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MEGAUPLOAD shut down by American FBI


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The federal authorities on Thursday announced that they had charged seven people connected to the Web site Megaupload, including its founder, with running an international criminal enterprise centered on copyright infringement on the Internet.

 

According to a grand jury indictment, Megaupload — one of the most popular “locker” services on the Internet, which lets users anonymously transfer large files — generated $175 million in income for its operators through subscription fees and advertising, while causing $500 million in damages to copyright holders.

 

Four of the seven people, including the site’s founder Kim Dotcom, born Kim Schmitz, have been arrested in New Zealand, the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Thursday; the three others remain at large. The seven — who a grand jury indictment calls part of a “Mega Conspiracy” — have been charged with five counts of copyright infringement and conspiracy, the authorities said.

 

The charges, which the government agencies said represented “among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States,” come at a charged time, a day after online protests against a pair of antipiracy bills being considered by Congress — the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, in the House, and the Protect I.P. Act, or PIPA, in the Senate.

 

The indictment was handed down by a grand jury in Virginia two weeks ago, but was unsealed on Thursday, and stems from a federal investigation that began two years ago.

 

The Megaupload case touches on many of the most controversial aspects of the antipiracy debate.

 

Megaupload and similar locker sites, like Rapidshare and Mediafire, are often promoted as being convenient ways to legitimately transfer large files — a recent promotional video had major stars like Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas singing Megaupload’s praises. But they have become notorious among media companies, who see them as abetting copyright infringement on a large scale by giving people easy, but unauthorized, access to movies, music and other content.

 

Megaupload is currently engaged in a lawsuit with Universal over the promotional video and Universal’s efforts to have it removed from YouTube.

 

As part of the crackdown on Megaupload, 20 search warrants were executed in nine countries, including the United States. About $50 million in assets were also seized, as well as a number of servers and 18 domain names, the authorities said.

 

Ira P. Rothken, a lawyer for Megaupload, said in a phone interview on Thursday afternoon that he had not yet seen the indictment, but he added: “Clearly we have due process concerns. This was done without a hearing.”

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FreddyFX, while I mined diamonds in West Africa for years, I learned the Lebanese that mine there send about $$$ 110M annually to fund Hezbollah. Trust me, there will never be anyone or any Government that could stop people from giving money to whom they want. Edited by maddman
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Warning

 

I guess eventually many sites which refers to download links will be gone soon, maybe even this one. One site that I always go to to find posted links to latest movie downloads is now gone also, the DNS entry no longer exists. Another site has this posted on their site now:

 

News

 

WARNING: All reports, requests and megaupload/fileserve/hosting site related comments in in the comments section of movie/drama posting will be deleted. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME TYPING!

 

WARNING: DO NOT PURCHASE Fileserve,Filejungle or Uploadstation PREMIUM ACCOUNT. They are own by the same guy. Fileserve have been deleting premium accounts with NO WARNINGS! We will not be posting up anymore Fileserve links. We will sit back and wait until this whole situation is over with Fileserve and Megaupload.

MegaUpload has been shutdown. In response to this we have CLOSED the dead links report forum so it doesn't get flooded. We have also CLOSED the request forum. We will reopen these two forums when things settle down. As of now do not report any dead links. Get more information and talk about about what's happening HERE IN THE FORUM.

 

New layout is undergoing changes please bear with us.

 

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I belong to a warez share site which has mega downloads I would like to have. I just purchased a premium 30 day membership to rapidly download what I can this weekend. My guess is that within 6 months, all share sites will disappear and sites like this will follow unfortunately. I wonder what Uncle Sam will want to control next.
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  • Fileserve – Stopped filesharing. You can only download your own files. Deleting multiple files. Banning Premium accounts. Closed Affiliate Program.
  • Changed server location Jan 22, 2012. Taken down it's Facebook page Now using Digital fingerprinting. Files are being deleted as soon as uploaded (as Hotfile did).
  • VideoBB – Closed Affiliate Program.
  • Filepost – Started suspending accounts with infringing material (as Hotfile did)
  • Uploaded.to – Blocked U.S. access.
  • Videozer – Closed Affiliate Program.
  • Filejungle – Owned by Fileserve (same as above). Testing USA IP addresses blocking.
  • Uploadstation – Owned by Fileserve (same as above). Testing USA IP addresses blocking.
  • 4Shared – Deleting multiple files
  • EnterUpload - Down (Redirect)

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With over 150 million registered users, the file sharing site MegaUpload.com is one of the most popular on the Internet. At least, it was.

 

The site has now been seized by the US government and its homepage converted to an FBI anti-piracy warning. Its founder, a high tech entrepreneur named Kim Dotcom (yes, he had it legally changed), was arrested in New Zealand after his homes were raided and assets seized.

 

These actions were all at the behest of the US government. And it's just the latest example of Big Brother overextending its authority across the entire world.

 

Last week, we discussed the grassroots efforts to stop passage of the SOPA/PIPA legislation that would give the US government jurisdiction over the Internet. Wikipedia blacked out its English language pages to raise awareness of the issue, and people went completely nuts.

 

Congress subsequently withdrew the bills amid popular outcry, and the public rejoiced that their efforts successfully thwarted further encroachment on their liberty. Or so they thought.

 

On the exact same day that everyone was celebrating victory over SOPA/PIPA, the US government simply used another set of regulations to nab Dotcom and seize his assets. The fact that SOPA was s****ped turned out to be completely irrelevant, they just found other rules to apply (or break).

 

As usual, it's probably not legal. But such technicalities don't matter in the 'guilty until proven innocent' system in which we live. Executive agencies exercise extreme latitude when confiscating assets, and victims often don't have the opportunity to address the matter in front of a judge for years, if ever.

 

In Dotcom's case, the man probably won't even successfully make it past the extradition process for at least a year... let alone bring the issue to trial. The government is using its bureaucracy to completely circumvent due process and make an example of somebody that they consider a nuisance.

 

So why should they care? What interest could the US government possibly have in a silly file sharing site? None. But the entertainment industry does.

 

You see, we don't live in a representative democracy. Democracy is an illusion to make people believe that they're free. Instead, it's blocs of large corporations who are really in control. If the entertainment business wants Kim Dotcom to go away, the government will invent or break any law necessary to make it happen. They're all in bed together.

 

What's more, it doesn't matter which group or party is in power. Democrat or Republican, Labour or Conservative, Liberal or New Democratic... they're all for sale. Citizens concern themselves with the outcome of elections, investing heavy emotional and financial support for 'their guy'. Companies just wait it out and buy off whichever candidates win.

 

Kim Dotcom, though a wealthy and successful entrepreneur, was essentially a lone wolf standing against the entire industry. Rather than find ways to work with him in what is clearly emerging as a dominant media platform, they chose to eliminate him... by having the US government send the New Zealand government to arrest him and seize his assets.

 

It's mind numbing when you really think about it.

 

Ultimately, Dotcom may successfully find his way back to a normal life after years in court and perhaps some time in jail. In the meantime, though, his case certainly makes a strong argument for flying under the radar. It's a stark reminder that, if they really want to get you, they'll apply, invent, or break whatever laws are necessary to do so.

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