FBI closes down Megaupload


Moderators: Omphalos, Freakzilla, ᴶᵛᵀᴬ

User avatar
lotek
Posts: 5784
Joined: 28 Jul 2009 08:33

FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by lotek »

http://hoowstuffworks.blogspot.com/2012 ... -down.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What happened there ?

This is just unbelievable !
Spice is the worm's gonads.
User avatar
Mandy
Cat Herder
Posts: 1704
Joined: 08 Feb 2008 20:18
Contact:

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by Mandy »

This makes the SOPA/PIPA thing pointless. Our government already had the tools to take down websites. Anonymous is on the warpath.
As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hypatia approaches one.
User avatar
lotek
Posts: 5784
Joined: 28 Jul 2009 08:33

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by lotek »

I've seen that yes...
While I agree there were copyright breaches on MU, what the FBI did looks more like they're using a handgun against a swarm, and leads me to believe they have no clue what they're dealing with.

They could start their rigmarole because part of the MU servers were on american soil, but what are they going to do for I dunno Chinese servers for example ?

Send the Marines ?
Spice is the worm's gonads.
User avatar
Freakzilla
Lead Singer and Driver of the Winnebego
Posts: 18449
Joined: 05 Feb 2008 01:27
Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Contact:

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by Freakzilla »

Senate and House leaders said Friday they will put off further action on online piracy legislation after a storm of protest over the measure.

http://news.yahoo.com/us-senate-chief-p ... 34234.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Image
Paul of Dune was so bad it gave me a seizure that dislocated both of my shoulders and prolapsed my anus.
~Pink Snowman
Serkanner
Administrator
Posts: 2974
Joined: 17 Feb 2008 18:44
Location: Den Haag - The Netherlands

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by Serkanner »

Freakzilla wrote:Senate and House leaders said Friday they will put off further action on online piracy legislation after a storm of protest over the measure.

http://news.yahoo.com/us-senate-chief-p ... 34234.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I say BOOOOOH!!!! to online piracy legislation protest measured storms that put me out of action.
"... the mystery of life isn't a problem to solve but a reality to experience."

“There is no escape—we pay for the violence of our ancestors.”

Sandrider: "Keith went to Bobo's for a weekend of drinking, watched some DVDs,
and wrote a Dune Novel."
User avatar
lotek
Posts: 5784
Joined: 28 Jul 2009 08:33

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by lotek »

Another Golden Path of Words ?
Spice is the worm's gonads.
Serkanner
Administrator
Posts: 2974
Joined: 17 Feb 2008 18:44
Location: Den Haag - The Netherlands

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by Serkanner »

lotek wrote:Another Golden Path of Words ?
Some say it's Golden ... others say it's mumbo-jumbo. I say ...words are the epiphany of unspoken feelings.
"... the mystery of life isn't a problem to solve but a reality to experience."

“There is no escape—we pay for the violence of our ancestors.”

Sandrider: "Keith went to Bobo's for a weekend of drinking, watched some DVDs,
and wrote a Dune Novel."
User avatar
lotek
Posts: 5784
Joined: 28 Jul 2009 08:33

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by lotek »

Good meds then ?
:mrgreen:
Spice is the worm's gonads.
Serkanner
Administrator
Posts: 2974
Joined: 17 Feb 2008 18:44
Location: Den Haag - The Netherlands

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by Serkanner »

lotek wrote:Good meds then ?
:mrgreen:
As long as you have enough functional orifices there is hope.
"... the mystery of life isn't a problem to solve but a reality to experience."

“There is no escape—we pay for the violence of our ancestors.”

Sandrider: "Keith went to Bobo's for a weekend of drinking, watched some DVDs,
and wrote a Dune Novel."
User avatar
Drunken Idaho
Posts: 1197
Joined: 15 Sep 2008 23:56
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by Drunken Idaho »

I was pretty pissed off about this at first, seeing as how I stored files on there for professional reasons and never pirated a thing. Why shut down a fertilizer company and arrest its employees because some twisted individuals used it for homemade explosives, right? But it turns out the staff there not only knew about pirated content (duh), but also shared it with one another. This is according to some internal emails acquired, apparently. Also, these guys apparently flaunted their fortune quite a bit. Dozens of Benz's and sports cars between the 7 arrested, many of which had license plates like "GOD," "STONED," "BAD," and perhaps all-too-prophetically, "GUILTY."
Mandy wrote:Anonymous is on the warpath.
Yep, naturally, but did you hear about this? Turns out Anons tricked thousands into unwittingly DDoS-ing the Department of Justice, FBI, Whitehouse, Universal Music Group & many others:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/0 ... ll-botnet/

Basically, a brand-new Javascript-based web-version of their LOIC software, used to bombard & thusly disable websites with traffic, was deployed in the form of a benign-looking link through social media. Little did users know that their computer would then be used to fire data at whatever target Anons please. The problem I have with this, is that over the last year people were arrested & charged for Anonymous-related LOIC attacks on private entities. It turns out LOIC had serious security flaws, so this is their way of adapting I suppose. This tells me that Anonymous both A) endangered innocent bystanders with risk of incarceration, and B) covered their own asses by being able to point to this and say "I was an innocent bystander!" if caught.

I usually tend to defend most of Anonymous' actions, after all DDoS is the digital equivalent of a sit-in protest, and causes not much more than headaches for IT departments at best, and embarrassing news stories at worst. But I think they took it too far in this case, though I shouldn't be surprised; Anons are tricky like that. The last paragraph in this Gawker article nails it though:
...It may greatly increase the effectiveness of today's attacks, but it also renders them largely meaningless. Anonymous' previous attacks had what political power they had because they were acts of conscious protest; participants knew what they were getting into.
http://gawker.com/5877707/
"The Idahos were never ordinary people."
-Reverend Mother Superior Alma Mavis Taraza
User avatar
lotek
Posts: 5784
Joined: 28 Jul 2009 08:33

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by lotek »

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ ... tid=pm_pop" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Even before it was shut down, Mega­upload had its legal troubles. It was in a fight with Universal Music because celebrity artists such as Jamie Smith, Kanye West, P. Diddy and Will.i.am endorsed the Web site. Some of those musicians had close connections to a leader of Mega­upload, Swizz Beatz, and his wife, Alicia Keys
Not sure how much of a leader he was, but I'd be curious to know the stance of the people listed here on the subject at hand, considering it seems they profited from its money.
Spice is the worm's gonads.
User avatar
DuneFishUK
Posts: 1991
Joined: 25 May 2008 14:14
Location: Cool Britannia
Contact:

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by DuneFishUK »

TorrentFreak has a couple of decently broken down articles - http://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-what ... on-120120/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I know there are legitimate uses for this tech, it was useful, and I did use it (and MU was the best at what it did).. but, I don't like these file locker sites - anything that directly profits from sharing other people's work ain't right. Megaupload knew how it was being used and didn't crack down, because as soon as you start taking files down the main users (the ones with desirable content to bring in new users) desert you.
Image
- http://www.kullwahad.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - http://dunefont.kullwahad.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; -
User avatar
Freakzilla
Lead Singer and Driver of the Winnebego
Posts: 18449
Joined: 05 Feb 2008 01:27
Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Contact:

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by Freakzilla »

I got this back from my Congressman:
Thank you for contacting me regarding S. 968, the "Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011 (PROTECT IP)," and H.R. 3261, the " Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)." It is good to hear from you.



S. 968 was introduced on May 12, 2011, and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. On May 26, it was reported out of committee and placed on the general legislative calendar. If enacted, S. 968 would amend federal copyright law to authorize the Attorney General to file civil action against violators of copyright infringement law.



H.R. 3261 was introduced on October 26, 2011, and referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. On December 16, it was considered before the full committee; however, the bill was not voted out for consideration by the full House. If enacted, H.R. 3261 would authorize the Attorney General to seek a court order against a U.S.-directed foreign Internet site committing or facilitating online piracy.



On January 23, 2012, a procedural vote on S. 968 was scheduled in the Senate; however, Majority Leader Reid announced that this vote will be postponed in order to allow for modifications to the bill to be made . Furthermore, House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith announced that further consideration of H.R. 3261 would be postponed indefinitely.



It was always clear that SOPA and PROTECT IP needed to be perfected, and that legitimate concerns needed to be addressed before these bills could move forward. Given this and my constituents concerns, it was always my intention to oppose moving forward until concerns had been addressed. With the majority leader's decision to postpone the cloture vote on the PROTECT IP Act originally scheduled for January 24, I withdrew my co-sponsorship to await the resolution of the outstanding issues.



I believe that online theft is a serious issue, and that Congress needs to make certain that our laws adequately protect the interests of rights holders. When $58 billion in economic output is lost to the U.S. economy annually due to copyright theft of movies, music, packaged software and video games, and about one-quarter of all internet traffic is copyright infringing, there is a real problem that needs to be addressed. I have complete faith that we will be able to work out a compromise in the future that addresses this, while still promoting free and open access to the internet. Should a bill addressing this topic come before the full Senate for consideration, I will keep your thoughts in mind.
Image
Paul of Dune was so bad it gave me a seizure that dislocated both of my shoulders and prolapsed my anus.
~Pink Snowman
User avatar
lotek
Posts: 5784
Joined: 28 Jul 2009 08:33

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by lotek »

Thanks for that kind of insight, do you mind if I share it ?
Spice is the worm's gonads.
User avatar
Freakzilla
Lead Singer and Driver of the Winnebego
Posts: 18449
Joined: 05 Feb 2008 01:27
Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Contact:

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by Freakzilla »

lotek wrote:Thanks for that kind of insight, do you mind if I share it ?
The letter from my senator? Sure, why not?
Image
Paul of Dune was so bad it gave me a seizure that dislocated both of my shoulders and prolapsed my anus.
~Pink Snowman
User avatar
Freakzilla
Lead Singer and Driver of the Winnebego
Posts: 18449
Joined: 05 Feb 2008 01:27
Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Contact:

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by Freakzilla »

Image
Image
Paul of Dune was so bad it gave me a seizure that dislocated both of my shoulders and prolapsed my anus.
~Pink Snowman
User avatar
SandChigger
KJASF Ground Zero
Posts: 14492
Joined: 08 Feb 2008 22:29
Location: A continuing state of irritation
Contact:

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by SandChigger »

:clap: :clap: :clap: :lol:
User avatar
Nekhrun
Icelandic Wiener
Posts: 3298
Joined: 10 Feb 2008 16:27

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by Nekhrun »

I'll bet if SOPA had passed you'd have DN filing a complaint for posting quotes from Dune and have this place shut down.
"If he was here to discuss Dune, he sure as hell picked a dumb way to do it." -Omphalos :character-cookiemonster:

Happy Memorial Day everyone! -James C. Harwood

"Three of my videos have over 100 views."
"Over 500 views for my 'Open Question' video." -Nebiros
User avatar
Freakzilla
Lead Singer and Driver of the Winnebego
Posts: 18449
Joined: 05 Feb 2008 01:27
Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Contact:

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by Freakzilla »

But cooler heads prevailed and our unlimited supply of cat-porn remains intact!
Image
Paul of Dune was so bad it gave me a seizure that dislocated both of my shoulders and prolapsed my anus.
~Pink Snowman
User avatar
Nekhrun
Icelandic Wiener
Posts: 3298
Joined: 10 Feb 2008 16:27

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by Nekhrun »

:obscene-sexualvlick:
"If he was here to discuss Dune, he sure as hell picked a dumb way to do it." -Omphalos :character-cookiemonster:

Happy Memorial Day everyone! -James C. Harwood

"Three of my videos have over 100 views."
"Over 500 views for my 'Open Question' video." -Nebiros
User avatar
SandChigger
KJASF Ground Zero
Posts: 14492
Joined: 08 Feb 2008 22:29
Location: A continuing state of irritation
Contact:

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by SandChigger »

:lol:

I'd forgotten about him. :laughing-rolling:
User avatar
DuneFishUK
Posts: 1991
Joined: 25 May 2008 14:14
Location: Cool Britannia
Contact:

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by DuneFishUK »

What the fuck is this shit?! :?
Sleepwalking into censorship: Pirate Bay faces UK web block

Summary: A UK court has effectively ruled file-sharing site The Pirate Bay as illegal, paving the way for ISP-level blocks to be enacted when a final judgement is made in June.

Swedish file-sharing site The Pirate Bay could be blocked from the UK population after the High Court in London ruled that the site breaches copyright on a massive scale.

The move brings a block on the site to British residents one step closer.

In a judgement today, Mr. Justice Arnold who presided over the case, said that The Pirate Bay — and its users — infringe copyrighted content.

Music and film lobbying groups are now pushing for UK broadband providers to block the site. A ruling is expected in June as to whether ISPs should prevent its users from accessing the site.

...

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/london/sleepw ... block/3171" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
AND
Phone and email records to be stored in new spy plan

Details of every phone call and text message, email traffic and websites visited online are to be stored in a series of vast databases under new Government anti-terror plans.

Landline and mobile phone companies and broadband providers will be ordered to store the data for a year and make it available to the security services under the scheme.

The databases would not record the contents of calls, texts or emails but the numbers or email addresses of who they are sent and received by.

For the first time, the security services will have widespread access to information about who has been communicating with each other on social networking sites such as Facebook.

Direct messages between subscribers to websites such as Twitter would also be stored, as well as communications between players in online video games.

The Home Office is understood to have begun negotiations with internet companies in the last two months over the plan, which could be officially announced as early as May.

...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/i ... -plan.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Fook dat.
Image
- http://www.kullwahad.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - http://dunefont.kullwahad.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; -
User avatar
lotek
Posts: 5784
Joined: 28 Jul 2009 08:33

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by lotek »

yeah I've sen that last one...
They even talk about storing communications between players in online video games.
Really ?


Have fun listening to that !
Spice is the worm's gonads.
User avatar
trang
Posts: 1224
Joined: 06 May 2008 18:59
Location: Hot Tub Time Machine

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by trang »

you think THEM announcing it means it wasn't already being done? THEM or THEY (depending on your shade of paranoia) announcing plans and negotiations to do things mean someone somewhere found out they were already doing it and blew the whistle. The after effect being they have to go public in some weak form as a front to show they are above board, while all the while every communication has been/is being/and will be stored.

welcome to life in 2002 and beyond!

I choose to hide in plain sight.
"Long Live the Fighters", "Dragon.....the other white meat."

Image
User avatar
DuneFishUK
Posts: 1991
Joined: 25 May 2008 14:14
Location: Cool Britannia
Contact:

Re: FBI closes down Megaupload

Post by DuneFishUK »

They probably can, and they can defiantly get all records with a court order/bit of paper. Bit there's a difference between them being able to and us letting them. You know - presumption of innocence n' shit. We know from past experience that terror laws aren't always used to fight terror.
lotek wrote:yeah I've sen that last one...
They even talk about storing communications between players in online video games.
Really ?
Have you seen Four Lions? Puffin Party is a hotbed of terrorism. :lol:

Image
- http://www.kullwahad.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - http://dunefont.kullwahad.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; -
Post Reply