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File Sharing Site MegaUpload Shut Sown By The Fed
One of the world’s largest file-sharing sites was shut down Thursday, and its founder and several company executives were charged with violating piracy laws, federal prosecutors said.
An indictment accuses Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to thwart online piracy.
The Justice Department said in a statement said that Kim Dotcom, formerly known as Kim Schmitz, and three others were arrested Thursday in New Zealand at the request of U.S. officials. Two other defendants are at large.
Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.
The site boasted 150 million registered users. A lawyer who represented the company in a lawsuit last year declined comment Thursday. Megaupload is considered a “cyberlocker,” in which users can upload and transfer files that are too large to send by email. Such sites can have perfectly legitimate uses. But the Motion Picture Association of America, which has campaigned for a crackdown on piracy, estimated that the vast majority of content being shared on Megaupload was in violation of copyright laws.
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in response to this, anonymous has taken 10+ websites down in a matter of minutes, including the white house and fbi sites
https://twitter.com/#!/AnonDaily
FBI.GOV
WMG.com
BMI.com
copyright.gov
USDOJ.GOV
WHITEHOUSE.GOV
CHRISDODD.COM
RIAA and HADOPI ARE DOWN!
UNIVERSALMUSIC.FR DOWN DOWN DOWN!
FBI.GOV ON ITS WAY DOWN!
RIAA.ORG is now Tango Down
JUSTICE.GOV RIAA MPAA UNIVERAL MUSIC ALL DOWN!
HADOPI.FR DOWN!
mpaa.org taken offline
One of the world’s largest file-sharing sites was shut down Thursday, and its founder and several company executives were charged with violating piracy laws, federal prosecutors said.
An indictment accuses Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to thwart online piracy.
The Justice Department said in a statement said that Kim Dotcom, formerly known as Kim Schmitz, and three others were arrested Thursday in New Zealand at the request of U.S. officials. Two other defendants are at large.
Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.
The site boasted 150 million registered users. A lawyer who represented the company in a lawsuit last year declined comment Thursday. Megaupload is considered a “cyberlocker,” in which users can upload and transfer files that are too large to send by email. Such sites can have perfectly legitimate uses. But the Motion Picture Association of America, which has campaigned for a crackdown on piracy, estimated that the vast majority of content being shared on Megaupload was in violation of copyright laws.
=====
in response to this, anonymous has taken 10+ websites down in a matter of minutes, including the white house and fbi sites
https://twitter.com/#!/AnonDaily
FBI.GOV
WMG.com
BMI.com
copyright.gov
USDOJ.GOV
WHITEHOUSE.GOV
CHRISDODD.COM
RIAA and HADOPI ARE DOWN!
UNIVERSALMUSIC.FR DOWN DOWN DOWN!
FBI.GOV ON ITS WAY DOWN!
RIAA.ORG is now Tango Down
JUSTICE.GOV RIAA MPAA UNIVERAL MUSIC ALL DOWN!
HADOPI.FR DOWN!
mpaa.org taken offline