Kim Dotcom's new Mega project • Hacker News Board

Re: Kim Dotcom's new Mega project

#91

Post by res0nat0r » Thu, Nov 01, 2012, 4:59 AM UTC

nikcub wrote: post #89

PostOnce wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't know much about his negative traits? He was convicted (on separate occasions years apart) of computer fraud, embezzlement, insider trading, and data espionage (carding/etc). See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Dotcom#Criminal_investigati... I particularly don't like Kim because I find him a walking insult to honest entrepreneurs. Getting rich off of other peoples' work (Megaupload) is shameful, and while ever…

In your mind how do you distinguish Megaupload and Youtube?

Because youtubes primary purpose for existing doesn't depend on copyright infringement. MU was raided because of their alleged blatant infringement and non DMCA good faith compliance.

Re: Kim Dotcom's new Mega project

#92

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Nov 01, 2012, 5:13 AM UTC

res0nat0r wrote: post #91

nikcub wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In your mind how do you distinguish Megaupload and Youtube?

Because youtubes primary purpose for existing doesn't depend on copyright infringement. MU was raided because of their alleged blatant infringement and non DMCA good faith compliance.

[deleted]

Re: Kim Dotcom's new Mega project

#93

Post by nikcub » Thu, Nov 01, 2012, 5:14 AM UTC

res0nat0r wrote: post #91

nikcub wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In your mind how do you distinguish Megaupload and Youtube?

Because youtubes primary purpose for existing doesn't depend on copyright infringement. MU was raided because of their alleged blatant infringement and non DMCA good faith compliance.

I suggest you read the evidence in Viacom vs YouTube, their founders admitted as much in internal emails that most of the early traffic was copyright material.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1588353/steal-it-and-other-intern...

The real answer to my hypothetical question is that there is no difference. One just happens to be run by a German hacker while the other by upstanding citizens of Silicon Valley.

One beat a civil lawsuit while the other has the full force of the US government trying to lock him up for life with a criminal conspiracy case (a bullshit law used to catch mafia figures).

Re: Kim Dotcom's new Mega project

#94

Post by justindocanto » Thu, Nov 01, 2012, 5:15 AM UTC

maaku wrote: post #34

justindocanto wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? Soliciting looking for an investor is illegal?? (Serious question). I know it's not 100% admirable, but i dont see anything wrong with it. Curious what the law is.

In the USA, public solicitation of investors is a crime. At least until the SEC rules on the crowd-funding legislation.

Oh wow. Had no idea. Thanks.

Re: Kim Dotcom's new Mega project

#95

Post by tzs » Thu, Nov 01, 2012, 5:23 AM UTC

thomasvendetta wrote: post #11

I especially like the DMCA callout on the Hosting Partner's page: Unfortunately we can't work with hosting companies based in the United States. Safe harbour for service providers via the Digital Millenium Copyright Act has been undermined by the Department of Justice with its novel criminal prosecution of Megaupload. It is not safe for cloud storage sites or any business allowing user generated content to be hosted…

That's hilarious. The Safe Harbor works fine for Dropbox, YouTube, and numerous others. That's because they don't have people on staff specifically looking for infringing material in order to reward the up loaders and encourage more infringement, and their responses when they are properly notified of infringing material is to actually deal with it instead of just trying to hide it from the notifier so he'll think it was taken down.

Re: Kim Dotcom's new Mega project

#96

Post by tzs » Thu, Nov 01, 2012, 5:25 AM UTC

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #47

arbuge wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the USA it probably would be... he's in New Zealand.

Didn't stop the USA last time ...

The things he was accused of were illegal in New Zealand also.

Re: Kim Dotcom's new Mega project

#97

Post by CrankyPants » Thu, Nov 01, 2012, 5:37 AM UTC

nikcub wrote: post #93

res0nat0r wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because youtubes primary purpose for existing doesn't depend on copyright infringement. MU was raided because of their alleged blatant infringement and non DMCA good faith compliance.

I suggest you read the evidence in Viacom vs YouTube, their founders admitted as much in internal emails that most of the early traffic was copyright material. http://www.fastcompany.com/1588353/steal-it-and-other-intern... The real answer to my hypothetical question is that there is no difference. One just happens to be run by a German hacker while the other by upstanding citizens of Silicon Valley. One beat a civil…

Yeah. The scuttlebutt at Google when YouTube was purchased was, "great, but what about when we have to take most of its content down for violating copyright?"

Re: Kim Dotcom's new Mega project

#98

Post by CrankyPants » Thu, Nov 01, 2012, 5:40 AM UTC

ryanpers wrote: post #10

I was neutral on this guy until I read the wired story, and then I became a fan. He is a self made man (way more so than romney!), he suffers from persistent discrimination (overweight) and he has cycled thru the hero's journey. I have heard a lot of these "major success stories", but they are people who have been put in ideal situations and then they made the best of it. That is just emotionally dead for me. Kim's s…

What's with the unnecessary injection of US presidential partisan politics?

We should be better than that around here.

Re: Kim Dotcom's new Mega project

#99

Post by CrankyPants » Thu, Nov 01, 2012, 5:41 AM UTC

ryanpers wrote: post #22

rscale wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's a career criminal. He hacked for profit. He traded in stolen phone cards and turned in his compatriots for reduced sentence. He ran a "premium" phone number scam. He ran a pump and dump scheme to defraud investors. He evaded prosecution by jumping jurisdiction. He tried (and failed) to run a fake hedge fund. He sold pirated software. He committed insider trading. He's not a self-made man. He's a career criminal…

That was years ago when he was a teenager. Many people went thru an "illegal period", his was just... more successful than most. As for sociopathic, so what? Didn't you know that most CEOs are sociopaths? I find that argument... not compelling. Like it or not, sociopathy appears to be an integral/essential part of human organizations.

Didn't you know that most CEOs are sociopaths?

...sociopathy appears to be an integral/essential part of human organizations.

Sources?

Re: Kim Dotcom's new Mega project

#100

Post by CrankyPants » Thu, Nov 01, 2012, 5:45 AM UTC

adir1 wrote: post #87

So why would any sane person try his luck with this sketchy company versus Dropbox, which provides same functionality for free already?

Dropbox has already demonstrated that they play it fast and loose with user privacy issues. While I use Dropbox for many things, and admire what they've built, we'd do well to be more realistic about it around here.