This just came in..
“WASHINGTON—The Federal Bureau of Investigation moved against a group of suspected online pirates Thursday, targeting the popular file-sharing website megaupload.com a day after Washington lawmakers were besieged by complaints about legislation designed to crack down on the online sharing of pirated copies of music, movies and other material, people familiar with the matter said.
Investigators said there was no connection between arrests in their two-year investigation and the political firestorm that erupted this week over a pending vote on the Stop Online Piracy Act.
Seven people have been charged with online piracy crimes in an indictment unsealed in northern Virginia. Four of those suspects are already in custody, authorities said.
The four were arrested in New Zealand. Federal agents and other law enforcement agencies simultaneously moved to search bank records and server farms in multiple locations around the globe, authorities said. The charges include conspiracy to commit racketeering and criminal copyright infringement.
MegaUpload.com is already engaged in a legal fight with Universal Music Group over a promotional video featuring some UMG artists.
On a “frequently asked questions” section of the website, megaupload acknowledges that some have criticized its practices, but insists it is an above-board business.
“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,” the website reads in part.
The Justice Department paints a different picture.
According to the indictment, megaupload is responsible for at least $500 million in losses for the owners of the copyrights in question.
The indictment calls the company “a worldwide criminal organization whose members engaged in criminal copyright infringement and money laundering on a massive scale.”
Investigators estimate that megaupload’s piracy business has earned them more than $175 million, according to the indictment.
Lawyers for megaupload weren’t immediately available.”
via The Wall Street Journal
Investigators said there was no connection between arrests in their two-year investigation and the political firestorm that erupted this week over a pending vote on the Stop Online Piracy Act.
That’s what they’re saying but I don’t buy it, although I hate megaupload this really puts everything into perspective. I guess, we should start removing anything related to FREESPEECH from our websites.
Update:
by e1ven:
Wow. This is a really interesting situation; I can’t agree with this action at all.
1) The site complied with DMCA regulations, and removed material when asked.
2) The site did not directly promote piracy, which was Grokster decision.
3) The listed employees are all (or nearly all) not US citizens, so this required international cooperation, and extradition over copyright?
From my perspective it looks like they were follow the letter of the law on all, or nearly all counts. The DOJ seems to have decided that if they can’t really charge them with something specific, they’ll go upstream, and charge them with vague broad things.
This makes me rather worried that even if you run a legitimate business, and comply with the law, if the DOJ decides they don’t like you, you’re done for.
This is really bad guys.
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/19/megauploadcom-piracy-charges_n_1216764.html
“McLEAN, Virginia (AP) — One of the world’s largest file-sharing sites was shut down 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 other executives were arrested 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.
The Hong Kong-based company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO. He was not named in the indictment and declined to comment through a representative.
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.
The site boasted 150 million registered users.
A lawyer who represented the company in a lawsuit last year declined comment 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.
Dotcom, a resident of both Hong Kong and New Zealand, and a dual citizen of Finland and Germany, made more than $42 million from the conspiracy in 2010 alone, according to the indictment.
Dotcom is founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer of Megaupload.”
