It could be true, but MU was still insanely popular for illegal movie downloads. Especially since Megavideo was (is?) part of Megaupload.
Megavideo is down as well.. I'm surprised Rapidshare didn't get the first hit, it's the MOST used.. I know a while back HotFile got into hot water and every single file that was uploaded before a certain date was taken down.. Hotfile was garbage anyway..
I thought people had pretty much stopped using Rapidshare, plus it's survived lawsuits in the past. Of course, the file sharing thing is moot if MU really was taken down due to some shadier stuff.
I'm surprised how many of you thought they were good little boys who never did a thing wrong in their lives, bless their little cotton socks and all that. 1) They hosted a ridiculous amount of unlicensed content on their servers, 2) They charged an exorbitant amount for viewing that content, so they turned a massive profit, 3) They hid and obfuscated data so it was difficult for content producers to find content and handle takedown requests, 4) They definitely could identify they had unlicensed content on their servers, and did nothing about it - which sadly breaks the various content rights laws AFAIK, and 5) They were foolish enough to put it somewhere where they COULD get prosecuted for their actions. The biggest issue is that if you sit there, gloat and stick your fingers up at the content producers from afar, you're bound to get a smack round the face when they catch up to you. But yes, judging by the latest news to come out of the tech press, there may well have been shadier goings on there than simple breaking of the respective DMCA laws. UPDATE: Yep, according to the charges, they're primarily up for 'conspiracy to commit racketeering' in the first count and 'money laundering' in the third count, plus several counts relating to conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and 'aiding & abetting'. http://www.scribd.com/doc/78786408/Mega-Indictment
It's all in how you handle DMCA complaints. It sucks alot of Legit files are no gone but the Web will rebuild. We'll beat our chests stop going to the movies and buying music for awhile and then go on with your lives. It's hard to say who was right and who was wrong here but Sadly...this fight goes to the entertainment companies. Had Megaupload been more professional we wouldn't have this giant mess. I stopped using them a while ago once I discovered Multiupload and found I could put the same files on multiple websites.
They're the e- version of sit ins. They aren't practicle but how else do you get a point across. Don't suggest writing an angry letter because they get ignored.
I really like how the hackers thought that they were being productive buy doing that. It just adds fuel to the fire ,giving ignorant people more ammo to regulate the internet. China is pretty good at blocking the internet(I happened to know, working in one of the largest data centers in the US). The technology is there for the US to apply it. Don't rattle the technologically misinformed Americans, which includes the majority of congress, cage.
I do hate the entertainment industry....it would be nice if to shut them up good old fashioned mob violence was used. But Anon are 90 pound weaklings who would probably be killed by a gun's recoil. Not sure who I hate more Media or Anon for not having any balls.
On a related note, The Pirate Bay issued a press release that had few good points. About how the movie industry settled in Hollywood to avoid Edison's patent, for example. This is about SOPA, but it's related I think. I decided not to link it, instead I quoted a small part of it.
They're all corrupt, every last one of them. But who's to say I wouldn't do the same thing if I was in their position? We live in a selfish world where no one puts others before themselves. And the worst feeling is that it feels like not enough people care and those that do are totally powerless.
Kim Schmitz finally got, what he deserved. He has f***ed so many people and now he´s out of luck. For the people who understand german here´s some nice link about his and 'Tanjas' past and how he earned his first money: http://www.gulli.com/news/12565-nachruf-guenter-freiherr-von-gravenreuth-2010-02-22 For the non-german-speaker i will try to give you a short resume/summary of the text (Sorry for my choppy english): - He was hired in the 80s by a well known german lawyer who was specialized in copyright infringement (von Gravenreuth) to got contact to the scene. - with his big mouth he soon gained access to some crackers and let them do the work for him - He gave calling cards (which meant free unlimited internet access after most satellite hacks didn´t work anymore) to the crackers if they uploaded stuff to his bbs "house of coolnes". - He then founded his own release group "Romkids" and received many unreleased snes and pc games and also joined the amiga group "Loons". He received so much fame in the scene that most of them let them access their illegal mailbox systems. - He logged everything he could and gave all the evidence to von Gravenreuth - He got payed from von Gravenreuth for every head he delivered Well played Mr. Kimble. I think you´re next. But i know you will be back
@alphagamer Yes, i know. Most german IT boards and news sites reported about him in 2010 and locked all topics because of the hate against him (like heise, where he had an restraining order btw.) But the third paragraph describes the Character of Kim Schmitz very good, so i posted the link.
To all people here who are mourning the demise of MU, well I have a feeling multi upload is next, as some of you know. Then I have been a member of a project that has to do with drivers, of graphics cards and sound cards and what not. Well, during this weekend, the files had gone AWOL, so I had a sneaky suspicion. So I mass deleted everything from the site. And it pisses me off, that multi did that to my files, that they went AWOL. So instead I said "fuck it!", and then I deleted all the files. But if somebody wants to have their prototypes uploaded, I will see what I can do in the future. And everything I had uploaded was legal. So I am just worried, that multi will be next.
Looks like Filesonic has just bit the dirt as well (voluntarily it seems). It has just changed its service so that you can't share uploaded content anymore. You can only upload and download your own files. People saying ul.to down for anyone in the US also, I'm in Europe so can't confirm that!
I want to know what my government did to twist the arm of New Zealand so strongly as to have these guys extradited so conveniently after MegaUpload sued Universal. I'd imagine there is an extradition treaty in place but copyright infringement is a civil offense and not a criminal one. You'll get no argument from me that people who commit murder, rape and such should be extradited if appropriate (always an exception to the rule). But copyright infringement? The industry surely must have played a role in this raid, I cannot fathom any possibility they didn't have any remote involvement. Piracy is a problem sure but copyright law having lifetime+70 years or whatever it is now is far beyond ridiculous. You guys are good with 10 years.
Fileserve are doing the same the thing, you can only upload and download your OWN content no body else... Much like EX.UA did a while back.
