[governance] U.S. shuts down file-sharing website Megaupload

[Riaz K Tayob]

[First they came for those with HIV, and I said nothing... then they 
came for me...]


  U.S. shuts down file-sharing website Megaupload

AP
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/internet/article2815112.ece 
<http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20>

One of the world's largest file-sharing sites was shut down on 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 on 
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.

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 on 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.

Keywords: Megaupload 
<http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/internet/article2815112.ece#>, 
anti-piracy laws 
<http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/internet/article2815112.ece#>, 
Internet censorship 
<http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/internet/article2815112.ece#>


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