Megaupload.com has been shutdown by US federal prosecuters

[Dusco25]

Another will take its place and be better and faster.. There is no stopping it.. The more they try the more that backfires on them.. They do not understand that..

[Squirrelington]

...

Bram van der Kolk, aka Bramos, 29, a Dutch citizen and resident of both the Netherlands and New Zealand, who oversees programming and the underlying network structure for the Mega conspiracy websites.

...

Who comes up with this stuff?! Also yay SOPA/PIPA not passing, glad to see we're so much better off now too. The government will protect us from each other and ourselves! */sarcasm*

[ylcard]

So what's the difference between YouTube and MegaUpload ? I know they are technically different web sites, but both host illegal/copyrighted material.

Hell, YouTube has much more copyrighted material on it than MegaUpload does.

I'm guessing it's money :)

[Brandon H Supervisor]

seems the sister site MegaVideo was shutdown as well

shame as it was a good video upload site

[Gaffney]

If you remove all type's of piracy right now like you went back into the past and changed everything where we still have all the technology eg the internet but no urge to download music/films this is what would happen.

The three main leaders of the music industry would be slightly more richer and have more low level employee's with no control over their future.

The Movie industry wouldn't be expanding like it is now due to less people being interested in the art.

Indie Music would be very very small, less people building careers for themselves and instead work as a low level employee in a large business.

Indie Movies would be basically dead, yet again less small businesses with good morale instead replaced by low level employees in a business with no future.

The Employment paths of people would be restricted overall, there would be very little entry points and people would look into other paths which probably won't be as good.

General happiness of the population in the usa would be down due to lack of oppertunities they can control and instead work in places with low morale with no inspiration coming from the artists of the world for people to take control of their lifes. The world would feel a lot more like the 1960s with people just being consumers of large corporations more than ever.

[ToneKnee]

Who comes up with this stuff?! Also yay SOPA/PIPA not passing, glad to see we're so much better off now too. The government will protect us from each other and ourselves! */sarcasm*

The SOPA/PIPA haven't reached the senate floor yet, there is a vote or a debate next month to discuss things further. Yesterdays protest was just that, a protest, there were rumours of certain dates that were going to discuss the SOPA/PIPA and Reddit etc picked one, then it was shelved until next month.

[Squirrelington]

The SOPA/PIPA haven't reached the senate floor yet, there is a vote or a debate next month to discuss things further. Yesterdays protest was just that, a protest, there were rumours of certain dates that were going to discuss the SOPA/PIPA and Reddit etc picked one, then it was shelved until next month.

What is likely going to happen (in my opinion) is it'll eventually get tossed out but they will take bits and pieces of it and slip it into every bill they pass throughout the year, effectively making SOPA/PIPA into law in the end.

For example (fake example btw): Job Creation Act of 2012! And somewhere deep on page 493, clauses of SOPA/PIPA will appear and be shoved under the rug.

[ToneKnee]

What is likely going to happen (in my opinion) is it'll eventually get tossed out but they will take bits and pieces of it and slip it into every bill they pass throughout the year, effectively making SOPA/PIPA into law in the end.

Possibly, I'm hoping this take down will actually hurt the cause more though.

[Squirrelington]

Possibly, I'm hoping this take down will actually hurt the cause more though.

I hear ya there and agree 100%.

[yowanvista]

This is ridiculous. That website had legitimate uses as well. It's like if they decided to ban cars because people also use them to rob banks and kill people. The fact is piracy is here to stay and it doesn't matter how many websites you take down. People will always find new and innovative ways to pirate copyrighted works.

[Dusco25]

So what's the difference between YouTube and MegaUpload ? I know they are technically different web sites, but both host illegal/copyrighted material.

Hell, YouTube has much more copyrighted material on it than MegaUpload does.

I'm guessing it's money :)

Google which owns Youtube pays off the Gov for its own good.. Political folks make to much money from them to go after them in court..

[Buttus]

I wonder why they always under-estimate the amount "stolen"

If i was them, i would say that my movie would have sold 10 billion tickets and DVD's because it was so great, so they stole 20 trillion dollars from me!

and you can't prove otherwise...

[SirEvan]

the whole piracy isn't theft thing still baffles me...... sure you are not loseing a physical item, but you are still taking something from someone that they could of sold you, thus costing them money they could of made... yes I know there is no "physical" theft, but if I was drug into court for copying software and using it without a license, I'd still face charges of theft at least where I am at

Theft:

noun

1.the act of stealing; the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods or property of another; larceny.

2.an instance of this.

3.Archaic . something stolen.

Your argument about lost sales is not valid. If you were never going to buy something, the company wasn't going to make money. Microsoft/Adobe/whoever did not loose any money, because I was never going to buy something. Now if I could get it for free, maybe I'd use it, maybe I still wouldn't, but either way, my money for something was not going to ever go to that company, and therefore no revenue would be obtained for said product. I speak contextually of course, not saying I do or do not pirate stuff.

YES, it is still intellectual property, which cost the company money to make, but it is not theft per the definition. nothing was taken from the company.

IF numbers are your thing, then here you go. Say windows 7 costs $100.

you + Not buying windows 7 = 0$ to Microsoft

you + Downloading windows 7 =0$ to Microsoft.

Microsoft never lost money, nor did they gain anything. The R&D/cost to make is more than made up by the cost of the products and people purchasing them legally.

That is how people justify downloading. Not saying its right or wrong, but that is the reasoning.

[giantpotato]

We really need to get away from capitalism and move to a communist system. Everything should be free for everyone, there should be no motivation to work hard and earn money to buy nice things and enjoy one's spare time. Everybody should be compensated the exact same amount no matter how much they contribute to the society. /s

[Motoko.]

[+Warwagon MVC]

The countries these websites are hosted in should tell the FBI to go screw themselves.

[OilersFan]

People wouldn't be so upset about this if they didn't use it download all their illegal content from. haha.

[PixilEyes]

People wouldn't be so upset about this if they didn't use it download all their illegal content from. haha.

You are quite ignorant on this then.

Ever hear of http://www.xda-developers.com/ They host a lot of their LEGIT downloads there.

[k34m0n]

You are quite ignorant on this then.

Ever hear of http://www.xda-developers.com/ They host a lot of their LEGIT downloads there.

Also, I personally know several musical artists that have used it to share their own music when starting out.

[Ci7]

are you totally stupid? Lost revenue means they are letting people post COPYRIGHTED material .. what part of STEALING is any way unclear?

Copyright infragment != Stealing

[Motoko.]

money is primitive

[Quillz]

People wouldn't be so upset about this if they didn't use it download all their illegal content from. haha.

MegaUpload was also used for legit content. In fact, it might have had more legit content than illegal content.

I suggest you quit being ignorant. haha.

[Vice]

People wouldn't be so upset about this if they didn't use it download all their illegal content from. haha.

Personally I have never ever downloaded any copyrighted files from Mega Upload that I didn't have the rights to download. I mostly downloaded Minecraft plugins, minecraft skins, minecraft maps, minecraft schematics and other Minecraft related mods from the game community from Megaupload as it is (or was) quite popular with the Minecraft community.

So I'm really sad that this huge abuse of power has come down on this site. There is literally thousands of dead links now and for some of that content probably lost forever as the authors of some stuff have ended development and never used a different hoster. :(

[rkenshin]

Ninja edit. Changed my mind about posting about this so I don't start a flame war. :rofl:

[Syanide]

Just wrote this elsewhere, simply gonna copy it:

The way I see it they're shutting them down because they did **** on the side, plus the founder's "name" is something like Kim Dotcom, if that dude/girl's not a criminal I don't know who is.

I don't give a **** about Megaupload, but the fact that makes this whole thing really retarded is that they're doing this one day after the SOPA/PIPA thing was supposed to pass, really makes it quite obvious they couldn't give less of a **** about what people think and that they'll probably continue doing this.

The other and worse thing about this is that the loudest voices will be of those who just like to leech of things under the guise of the free internet, and the legitimate concerns will probably be unheard. Stuff like, I don't know, shutting down other types of websites. It's Megaupload today, even though it's a legitimate company (at least on paper), it's gonna be political websites tomorrow. Who stops this from becoming a revisionist and downright censorship route?

**** that and **** the companies supporting them. Also, **** The Piratebay and **** Rapidshare. I honestly wish they get somehow killed off simply so there wouldn't be so much pressure by these companies in the first place, because it's sites like those that make everything available to the most retarded person on the internet that risk the whole independence and neutrality of the internet. Don't get me wrong, though, I don't think they (MPAA, RIAA, American Gov't) can ever stop piracy because they're practically oblivious to how stuff works online, but piracy really shouldn't be as mainstream as it is, and now we have to risk censorship because of it.