I use Megaupload to share work files, like the PS templates I make and use on this site for art projects. It's just webspace, what is physically copied by individuals and uploaded to that site is fault of the user. Megaupload has worked pretty hard to delete links to shared copyrighted material that users put up on their site, but for them to control everyone would be as impossible as it would the government to control everyone on the webs actions. It's no more a piracy site then the entire internet is a piracy site. Personally I'm not worried, though I feel for the people that run that site. If the government thinks for a moment that they can outmaneuver the people who programmed the web itself, that they can build any lock to stop piracy that hackers will not already have figured out how to pick, that they have the manpower and talent to even begin to police the internet, worldwide, much less the funds, they are seriously out of their depth and apparently don't have a good understanding of basic math either. In related news....
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2399116,00.asp
If you ask to use my cellphone, and I say " Sure, as long as your not dealing drugs or something. " and you go ahead and use my phone to score some heroin, should I be imprisoned for it?
According to United States Law, there are two necessary components to a crime:
1. The intent (ei: motivation)
2. The means
Without these two components, the crime can not have legitimately occurred. Without one or the other components, the other is null and void. (On a side note I might add that the courts are reluctant the majority of the time to make the accused knowledgeable of this fact)
Megaupload went out of their way to delete copyrighted material. You would usually find a message stating something to the effect of " invalid link/file deleted due to copyright infringement " and such. By that action, they did posses the intent anyways as they showed their own motivation to be contrary to crime in question. Additionally to this, any users of their service had to sign not only their own personal information, but read and acknowledge a set of rules and agree to abide them, ones which mainly pointed out that no user would knowingly or unknowingly submit copyrighted material, amongst other thing.
Megaupload is clearly not guilty, and I personally believe the law knew this and did what they did to them in order to flex their muscles in spite of the denial of the SOPA bill, to compensate in short and spread fear to online users. At this moment I feel personally that every petition I signed against piracy legislation, and any to my Senator, meant nothing. They pretty much just took my opinion, said thanks, Obama came out and announced that this would not happen, then they laughed at us all and went ahead anyways. Should I bother even continuing participating PIPA then at all, or will I just be wasting my own time?
edit: * at this time being four persons including the owner of Megaupload arrested and seven indicted by the United States Federal Government.
added - Repost of this shared from our friend Gonzo (thanks) for completions sakes, and definitely food for thought on this case and incident:
http://christina-taylor.tumblr.com/post/16156391074/re-megaupload
Re: Megaupload
operatorsymbol:
I find it INCREDIBLY interesting that US Federal agents were able to shut down Megaupload for a few reasons
1. Megaupload is a Hong-Kong based website and company. It’s servers do not exist within the United States, and thus cannot be tried or controlled by US representatives
2. The Digital Millennium Copywrite Act (DMCA) is the only possible legislation that could be used to shut down a website for Copywrite infringement reasons. This is a US passed act, and cannot target websites that are not United States based companies or servers. It’s that same reason why The Pirate Bay is still active after years and years of attempted lawsuits and takedowns. It’s a foreign website and does not fall under US Law.
Basically. If this is true, that the United States government took down Megaupload, they did it illegally.
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