Federal prosecutors in Virginia have shut down one of the world's largest file-sharing sites, Megaup

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**Joey**

Horst wrote:
Joey wrote:Oh damn.
Now I have no idea whatsoever where I can get pirated material.
This sucks :(

Private torrent sites.

I downloaded 50GB of porn today while at work!

It was sarcasm, I use torrents extensively.
Reminds me I need to d/l the latest Family Guy episode.

**Asherian Command**

Joey wrote:
Horst wrote:
Joey wrote:Oh damn.
Now I have no idea whatsoever where I can get pirated material.
This sucks :(

Private torrent sites.

I downloaded 50GB of porn today while at work!

It was sarcasm, I use torrents extensively.
Reminds me I need to d/l the latest Family Guy episode.

Or you could watch it for free on Adult Swim.com. (Yes they do have that)
Its funny that they try to pass stuff. What I think the Government should do is help to make a faster and more dependable way than getting stuff off of websites. Make it free but you have to pay a certain amount and you could get alot of free stuff in one month! HELL ZUNE DOES THAT!
Just because I download something isn't because I want it. Its just where i am going to hear it? Youtube?

**Lordhat**

Anonymous has started a DDoS attack in response, also calling it a protest against SOPA

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-sopa-blackout-anonymous-style-doj-riaa-hacked-in-megaupload-protest/

A day after the SOPA protest on the web, the hacker group Anonymous has taken the blackout theme to a whole new level: in retaliation for the closure of the Megaupload file-sharing site, and for its own SOPA protest, the group has started to systematically take down a number of websites for groups connected to the Megaupload case, including government bodies.

Using distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, the hackers have gone after the Department of Justice’s site, the RIAA, the MPAA and the major record labels—so far Universal, BMI and Warner Music Group have been affected.

SEE ALSO: Updated: Day After Piracy Bill Collapses, Feds Shut Down Megaupload

At the moment, the hackers are updating a Twitter feed with news of developments of the attack, which it is code-naming #OpMegaupload. It also appears that it is also going after related sites outside of the U.S. as well.

A series of messages posted on Anonymous’ Twitter feed, have detailed the group’s trail of destruction across the internet.

They are covering not just U.S. sites but also extending their work to similar organizations in Europe, such as Hadopi.fr, which is now also down.

Hadopi is the French law that was introduced in 2009 and is used to regulate internet access and copyright violations in France. This controversial bill basically outlines a three-strikes procedure for suspending internet access for those who download illegal content. There are legislators now considering how to apply this to streamed services as well, which are currently not covered.

Taking down government sites like the DOJ’s and potentially the FBI’s—the Anonymous Twitter feed has mentioned it is working on the latter, although at the time of writing the FBI’s site is still up—could mean the group would be subject not just to felony charges but also potentially terrorist violations.

Cases involving the prosecution of Anonymous hackers are still being played out, so it’s not clear what route authorities may take over this current spate of attacks: hackers that were identified as part of Anonymous are currently being prosecuted in California for allegedly hacking PayPal when the Ebay-owned payments provider halted payments to Wikileaks. Defendants in that case pleaded not guilty in November 2011.

This case could be considerably more difficult to track for authorities: Anonymous says that there are 5,635 people confirmed to be working towards taking down sites.

A DDoS attack can mean several things, but one of the most common is when a person or network of people “attack” a site or server with a flood of communications requests, so that the target cannot respond to normal requests.

Adrian Chen at Gawker further describes how those DDoS attacks are getting amplified using viral techniques: hackers are at the moment spamming out links that effectively rope innocent users into also taking part in the attacks, by clicking on the links to automatically start pinging one of the sites on the target list.

Many of the sites listed above are simply leading to blank pages now, or “down for maintenance” pages, but one site, for the Utah police association, which might have less administrators than those of the DOJ, has been hacked with a message from the hackers about Megaupload:

The MPAA, meanwhile, has taken to posting Twitpics of its statements—for the moment, it has not website to use to post them, and a Twitpic can’t get hacked. “Our website and many others…were attacked today,” begins the 150-word statement. It also says it is working with law enforcement agencies to identify those responsible, and that “Protecting copyrights and protecting free speech go hand in hand.”

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Updated: Day After Piracy Bill Collapses, Feds Shut Down Megaupload

**archont**

Horst wrote:
Joey wrote:Oh damn.
Now I have no idea whatsoever where I can get pirated material.
This sucks :(

Private torrent sites.

I downloaded 50GB of porn today while at work!

This is a bad idea. Both a sure way of getting busted and catching all sorts of ugly diseases.

Use other filehosters, search through 4chan.org/rs or raidrush toplist or whatever.

Do not torrent.

**Asherian Command**

Anon just made SOPA have a chance... -.-

**Horst**

archont wrote:
Horst wrote:
Joey wrote:Oh damn.
Now I have no idea whatsoever where I can get pirated material.
This sucks :(

Private torrent sites.

I downloaded 50GB of porn today while at work!

This is a bad idea. Both a sure way of getting busted and catching all sorts of ugly diseases.

Use other filehosters, search through 4chan.org/rs or raidrush toplist or whatever.

Do not torrent.

Even from private, invite-only sites?

Not talking about gak like pirate bay.

**Samus_aran115**

Lame, but I understand completely. File sharing sites that aren't directly linked to topics (like source forge and CNET) are mostly trash anyway, and are just cesspools.

Rock on internet police, just don't touch my Piratebay!

**biccat**

Lordhat wrote:Anonymous has started a DDoS attack in response, also calling it a protest against SOPA

Anonymous: Yeah, the nonviolent protest totally worked, but we're going to be donkey-caves anyway.

**AustonT**

Samus_aran115 wrote:Lame, but I understand completely. File sharing sites that aren't directly linked to topics (like source forge and CNET) are mostly trash anyway, and are just cesspools.

Rock on internet police, just don't touch my Piratebay!

I downloaded a torrent called "Ghost in the Shell 2" on emule back when it came out. One was a French porn, one was a German Snow White and the Seven Dwarves porn, and one was a copy of the first movie. best haul ever!

**Samus_aran115**

Anonymous... just the name makes my skin crawl.

Anonymous has fallen so low, to the point of even being shunned by their maker for being idiots all the time and making themselves so apparent. Anonymous is just a worthless group of disgruntled young white men with computers.

**Asherian Command**

Samus_aran115 wrote:Anonymous... just the name makes my skin crawl.

Anonymous has fallen so low, to the point of even being shunned by their maker for being idiots all the time and making themselves so apparent. Anonymous is just a worthless group of disgruntled young white men with computers.

You may think your safe but your not. Anonymous will attack people who say that. But then the FBI will break into their houses.... again.

**FabricatorGeneralMike**

Phew, glad I got IA11 before they closed down. I guess we all learn how to speak russian, for all of out downloading needs

**Melissia**

dogma wrote:Why didn't Duke Nukem Forever sell as well as expected? Piracy.

I certainly woudlnt' say DNF is bad, but I also wouldn't blame piracy.

Rather, the problem is that DNF was too much like medal of duty: call of honor on the battlefield of the halo clones.

**Ouze**

biccat wrote:
Lordhat wrote:Anonymous has started a DDoS attack in response, also calling it a protest against SOPA

Anonymous: Yeah, the nonviolent protest totally worked, but we're going to be donkey-caves anyway.

Man, there are only so many hours in a day you can harass prepubescent girls into taking off their tops.

**AustonT**

Ouze wrote:
biccat wrote:
Lordhat wrote:Anonymous has started a DDoS attack in response, also calling it a protest against SOPA

Anonymous: Yeah, the nonviolent protest totally worked, but we're going to be donkey-caves anyway.

Man, there are only so many hours in a day you can harass prepubescent girls into taking off their tops.

that is a fething lie, you take it back right now.

**CoI**

He's right though. Max of 24 hours in a day you can harass them.
*sigh* and I -just- bought a 1 year subscription to megaupload :(

**Fafnir**

But that's where I got some of my po---

Okay...

Used it to share files for class assignments?

**Tyyr**

Megaupload probably deserved it. I don't think there was any content on there that wasn't pirated. Megaupload honestly is also a pretty popular place for pirating music (and you pay them for it!)

Actually you pay them for a premium membership to get faster downloads. You're not paying for copyrighted material. I've seen DMCA agents claiming that Megaupload was actually very quick to respond to notices that they had copyrighted material on their servers and took it down promptly. Of any large file sharing site on the internet they were probably one of the best about trying to abide by the law. I've downloaded probably north of 50 gigs worth of material off of MU, none of it pirated. There were plenty of non-copyright infringing uses for MU.

They're both pretty dubious.

How does one accurately determine what sales would have occurred if not for piracy?

As someone who has pirated music, movies, and games in the past I can say that for me at least I almost never pirated anything I'd have actually paid for. I usually pirated music that I was only interested in a single song or two from an artist and wouldn't pay for an entire CD, movies that were not even worth the $3 to rent them, and games that had meh reviews that I'd never have paid full price for but might play for a couple days. A few times I did actually wind up paying for a game after pirating it just because it was actually fun, or buy a CD from a band that surprised me. On the whole though, my piracy cost the entertainment industry nothing because I'd have never bought 99% of the stuff I pirated legitametly and the 1% I would have paid for, I did wind up paying for.

Why did I stop? Amazon MP3 and Netflix/Redbox. Once I could just buy a high quality MP3 of a single song for a buck there was no longer any reason to pirate music. Once I could pay $10 and rent all the movies I could stomach in a month, or $1 to watch one for a night there stopped being any reason to pirate. And games, well I've got four kids so I don't have the time for a bunch of them anymore anyways. If the movie studios would start to offer Blu-Ray quality downloads of their movies for $5 or even $10 I'd buy a hell of a lot more movies.

I don't suggest that every pirate is like me, but I do suspect that "lost revenue" due to piracy is probably over estimated by an order of magnitude or even two. Lost jobs? feth off. How many movies released in theatres last year failed to make a profit?

Its possible that's the only reason, but I suspect there's more to it. People running major corporations aren't generally out-and-out stupid.

No, but you can get set in your ways. The entertainment industry is stuck, or appears to be stuck, in their 1950's business model where they are borderline monopolies. They've gotten used to the way things have gone for the last 20+ years. Make a movie, release it in theatres and double or triple their money on it. Six months later release it on VHS/DVD/Blu-Ray and rake in another mountain of cash. That's the way it's worked for decades. Now their business model is being assailed on all sides. The theatres are becoming less attractive now that people have small movie theatres in the living rooms with 40"+ TVs and 5.1 surround sound. Heck, people are realizing that comdies are just as funny on their 20" TV at home as they are in the theatre so why pay $50 for two people to go see it in the theatre when you can just watch it at home in a few months? Netflix and others are hammering DVD and Blu-Ray sales by offering cheap rentals as much as they want. Streaming? Heart attack. So, just like the music industry spent a decade screaming and nashing it's teeth before finally admitting defeat and starting to alter their business model we're going to have to listen to the death throes of the movie industry's business model until enough people vote with their wallets.

**Melissia**

Yeah, the music industry screamed bloody murder at the introduction of the MP3 player, too, for example. And the cassette player. And the music CD. And the vinyl disk. And the autopiano before all of these. The industry is lazy.

**Frazzled**

Melissia wrote:Yeah, the music industry screamed bloody murder at the introduction of the MP3 player, too, for example. And the cassette player. And the music CD. And the vinyl disk. And the autopiano before all of these. The industry is lazy.

And the film industry with the laser disc/Video tape.

There was attempted legislation to ban cassette technology for make it read only.
Same to same for Video tape IIRC.

**Melissia**

Yep, for both of them.

**Howard A Treesong**

I don't know how they calculate the amount lost to the industry. Obviously people download to avoid paying for something, or maybe because they resent paying a particular amount for something. I don't think music albums are all that cheap to be honest. But because downloading is free many people do so on a whim. The suggestion that downloads = sales lost is obviously false. If they had to pay for it, they either wouldn't get the album in the first place or at least give it second thoughts and be very selective. Putting your hand in your pocket for £10-15 isn't like clicking "download" on the screen. No point in pretending that it is.

It may seem odd that some artists actually show some support for things like Megaupload, but the reason is that they probably don't make much money from record sales. They make money from live performances so the song release is advertising, the record company get all that profit. To the artist, the more people hearing their music the better, how they hear it may not be all that important. This has been seen among some authors, who make very little money out of book sales. Some release them online and make all their money through online sales and personal appearances.

Simple fact is that music sales are not what they were 20-30 years ago especially among teenagers. There's a lot of things competing for their time and money now even though kids seem to have more disposable income than ever. And that's before you get around to the discussion over whether modern music is crap. Maybe people just don't place much value on modern music meaning it would have to be a lot cheaper to make them want to buy legally and support the companies.

The music industry seems to be flailing around like a wounded elephant at the moment and attacking the internet isn't the solution just as attacking home cassette recording wasn't the solution in the 80s. Companies like Apple have them over a barrel because that's where sales are to be made and they didn't believe it at first. What I don't believe are the doom-mongers claiming that music companies will be destroyed, than films will no longer be made, etc. The entertainment industry will find a way.

**Sonophos**

Joey wrote:Oh damn.
Now I have no idea whatsoever where I can get pirated material.
This sucks :(

isohunt

If you use it from the states you may need to use a european proxy because most of the content is blocked in the U.S..

I found this out by connecting to it from google.com instead of .co.uk

Please note I only use this site to transfer non copywrite material but I have noticed that there may be an illicit function for it. :-)

I have heard the folowing statements in relation to this site:

Sometimes people put up broken torrents deliberately. I think this may be the studios.
Always Virus scan your downloads before opening them.

**Kilkrazy**

Quite a lot of pirated material is available in shops or on Amazon, but you have to pay for it. The quality is better, though.

**biccat**

Here's one methodology.

I'm not sure it's accurate to say that simply because you wouldn't have bought the movie otherwise that it doesn't count as a "loss" for the company.

If the company expects that 10 million people are interested in seeing a movie that costs $20 million they will price each copy of that movie based on those figures ($2/each). But if 20% of those people pirate the movie rather than paying for it the company loses 20% of its revenue.

Obviously they could price the movie based on "likely purchasers" but then the price would go up, incentivizing more people to pirate...

**Grakmar**

I applaud the takedown of Megavideo/upload. It was clearly a site that revolved around pirated material. And, the government actually went through the courts rather than what SOPA is proposing.

While I will miss Megaupload, I know that they really did deserve to get shut down.

**Kilkrazy**

http://boingboing.net/2012/01/19/where-the-funny-piracy-numbers.html

An appraisal of the way the losses to piracy figure was calculated.

**Melissia**

biccat wrote:If the company expects that 10 million people are interested in seeing a movie that costs $20 million they will price each copy of that movie based on those figures ($2/each).

Haha wow.

Wait, you honestly believe this don't you.

The answer is no. They won't price it like that. They'll price it far higher than that.

**LordofHats**

Yeah pretty sure that's not how supply and demand works. Typically most companies will price to market standards on the expectation that people will pay $20 for movie A because they paid $20 for movie B while completely disregarding that Movie A is complete crap and no one wants to pay $5 for it let alone $20.

Same problem happens in the video game industry. Companies have adopted the position that people can and will pay for a piss of gak (and the sad part is that its sometimes true). EDIT: And then in the music industry, musicians release an album of 20 songs, 15 of which suck, 3-4 of which are okay, and only 1 or 2 are of actual interest to anyone.

**Kilkrazy**

Back in the good old days albums had a lot more good songs on them.