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

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**Frazzled**

I don't knwo anything about these guys. Is this a big deal?
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/01/19/feds-shut-down-file-sharing-website/?test=latestnews

Feds say 7 from Megaupload.com ran massive worldwide piracy website

McLEAN, Va. – Federal prosecutors in Virginia have shut down one of the world's largest file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, and charged its founder and others with violating piracy laws -- a day after a 24-hour blackout of popular websites such as Wikipedia drew national attention to the issue.

The indictment is among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States, according to the FBI.

It accuses seven individuals and two corporations -- Megaupload Limited and Vestor Limited -- of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment, which was unsealed on Thursday, says that at one point Megaupload was the 13th most popular website in the world.

Megaupload.com has claimed it is diligent in responding to complaints about pirated material.

The individuals in the criminal enterprise -- a worldwide ring led by Australians Kim Dotcom, aka Kim Schmitz, and Kim Tim Jim Vestor -- each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on racketeering charges, five years for conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, 20 years on money laundering charges and five years on related charges.

The indictment comes the day after a 24-hour "blackout" of Wikipedia, a protest doodle on the homepage of Google, and numerous other protests across the Internet against proposed anti-piracy legislation that many leading websites -- including Reddit, Google, Facebook, Amazon and others -- contend will make it challenging if not impossible for them to operate.

The Protect Intellectual Property Act under consideration in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House are bills backed by the motion picture and recording industries intended to eliminate theft online once and for all. S. 968 and H.R. 3261 would require ISPs to block access to foreign websites that infringe on copyrights.

Online piracy from China and elsewhere is a massive problem for the media industry, one that costs as much as $250 billion per year and costs the industry 750,000 jobs, according to a 2008 statement by Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

But how exactly the bills would counter piracy has many up in arms.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/01/19/feds-shut-down-file-sharing-website/?test=latestnews#ixzz1jwJLZfH2

**dogma**

Somewhat. Megaupload has, in the past, been rather lax in taking down pirated material, but recently they have been better about it.

**AustonT**

THOSE BASTARDS! Now How am I going to watch pirated copies of movies without getting viruses?!

**biccat**

AustonT wrote:THOSE BASTARDS! Now How am I going to watch pirated copies of movies without getting viruses?!

I can think of more than a few websites...

The timing of this move is hilarious.

**AustonT**

Well yes but I like to rotate videobb and megavideo because of the watch and wait period

**Nerivant**

Others will just surge in to fill the gap. I'm not expecting much more than a brief interruption in certain services.

**Frazzled**

AustonT wrote:THOSE BASTARDS! Now How am I going to watch pirated copies of movies without getting viruses?!

I read that totally differently then what you probably meant to type...

**Ma55ter_fett**

Wait megavideo was taken down?

NOOOOOOOOO!

How else will I watch extremely poor quality dvd rips now?

**purplefood**

Frazzled wrote:
AustonT wrote:THOSE BASTARDS! Now How am I going to watch pirated copies of movies without getting viruses?!

I read that totally differently then what you probably meant to type...

You have a dirty dirty mind...

**AustonT**

I already have sources for those.

**LordofHats**

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!)

EDIT: On the other hand I'd debate if any money has actually been "lost" in a certain sense. Most people who pirate videos and movies wouldn't pay for them anyway.

**Rented Tritium**

Megaupload actually had a lot of non-pirated content. A lot of popular artists occasionally release a megaupload exclusive single or what have you. Plus a metric ton of open source software and random bits of project code or whatever.

I'd say it was around 75% pirated material.

**Chowderhead**

Pfft. Whatever.

*Goes back to TPB*

**biccat**

Rented Tritium wrote:Megaupload actually had a lot of non-pirated content. A lot of popular artists occasionally release a megaupload exclusive single or what have you. Plus a metric ton of open source software and random bits of project code or whatever.

There was non-pirated software on Megaupload?

Why? Why not use a website without a subscription service and limited downloads?

**Joey**

Love the $250 billion lost to piracy cited in the article.
Fox news is owned by the largest media company in the world, of course. Rupert Murdoch is probably the source behind these American bills.

**LordofHats**

I think the 750,000 job loss number is a little more dubious.

**dogma**

They're both pretty dubious.

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

The answer, generally, is that any poor performance is attributed to piracy when one wants to argue, in public, that piracy is bad.

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

**LordofHats**

Agree. While I agree piracy is bad, I think certain industries have taken to it to excuse their own failings on the assumption that people just want their product for free. The possibility that people might be interested but do not want to pay and wouldn't buy it anyway is lost on them *glares at the music and movie industry*

**dogma**

Personally, I'm somewhat surprised at how the entertainment industry, particularly the movie industry, has been slow to embrace subscription services with the option to buy. Sort of like Netflix, but confined to a particular company's products.

I'm also surprised that no one, except iTunes (Which I loathe for a number of reasons.) has come up with an integrated media distribution client.

**LordofHats**

Because those industries are run by fat white guys afraid of change?

**dogma**

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.

**LordofHats**

Why can't the world be a simple place

**dogma**

Because then it would be boring.

**Horst**

Dumbasses don't understand.... 1 download DOES NOT equal 1 lost sale.

If I couldn't download movies, I simply wouldn't watch movies. Preventing me from "pirating" will not increase their sales in any way. I would be willing to bet most people like me have a similar attitude.

**LordofHats**

Manga. If I couldn't read manga off MangaReader.net, I just wouldn't read manga. While I have pirated the occasional film I do actually buy movies. I'm just unwilling to spend any money on another piece of hollywood gak without screening it first to see if its any good. I pirated most of the movies I own before I paid for them.

**dogma**

I just use Netflix.

**LordofHats**

I have Netflix streaming which is a wonderful thing, but so many things just aren't up for stream. Like the original Star Trek films.

**archont**

So they took down Megaupload.

Other People took down other sites and took a little bit of revenge

Anyone feel sorry for the murrican gouvernment? Not me...

**Joey**

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

**Horst**

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!