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From file-sharing to prison: A Megaupload programmer tells his story

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Re: From file-sharing to prison: A Megaupload programmer tells his story

#51

Post by lisivka »

jsprogrammer wrote: post #24
lisivka wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See case of John Demjanjuk[1] . USA citizen was extradited twice: to Israel and to Germany as "nazi". After his death, FBI confirmed that they know that he is innocent. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Demjanjuk

The link says he was deported for concealing his involvement with a Nazi death camp on his immigration forms. Where did the FBI confirm his innocence?

Quote from Wikipedia:

In 2011 the Associated Press had uncovered a secret 1985 FBI report which indicated that a Nazi ID card showing that Demjanjuk had served as a death camp guard was a Soviet-made fake.

Re: From file-sharing to prison: A Megaupload programmer tells his story

#52

Post by lisivka »

golergka wrote: post #48
lisivka wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See case of John Demjanjuk[1] . USA citizen was extradited twice: to Israel and to Germany as "nazi". After his death, FBI confirmed that they know that he is innocent. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Demjanjuk

Any person who would even briefly read the wikipedia article you linked would see obvious problems with your comment. Did you read the article before linking it?

Of course, I did. Why you are asking?

https://www.google.com/search?q=FBI+thought+Demjanjuk+eviden...

Re: From file-sharing to prison: A Megaupload programmer tells his story

#53

Post by jsprogrammer »

lisivka wrote: post #51
jsprogrammer wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The link says he was deported for concealing his involvement with a Nazi death camp on his immigration forms. Where did the FBI confirm his innocence?

Quote from Wikipedia: In 2011 the Associated Press had uncovered a secret 1985 FBI report which indicated that a Nazi ID card showing that Demjanjuk had served as a death camp guard was a Soviet-made fake.

From the same place:

He survived the ordeal, and volunteered to be sent to the Trawniki concentration camp division utilized for the training Hiwi guards recruited from Soviet POWs

Re: From file-sharing to prison: A Megaupload programmer tells his story

#54

Post by lisivka »

jsprogrammer wrote: post #53
lisivka wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quote from Wikipedia: In 2011 the Associated Press had uncovered a secret 1985 FBI report which indicated that a Nazi ID card showing that Demjanjuk had served as a death camp guard was a Soviet-made fake.

From the same place: He survived the ordeal, and volunteered to be sent to the Trawniki concentration camp division utilized for the training Hiwi guards recruited from Soviet POWs

Yep, we are talking about this fake evidence.

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2011/04/fbi_secret_repor...

Re: From file-sharing to prison: A Megaupload programmer tells his story

#55

Post by hrbrtglm »

FilterSweep wrote: post #26
hrbrtglm wrote: post #19

So this guy was jailed because he coded an advertising platform and a video hosting service. I know Mega was on a thin shady line, but what has he done wrong to be jailed in USA ?

The UK has a law called "Joint Criminal Enterprise" which is oft critiqued[0]. In America, this same concept is a de-facto legal and social standard to apply "Guilty by Association" wherever it can. So, in the USA, it can be (incorrectly) argued - by very, very high powered RIAA legal team - that this was aiding and abetting.[1] It's absolutely wrong, but this is the legal world we live in as developers. [0] https://…

All right, in fact, I think the law you explained is even fair and needed to prosecute some "Joint Criminal Enterprise". But in this specific case, how could it be "incorrectly" argued, "absolutely wrong" and not dismissed by a judge. I mean, how can you trust the justice if only the poor chap is the one going to jail. Yeah, I'm naive, I know.

Re: From file-sharing to prison: A Megaupload programmer tells his story

#56

Post by hydrogen18 »

zeveb wrote: post #7
pascalmemories wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've always been reasonably confident that if I'm out of the country, the American embassy will help me. You and many Americans. Helpfully aided in that belief by TV programs like Beyond Borders where US authorities act as the World Police jumping into other countries and taking over investigations and rescuing US citizens from any and every scrape they get themselves into. Outside your own country, your local auth…

> Outside your own country, your local authorities have very little ability to do much Oh, they have the ability, c.f. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_Perdicaris#Perdicaris_inci... (threat of war if an American citizen were not released) or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Jenkins'_Ear (war over abuse of an English subject) or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_Wars (wars to prevent enslavement of American s…

The Barbary wars were conducted because of the economic impact of taking American sailors as slaves. Free-ing the enslaved sailors was just a value-added benefit.

Re: From file-sharing to prison: A Megaupload programmer tells his story

#57

Post by letitleak »

TobbenTM wrote: post #36
cm3 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do Dropbox employees need to worry that infringing content is being taken down fast enough, lest the face prosecution? Not as long a Dropbox doesn't offend the wrong people.

Not as long Condoleezza Rice is on the board.

If saying an employee acted without authorization and/or tampering with the papertrail will save a few million in fines then you better hope no one like that is on your board. But your stock options will be safe.. though you probably wont be entitled to them.

Re: From file-sharing to prison: A Megaupload programmer tells his story

#58

Post by chris11 »

jondubois wrote: post #41

So basically employers/entrepreneurs get all the rewards if their companies succeed but if they fail, it's the employees who take the fall. And then, when things do work out, these 'entrepreneurs' are the ones who boast about how they overcame adversity in the face of impossible odds. Now I understand why Donald Trump is so popular in the US. People just lost all faith in the system; so they might as well get some en…

I wouldn't exactly say that the system has let Kim off at all. Sure, he hasn't spent any serious time in jail, but it's just because the U.S. hasn't been able to get him extradited. In fact they've pursued him so aggressively that it's helped his fight against extradition.

Re: From file-sharing to prison: A Megaupload programmer tells his story

#59

Post by orbitingpluto »

nulagrithom wrote: post #27

> I had to be made an example of as a warning to all IT people who were intending to work in similar companies. That's scary. I'm supposed to police my employers actions? To some extent I can understand, but that puts a lot of IT people in awkward positions. Do Dropbox employees need to worry that infringing content is being taken down fast enough, lest the face prosecution? I didn't follow Megaupload too closely, so…

I've worked for an employer that has wanted me to do illegal things on their behalf w.r.t. payroll 'tweaking'. Refusal to do these things was causing lots of friction and so I did the prudent thing and quit. I've touched the code base that does payroll (doing legal unrelated tweaks). It is still probably being used to steal from their own employees. Am I to expect a knock on the door?

Re: From file-sharing to prison: A Megaupload programmer tells his story

#60

Post by eonw »

ArkyBeagle wrote: post #17
coldcode wrote: post #9

Clearly our prison system in the US is terrible. Of course most other countries are even worse but you'd think we would be more civilized. It's also embarrassing that the only person they were able to put in jail was a simple programmer.

I don't know if it's available any more but there was a series on The History Channel ( from back when it had, y'know, history on it ) called "The Big House" with Paul Sorvino narrating that covers how this came to be. I realized a massive high school being built in my (then) home town had an architecture based on prison design. Not only were prisons a political innovation, but they had a lot to do with how architect…

the high school i went to was of this design as well, very much like a prison. courtyard in the middle, everything was segmented and easy to lock down. very blocky and few external windows.
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