ATTENTION! MEGAUPLOAD HAS BEEN SHUT DOWN BY THE FEDS!!

[lizard81288]

The question is, did the creators knew about all that copyrighted stuff and reacted accordingly, everytime the copyright holders made a copyright claim? I remember the time when Rapidshare were still the kings of 1 click webhosting. They won every court case thrown at them. It was simply because they can't control every freaking file uploaded at their servers. But they can easily remove those files, if copyright holders notify them about it.

Apparently from what was posted in the thread, some employees knew their was pirated stuff and bragged and boasted about it.

If I was on the list of what could be shutdown, say Youtube or Facebook, I would be looking into moving servers. I assume American companies can move their servers and be ok from this.

And America just keeps exporting jobs due to rules and regulations.

What is stopping them from closing youtube? People post links to download songs and movies. Shoot, you can download add-ons for that stuff. Same thing with Facebook, Myspace, ect. They can just deem that it is not a safe site like they did with MU and shut it down.

Besides, piracy mostly happens in 3rd world countries. I believe the US is on the bottom of the list.

[D]

Besides, piracy mostly happens in 3rd world countries. I believe the US is on the bottom of the list.

Wrong. Most third world countries don't have easily available internet access. Ask a Somali to show you Pirate Bay and I'm sure it'll be different to your understanding. The US, due to its huge population, is probably 2nd or 3rd on the list behind China and India.

[Slacker Magician]

Apparently from what was posted in the thread, some employees knew their was pirated stuff and bragged and boasted about it.

If I was on the list of what could be shutdown, say Youtube or Facebook, I would be looking into moving servers. I assume American companies can move their servers and be ok from this.

And America just keeps exporting jobs due to rules and regulations.

What is stopping them from closing youtube? People post links to download songs and movies. Shoot, you can download add-ons for that stuff. Same thing with Facebook, Myspace, ect. They can just deem that it is not a safe site like they did with MU and shut it down.

Besides, piracy mostly happens in 3rd world countries. I believe the US is on the bottom of the list.

The US population is a lot larger than most countries, save a few. Even if the percentage is low, I imagine the actual number of people is relatively high.


Or D can beat me to it.

[gezegond]

slowpoke.png

It seems this doesn't matter, because both PIPA and SOPA are on hold nearly for good.

I'm saying that this does matter, because PIPA and SOPA are not the problem. The problem is what they let the copyright holders do: Take down whole websites for hosting user uploaded infringing material. They just showed that they can do this even without SOPA and PIPA. They did this to emphasize that they are in control of the internet, and people should just obey. They possibly did this to show off their power. That's an old trick used by oppressors to prevent protests. How could this not matter?

I believe this is even more important than the SOPA and PIPA. Because people could object to those, but no one can object to this. It is already the law. A law that gives the copyright holder power to put people in prison for the crime of providing communication services to people. This means any communications provider on the internet who doesn't spy on all the users and actively monitoring every single post for copyright infringement could suffer.

Heck, they could just barge in into any forum, say "admins knew people were talking about piracy but did nothing to stop them", then seize all their assets and put them in prison without giving them a chance of being heard, Effectively killing free speech. What's worse is that they can do it without SOPA.

It's good that SOPA is almost gone, but to me, SOPA wasn't the start of it. To me, it was when they charged PirateBay founders for "enabling people to infringe copyrights". Just what the heck does "enabling" mean? All they did was that they provided torrent users a communication tool and did not actively self censor themselves.

To make this more understandable, consider this hypothetical situation:
Imagine someone asking you where he can find the nearest bank. You tell him it's just down the road. The man says thanks and goes away and you go home. The man enters a bank, pulls of a robbery, and leaves. The police can't find the bank robber, so instead they come to your house, arrest you, and put you in prison for "enabling someone to perform a bank robbery". And to make thing even worse, you don't get to defend yourself.

Pretty crazy, eh? This is already part of the law, and it's called ProIP. They used this very law to take down MU. They didn't actually infringe anyone's copyright. They just provided a communication tool and did not actively self censor themselves, at least in MPAA's standards. That was enough to put people in jail.

If you read the wikipedia article, you can see that Lamar Smith was one of it's supporters, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation was in opposition. The difference is that back then no one cared, so this became a law.

I think governments having enough power to take away the freedom of speech and take down simple communication tools in name of protecting copyright holder's rights defiantly falls into the category of "important".

[JKDarkside]

Attachment 29401

...uh, it is theft. Cause you're effectively using a version you did not properly pay for. File Sharing is different from normal sharing because it usually goes on a much grander scale.

It's just not as massive as they say it is.

I'm saying that this does matter, because PIPA and SOPA are not the problem. The problem is what they let the copyright holders do: Take down whole websites for hosting user uploaded infringing material. They just showed that they can do this even without SOPA and PIPA. They did this to emphasize that they are in control of the internet, and people should just obey. They possibly did this to show off their power. That's an old trick used by oppressors to prevent protests. How could this not matter?

Because Megaupload is a group that had this coming by simply having Megavideo, a service that got them money via copyrighted material they had no right to stream with premium services. That is pretty disgusting and isn't simple file sharing, that's the online equal to bootleg copies sales but with the genuine article, just in much lower quality. Now if they went after someone less scummy, that would raise my radar, but this wasn't simple muscle flexing, this is a long case against generally scummy business practices that directly profited off of copyrighted material.

We're never going to have a case in our favor if we defend outright criminal activity like that. That's not defending file sharing, which can be a useful service and our main defense, that's defending scam artists.

[Slacker Magician]

...uh, it is theft. Cause you're effectively using a version you did not properly pay for. File Sharing is different from normal sharing because it usually goes on a much grander scale.

It's just not as massive as they say it is.



Because Megaupload is a group that had this coming by simply having Megavideo, a service that got them money via copyrighted material they had no right to stream with premium services. That is pretty disgusting and isn't simple file sharing, that's the online equal to bootleg copies sales but with the genuine article, just in much lower quality. Now if they went after someone less scummy, that would raise my radar, but this wasn't simple muscle flexing, this is a long case against generally scummy business practices that directly profited off of copyrighted material.

We're never going to have a case in our favor if we defend outright criminal activity like that. That's not defending file sharing, which can be a useful service and our main defense, that's defending scam artists.

Consider where you're saying these things. It doesn't make it any less illegal if profit isn't being had.

[gezegond]

Wrong. Most third world countries don't have easily available internet access. Ask a Somali to show you Pirate Bay and I'm sure it'll be different to your understanding. The US, due to its huge population, is probably 2nd or 3rd on the list behind China and India.

The US population is a lot larger than most countries, save a few. Even if the percentage is low, I imagine the actual number of people is relatively high.

Actually, No. This is a chart showing "Software piracy rate by country". Although it's just software piracy and it's showed in percentages, you can still see that US is the very last one with the least amount of piracy. This is an article about piracy in developing countries. It is pretty much an accepted fact that the majority of piracy happens in third world countries. I actually had read more solid evidence sometime ago, but can't seem to find it right now.

...uh, it is theft. Cause you're effectively using a version you did not properly pay for. File Sharing is different from normal sharing because it usually goes on a much grander scale.

Theft has a definite legal meaning that's different from "using a version you did not properly pay for". This could fall under either "copyright infringement" or "fair use", a judge will decide which. Using copyrighted material without paying for them is not illegal in itself as it could fall under fair use. This is very different than theft. Theft is just a label the MAFIAA uses to exaggerate the crime and confuse folks like you.

Because Megaupload is a group that had this coming by simply having Megavideo, a service that got them money via copyrighted material they had no right to stream with premium services. That is pretty disgusting and isn't simple file sharing

That's my point, Mu did not upload those movies, the users did. The only wrong MU has done is to offer good services. This naturally attracts people who would abuse these services, and that's not MU's fault. Just creating a streaming website does not make you "disgusting", this is what the MAFIAA want people to think, that communications enablers are "scum" and "disgusting". There are definitions for what theft and copyright infringement is, it's not as simple as that, just calling them names and voila! Now it's okay to censor the internet. The significance here is not MegaUpload, it's what the government is capable of. If they could do this to MU, next time they might come at your door and put you in prison for watching a movie with some of your buddies without them "properly payed for it". My concerns lies within the methods, not the victims. The victims can be anyone, and you can rant all day about who could deserve this more. That doesn't change the fact that something very wrong is going on here.

We're never going to have a case in our favor if we defend outright criminal activity like that.

You see, service providers are not criminals, and I'm not defending criminal activity. I'm defending the freedom of speech, the freedom of communication, and the freedom of internet.

[Supreme Warrior]

to liven the mood (thank Gypsy)

http://i.imgur.com/rkXWE.jpg

[Slacker Magician]

Actually, No. This is a chart showing "Software piracy rate by country". Although it's just software piracy and it's showed in percentages, you can still see that US is the very last one with the least amount of piracy. This is an article about piracy in developing countries. It is pretty much an accepted fact that the majority of piracy happens in third world countries. I actually had read more solid evidence sometime ago, but can't seem to find it right now.

My comment was purely speculation. I don't know how much movie/game piracy factors into that study though. Here's the link to the study they sourced: http://global.bsa.org/idcglobalstudy2007/

[foggy_han]

to liven the mood (thank shar)

http://i.imgur.com/rkXWE.jpg

It was kinda funny, but what happens after the "anoni-dinobirds's" entrance?
(It just ends there... )

But that is an interesting way to view this whole thing...
("and by a downloader? Aye!" )

[Slacker Magician]

It was kinda funny, but what happens after the "anoni-dinobirds's" entrance?
(It just ends there... )

But that is an interesting way to view this whole thing...
("and by a downloader? Aye!" )

Have you not seen LotR: Return of the King?

[foggy_han]

Have you not seen LotR: Return of the King?

No...

So, what happens next? ^^'

[JKDarkside]

Consider where you're saying these things. It doesn't make it any less illegal if profit isn't being had.

It's lesser and not as big of an issue it's made out to be.

Now when you make it a service, that's pure greed motivation.

[gezegond]

My comment was purely speculation. I don't know how much movie/game piracy factors into that study though. Here's the link to the study they sourced: http://global.bsa.org/idcglobalstudy2007/

Eh? That's the one I was referring to. If you view the pdf file "Summary of Findings" you see that US has a 20% piracy rate which lower than all other countries.

to liven the mood (thank Gypsy)

http://i.imgur.com/rkXWE.jpg

what is this I don't even...

[JKDarkside]

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/20/es...port-for-sopa/

The ESA has dropped support.

This fucker is dead in the water.