Megaupload file-sharing site shut down

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by razark

Lovely. So this will be used as a reason why we need things like SOPA and PIPA.

Thanks a lot, guys.

This has nothing directly to do with SOPA/PIPA, they are about piracy/copyright infringement - not denial of service attacks.

[razark]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

This has nothing directly to do with SOPA/PIPA, they are about piracy/copyright infringement - not denial of service attacks.

If the people making the laws understood how the internet works, they wouldn't be creating stuff like SOPA. They'll be pushing the "see how evil these copyright infringing people are? we need laws to take them out" angle to push more laws that don't work.

(Yes, this is not directly related to specific laws (SOPA/PIPA) designed to take down piracy sites, but using laws to take down a piracy site IS what happened here. The DDoS attack was in retaliation for a site being taken down. Or as someone put it: "REVENGE!")

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by soopaman2

All the torrent sites are still up though.

Because they are trickier to take down than simple file-sharing sites that
actually host the files on their servers.

They attack the easy targets, the ones at least trying to be legit.

MegaUpload wasn't even trying to monitor the files people uploaded there.

[Molon Labe]

Stuff gets deleted from megaupload all the time.


The part about this that pisses me off the most was that MU wasn't given a day in court. Just taken offline with no process whatsoever. Orwellian BS.

That and just the principle of the whole case in general, punishing the creators of a legitimate service because some users use that service to infringe on copyrights. They might as well shut down and arrest the makers of the VHS cassette and CDs while they're at it, along with any other sort of media storage device.

[joegrundman]

is it the beginning of something new, or a sacrificial victim to appease the gods of sopa/pipa?

it seems to me attacking megaupload for copyright infringement is akin to attacking ebay for being a marketplace for stolen goods. It is, but it is also much more than that.

but of course megaupload isn't an american-owned internet titan.

to quote the great philosopher "Skipper", "there is no sacrifice greater than someone else's"

[TarJak]

Originally Posted by Molon Labe

Stuff gets deleted from megaupload all the time.


The part about this that pisses me off the most was that MU wasn't given a day in court. Just taken offline with no process whatsoever. Orwellian BS.

That and just the principle of the whole case in general, punishing the creators of a legitimate service because some users use that service to infringe on copyrights. They might as well shut down and arrest the makers of the VHS cassette and CDs while they're at it, along with any other sort of media storage device.

And that's happened without SOPA or PIPA being in law. So they want more power to squash piracy? Like all prohibition, it simply drives the behaviour underground, turns almost every citizen into an accomplice and improves the chances of corruption.

Instead of taking the right response to a market challenge, they run off to the hill asking for more legislation. What they should be doing is marketing their product and making it more freely available on the net at a reasonable cost.

I think the thing that scares the crap out of the music moguls is that their artists can simply cut them out of the sales process and deal direct with the customer on the net. Hope that happens sooner rather than later and some of these twunts get some come uppance.

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by Molon Labe

Stuff gets deleted from megaupload all the time.

Sure, but they've never truly tried to keep the site clear. Take a look at Rapidshare
in comparisation. Sure, illegal stuff gets uploaded there too, but the stuff is hunted
down quite quickly and deleted.

Or what about MegaVideo? Tons and tons of shows are there and have been there for years, the administration of the site doesn't seem to do much to clean
it.

This was just another regular anti-piracy bust, nothing more nothing less.

[Jimbuna]

Well bang went a load of my files

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Well bang went a load of my files

Time to find a new home for them. I assume you have them backed up, if not I'm sure Steve will.

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by joegrundman

it seems to me attacking megaupload for copyright infringement is akin to attacking ebay for being a marketplace for stolen goods. It is, but it is also much more than that.

And this is exactly the point! It is the equivalent of closing a storage facility because people hosted hot goods there, or closing down a harddisk plant, because Joe Sixpack had some illegal mp3s on his drive. If I had a meth lab in my apartment, I would be in legal trouble, not my landlord.
I am sure that megaupload prohibited hosting copyrighted material on their servers in their TOS.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

Time to find a new home for them. I assume you have them backed up, if not I'm sure Steve will.

Oh yes....the GW stuff etc. etc. is well archived on portable HD's and discs...it's just the nusance value of maybe having to upload it again some time in the future.

[Herr-Berbunch]

I think I read around here somewhere that working files for GWX were now available elsewhere? If that was so then, phew - not for me but for all the new guys just finding SH3 and wanting that little () bit more.

[Jimbuna]

The GWX files are available from the GameFront link above my sig.

[Seeadler]

I met Kim Schmitz years ago at a convention of the CCC (chaos computer club) here in Hamburg Germany where he appeared as guest speaker

[Kongo Otto]

Originally Posted by Seeadler

I met Kim Schmitz years ago at a convention of the CCC (chaos computer club) here in Hamburg Germany where he appeared as guest speaker

What was he talking about? Internet Fraud, Common Fraud, Inside Trading, Handling stolen goods or just a little small talk about why he's such a fat twat.