MegaUpload shut down

[Led]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jan/19/us-government-megaupload-piracy-indictment

I hope no one had any mod maps there...   

[SleepKiller]

Yeah action against piracy!

[Phobos]

Very sad it has to come to this, megaupload was a great site for sharing files. All because of money. I hope they don't go after mediafire next.

[Unit 33]

Yeah... however there's just another 5000 sites that will take it's place.

[Syyy]

Heard that this morning, i was sad too :/

[Dbiz]

I heard about some retaliation too.  Its not good to mess with people who know how to hack.

[Joseph]

I heard about some retaliation too.  Its not good to mess with people who know how to hack.

If you are referring to Anonymous, don't get your hopes up. Anonymous is effectively controlled opposition. The idea that the most appropriate response to draconian actions is to DDoS some irrelevant websites for a few hours, is massively stupid. Moreover, it generates sympathy for further government infringements on freedom of information.

[Unit 33]

Anon couldn't co-ordinate their way out of a paper bag. And yes it's likely that their sometimes overbearing internet presence will probably turn on them in the end.
MegaUpload is very much a symbol of piracy and file sharing, so while it's removal won't have lasting effects it (since countless other sites provide the exact same service) it makes it look like the US government are doing something to tackle the "problem".

[Phobos]

And now btjunkie has voluntarily shut down, 

[Joseph]

odd timing, my guess is the gov't threatened to sue their arses off unless they voluntarily shut down.

This is a demonstration that our corrupt government does not need acts like SOPA to censor the internet. The shutdown of Megaupload was a lengthy, laborious red-tape affair. But now that the gov't has shown that they can successfully perform these investigations/shutdowns (given enough time), they can wield the Megaupload affair like a club at anyone who stands in their way. It's a totalitarian way of thinking -- literally controlling people through threats. We live in interesting times. Democracy in the US is going to reach either (1) an all time high or (2) an all time low within the next decade. There's no way it can remain balanced in the precarious position it's currently in.

edit: and yet something tells me this won't make prime times news like the last one (even though it was the largest torrent index), let's find out.

edit: "The company did not specifically address why it opted to shut down, but in an interview with TorrentFreak, BTJunkie's unnamed founder said the threat of legal action was a main reason. "Witnessing all the trouble colleagues got into was cause for a lot of worry and stress, and those will now belong to the past," TorrentFreak wrote."

[SleepKiller]

odd timing, my guess is the gov't threatened to sue their arses off unless they voluntarily shut down.

This is a demonstration that our corrupt government does not need acts like SOPA to censor the internet. The shutdown of Megaupload was a lengthy, laborious red-tape affair. But now that the gov't has shown that they can successfully perform these investigations/shutdowns (given enough time), they can wield the Megaupload affair like a club at anyone who stands in their way. It's a totalitarian way of thinking -- literally controlling people through threats. We live in interesting times. Democracy in the US is going to reach either (1) an all time high or (2) an all time low within the next decade. There's no way it can remain balanced in the precarious position it's currently in.

edit: and yet something tells me this won't make prime times news like the last one (even though it was the largest torrent index), let's find out.

edit: "The company did not specifically address why it opted to shut down, but in an interview with TorrentFreak, BTJunkie's unnamed founder said the threat of legal action was a main reason. "Witnessing all the trouble colleagues got into was cause for a lot of worry and stress, and those will now belong to the past," TorrentFreak wrote."

Why you little (Wait Buckler would kill me for completing this sentence.) .

For the record everyone I'm thrilled that Megaupload got shut down, it hosted more copyright files than any other site on the internet. I'll personally troll anyone to death who says that they think the FBI made a corrupt move here. And who also think that they are now using it as a weapon. I'm a person who hates people who rip off movies, books, games, music, and software.

[tirpider]

My only lament in all this is the loss of modding assets.

If anyone here has messed with quake or doom, you'll have noticed the very large id games shaped hole in public ftp sites (If you can even find those, anymore.) There is an entropic force erasing the good stuff before it's even discovered.

I recommend hoarding assets, So we don't have to scramble for links as they die (via megaupload like takedowns, or just plain deletion like filefront.)

I'm sitting on a 15gb un-organized pile of stuff for BF1 & 2, but none of the old stuff and lots of overlap.


As for btjunkie, this was inevitable. I suspect they were either threatened or paid to just go away. Had to see it comming though. The argument that there were legit torrents linked on their site died the instant you tried to find one.
Looked like a black market software and dvd warehouse to me.

I can't imagine that the absense of this black market will bring the demise of democracy, though. If it does, then I must completely misunderstand what democracy is. I don't see downloading movies for free or bootlegging music and software as an inalienable right. (I can't see the new Iron Man for free? RIOT!)

When federal agents start shutting down news sites and political forums, then I'll see the ability to speak freely as being in peril.

Till then, it's just bussines doing what it has always done: act in it's own best interest.
To expect it to do otherwise is fantasy.

[Joseph]

As for btjunkie, this was inevitable. I suspect they were either threatened or paid to just go away. Had to see it comming though.

This is not how a democracy operates. If the government wants to take down a website for criminal activity, then they should do it with, ah, you know, a case, and evidence -- in a word: fairly. Eliminating enemies of the state via implicit threats, implied action, is beyond creepy. If websites can be taken down in this fashion -- under the table -- then what's to stop the government from deploying similar tactics on arbitrary websites?

I can't imagine that the absense of this black market will bring the demise of democracy, though. If it does, then I must completely misunderstand what democracy is. I don't see downloading movies for free or bootlegging music and software as an inalienable right. (I can't see the new Iron Man for free? RIOT!)

When federal agents start shutting down news sites and political forums, then I'll see the ability to speak freely as being in peril.

This misconception is understandable, but not excusable. Let's look at SOPA -- the Stop Online Piracy Act. SOPA would require all websites to constantly police their comments/3rd party posts for links to sites with copyright violations. The mere presence of such content would incriminate the site in question and, in theory, allow the feds to shut it down. Facebook, CNN, Google,...that's how encompassing that legislature is/was. It means: guilty until proven innocent, a reversal of the American concept of justice.

If you think this idea died with SOPA, think again. SOPA was just a formal statement of what they can already do. The feds can, as we have seen, wield the Megaupload case like a club against any website that is potentially breaking the law. What's the problem here? Virtually any website designed for the dissemination/sharing of private information can be meaningfully accused of copyright violation at some level. I shouldn't need to provide examples. I think the end game is clear: the end of privacy as we know it. This is a direct assault on the freedom of information, and privacy. The first decades of the internet have been wild, and free, but there is a menacing effort on the part of authorities worldwide to replace this internet 1.0 with a second, "improved" internet 2.0. We can't let them undo so much progress.

I'll personally troll anyone to death who says that they think the FBI made a corrupt move here. And who also think that they are now using it as a weapon.

I just did that in Reply #9, sister

[SleepKiller]

I see you live under the rule, Ignorance is Bliss. As in Ignorance to how much damage Megaupload cost to copy right holders. (Our beloved SWBF will have suffered losses as well.)

There as heaps of sites that I'd see shut down on the internet. They in no way impact Free Speach since they are just sites hosting illegal content, not Forums for discussion of the law. If I saw like tirpider said, news sites and other items like that being filtered then I'd definitely see a huge problem with the way the internet works.

Here is an exercise for you, say you wrote a book. It became very popular. However some people think it'd be all fine and dandy to D/L off the internet for free. You wouldn't be so thrilled about these sites now would you? Now let us say that the book gets turned into a movie, the movie become really popular. But once again it got put on the internet and 1000s of people watched it illegally for free. Those sites now seem like a very bad thing.

[Joseph]

I see you live under the rule, Ignorance is Bliss. As in Ignorance to how much damage Megaupload cost to copy right holders. (Our beloved SWBF will have suffered losses as well.)

There as heaps of sites that I'd see shut down on the internet. They in no way impact Free Speach since they are just sites hosting illegal content, not Forums for discussion of the law. If I saw like tirpider said, news sites and other items like that being filtered then I'd definitely see a huge problem with the way the internet works.

Here is an exercise for you, say you wrote a book. It became very popular. However some people think it'd be all fine and dandy to D/L off the internet for free. You wouldn't be so thrilled about these sites now would you? Now let us say that the book gets turned into a movie, the movie become really popular. But once again it got put on the internet and 1000s of people watched it illegally for free. Those sites now seem like a very bad thing.

I hate to sound callous, but I have an exercise for you: read my two posts and provide some sort of commentary. Repeating common misconceptions that are have been disarmed repeatedly does not do anything to promote understanding, for you or me.

I am well aware of the extent to which piracy has hurt copyright holders, and to a large extent, I am sympathetic. (of course, its always the Majors who are pushing these laws -- and I couldn't care less about the Majors!). However important that issue is, it is somewhat of a red herring in the context of this debate, because there are far more weighty infringements at stake. It simply won't do to just ignore them and take on faith that your government is watching out for you!