seriously harmful behavior.
how is it different than what youtube, chatgpt, fb or even google drive did? the only difference is his political stance
Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand
#235A fair amount of “this is fine, governments enforce IP laws and that’s a public good” vibes in here, which is all a very reasonable perspective. I’d argue Kim was too successful and too unlikeable at the end of the day, and that was probably his downfall. Toward the end, MEGA had transitioned to actually partnering with hip hop artists for distribution. The US has a long history of IP rights holders criminalizing new…
this likable/unlikable narrative gives me chills. it’s just like with assange—(il)legal imperialism at play - basically a rogue country playing the world police for the capitalist class, yet we’re fixated on personalities. it's like mistaking the finger for the moon.
Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand
#236Earlier quoted context omitted.
You do know that they pushed it left and right as 'dropbox' share everything platform targeting pirate groups with referral money right? He was not early or anything he was literally pushing pirated movies and TV shows
Wait until you hear how Crunchyroll got to where they did! Plex is on much the same trajectory. Heck, even Google Play Music used the strategy by letting people upload their pirated music libraries to get users. It's a tried and true strategy.
Kim just didn’t grease the right palm plus he was a singular face and name. Feds are relentless at getting those who the oligopolists have marked for retribution, just like Assange and Snowden
Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand
#237A fair amount of “this is fine, governments enforce IP laws and that’s a public good” vibes in here, which is all a very reasonable perspective. I’d argue Kim was too successful and too unlikeable at the end of the day, and that was probably his downfall. Toward the end, MEGA had transitioned to actually partnering with hip hop artists for distribution. The US has a long history of IP rights holders criminalizing new…
One thing you learn over the years is that people make up everything. I can't recall the exact quote but the character Frank Underwood once said something to the effect of "the law is the law, but the law is people and I know people". Meaning he could control the situation regardless.
The opposite also happens and you can see cases like this or Shkreli, Dotcom and others where they think being edgy on top of minor crimes will not get them in hot water because other people do worse but keep on the low down, but time and again you see these guys being made an example of, probably because a bunch of people dealing with their cases also start disliking them personally.
So I guess like, don't behave like an asshole generally, but specially if you're also committing crimes. Kinda like not breaking traffic laws if you have a dead body in the trunk.
Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand
#238You know how it is. You search someone's home, you set aside the evidence, and you promptly forget about it for 12 years. I dislike Kim Dotcom as much as the next gal or guy, maybe even more, but this is weird.
Don't forget they helicopter-dropped a heavily-armed swat team onto his property to execute the search of his home.
Illegally, extra-judicially. Although it was mainly NZ authorities who overstepped their bounds by allowing it.
Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand
#239A fair amount of “this is fine, governments enforce IP laws and that’s a public good” vibes in here, which is all a very reasonable perspective. I’d argue Kim was too successful and too unlikeable at the end of the day, and that was probably his downfall. Toward the end, MEGA had transitioned to actually partnering with hip hop artists for distribution. The US has a long history of IP rights holders criminalizing new…
> without cutting in the existing rights holders properly. That's the killer, right there. "existing rights holders" is a big deal, and one that has been ignored by tech bros for a long time. As a [former] artist, and [former] musician, I can say that the tech industry has been cooking the Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs. The opportunity for individual financial and ego success is a huge driver for modern popular art…
No we just realized people who pirate likely aren’t going to buy it anyway, you can’t claim lost profits for ~$0.
Re: Kim Dotcom's extradition to the U.S. given green light by New Zealand
#240Earlier quoted context omitted.
You do know that they pushed it left and right as 'dropbox' share everything platform targeting pirate groups with referral money right? He was not early or anything he was literally pushing pirated movies and TV shows
Wait until you hear how Crunchyroll got to where they did! Plex is on much the same trajectory. Heck, even Google Play Music used the strategy by letting people upload their pirated music libraries to get users. It's a tried and true strategy.
didn't itunes let people convert their pirated music collections into legit paid ones?
except they did a bad job by replacing tracks that sounded similar and then deleting the original.