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Just as SOPA would not achieve its stated goal of stopping piracy online, nor would this. But, like SOPA, it would pose a serious threat to social media and user generated content sites (like YouTube) across the internet. It could also undermine some of the core technical systems underlying the internet, creating new cybersecurity risks.

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I remember watching the SOPA hearing at the end of last year, and it scared me how uneducated the people drafting the legislation were. They seemed determined to push the bill through without consulting anyone that could explain why it was a bad idea. Every amendment that was suggested that could make the bill better was voted against by the majority.

 

For me, these quotes from Congressman Watt basically summed up the whole debacle:

 

"I am not a nerd. I don't understand the technicalities behind this bill"

 

Then, after being told about the numerous experts that have voiced concerns:

 

"Well, I don't believe that"

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  • 2 weeks later...

I love how they always give the most awful bills the greatest names. Going by the name alone I'm in favor of all of those bills.

 

Defense authorization act

Patriot act

Stop online piracy act

Protect IP act

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and so it begins --- megaupload.com has been shut down

McLEAN, Virginia (AP) — 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 Hong Kong-based company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO.

 

Before the site was taken down, it posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were "grotesquely overblown."

 

"The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch," the statement said.

 

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.

 

The website allowed users to download films, TV shows, games, music and other content for free, but made money by charging subscriptions to people who wanted access to faster download speeds or extra content. The website also sold advertising.

 

The indictment was returned in the Eastern District of Virginia, which claimed jurisdiction in part because some of the alleged pirated materials were hosted on leased servers in Ashburn, Virginia.

 

Dotcom, a resident of both Hong Kong and New Zealand, and a dual citizen of Finland and Germany, made more than $42 million from the conspiracy in 2010 alone, according to the indictment.

 

Dotcom is founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer of Megaupload

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well not long ago they pulled filesharing sites and sites they deemed untastefull off the internet. just shut them off without letters or warnings, let a lone a trial or anything. so this is nothing new. i guess they just want to scramble together bills and laws that makes their doings "legal" ^^

 

its quite obvious that a lot of powerfull and rich people would like the internet to consist of mostly controlled content like you find with the apps on your phone and tv. the less opportunity people have to be creative & share the better for the current powers. they want consumers not guerrilla-communities. the big companies battle and lobby their ass off right now .. hollywood & the old music industry and old enterainment industries etc. vs. silicon valley in the us right .. pretty interesting. were better off for now if silicon valley has a say in those bills but it doesnt help silicon valley that the interests of politicians are more in line with the enterainment-industry. its about controlling people and not letting people be too creative and crazy ... if they wanted that, wed have way better schools around the world and being a teacher would be a privilege of a job and highly paid ;) .. so their interests are pretty mutual already.

 

this is just another attempt to control the internet more and one of many to come .. îts a battlefield of politicians, big business, little people, guerrilla-hackers and everyone ... not gonna stop until the computers say fuck this and take it for themselves ^^

 

if say in 10 years they dumped down the normal internet and the current freedom-levels of it by a lot .. im confident well have an underground internet-infrastructure .. a rogue-net ^^ ... i dont think they can take this away from young / interested poeple in a "civil" way in the western hemisphere anymore. they gonna try though ^^ .. open battle until skynet swallows the other internets ^^

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its quite obvious that a lot of powerfull and rich people would like the internet to consist of mostly controlled content like you find with the apps on your phone and tv. the less opportunity people have to be creative & share the better for the current powers. they want consumers not guerrilla-communities.

 

Excatly any artist can create a songs and put it on the internet , ask donations or to buy the music directly to them, obvs disc compagnie would prefer u ask them to put ur music on a cd and get 1% of the cd a customer buy it.

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I love how they always give the most awful bills the greatest names. Going by the name alone I'm in favor of all of those bills.

 

Defense authorization act

Patriot act

Stop online piracy act

Protect IP act

+1 Nothing better than a name that tells only some of the story.

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Some of the file sharing websites already disabled their services. Filesonic is probably the biggest, but there are others as well. They got properly scared. I don't even understand it. What did they do wrong? It's like shutting down the postal service because people use it to send stolen stuff to eachother. How is that their fault or responsibility? I've already downloaded illegal stuff, but I never did when using a filesharing service. Imagine that you just bought a subscription for any of those services. I would be seriously pissed off. Actually I'm already pissed off.

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