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Megaupload Drops Lawsuit Against Universal Music
bs0d3 writes "Not so long ago, a legal video was taken down by repetitive DMCA requests to YouTube. In response, Megaupload filed a lawsuit against Universal Music. This past week, Megaupload was raided by U.S. authorities and forced offline, which is costing Megaupload millions of dollars in damage. Today; while employees are in U.S. custody, Megaupload has mysteriously dropped their lawsuit against Universal Music."
With the ton of information about the multi-year investigation about MegaUpload and all the evidence gathered they practically have zero possibility of winning the case. They really got it handed down on them and are most likely looking for a long time in jail.
Not only did MegaUpload not delete the actual files when sent DMCA notices (but did when sent abuse letters about illegal content like child porn), they also paid the uploaders cash in exchange to send downloaders to their site. This was almost all the times used for spreading copyright infringing material and MegaUpload was notoriously known for being good site for such use. As the internal emails show they were also fully aware of this fact. It also seems like the feds are now in possession of the top affiliates on the site which most likely will lead to more arrests for criminal copyright infringement, as they made lots of money by doing it.
Also another fact: not only did MegaUpload staff know about this activity and try to get around DMCA notices and laws, they did copyright infringement themselves. For example they used to populate their MegaVideo site by downloading and adding videos from YouTube. This was also videos created by people like you, not only mega-corps. This and much more was revealed in the arrest and their internal emails.
It wouldn't be surprising for that be the case.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
I love how slashdot chose to classify this megaupload story as "censorship". How about putting this in the piracy section?
The definition of censorship is so warped around here. There are troubling aspects to this case, but the blatant bias and advocacy is not needed.
Why would that be a surprise? Backroom deals (settlements) are the norm in the justice system, and taking stuff to court was the last resort. Obviously, there is some negotiations about a deal in the background, and obviously the Megaupload people are not in the better position to negotiate. Was it ever different?
Message from their site:
"All sharing functionality on FileSonic is now disabled. Our service can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally.
If this file belongs to you, please login to download it directly from your file manager."
Raided or just scared?
A link in this article goes to a rather thoughtful discussion of the MegaUpload indictment. To tell it short, although the indictment sounds bad, almost none of the alleged activities are in fact illegal. The few that are require "state of mind" which is a rather difficult thing to prove, and harder to get a jury to convict on.
Since in America we have trial by jury, if it goes to court it seems unlikely there will be able to find a jury willing to convict.
Together that seems to make the whole thing very scary.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Megaupload paid to create a video promoting/defending their site and posted it on YouTube. Universal Music (who had no legal claim to the video) abused the take-down agreement they had with Google (and possibly the DMCA) to pull this video off of YouTube simply because they didn't like it. That is a cut-and-dry case of censorship if I have ever heard it.
If the information in the indictment is true then Megaupload is guilty of copyright infringement and should be held accountable for it. However, Universal Music should also be held accountable for their abuses of the law.
Employees are not yet in US custody. They are currently being held by New Zealand authorities (in court as I type this) pending extradition hearings. The extradition is not automatic and is being contested.
Te MegaUpload take down, not quite carefully timed to give Congress some balls regarding SOPA, is likely to become a circus act of the most grandiose proportions.
Not only did the Feds seize a foreign company, but they did so in the face of several SCOTUS decisions that held harmless the operators of sites that might contain user uploaded content which might violate copyright, in addition to billions of files that did no such thing.
With the government forced withdrawal of Megaupload's attorney Robert Bennett, citing rather insincere claims of conflict of interest, and the Justice department seizing a Foreign company this is far from the normal pattern for these cases. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Chinese government step into the fray any day now.
When the dust clears on this battle there will be some major revelations about how much pressure the DOJ used all over the world to affect this arrest and take down. Eight countries, big and small like New Zealand were leaned on to act, for largely theatrical effect as SOPA goes down to public pressure. The timing couldn't be accidental. But the DOJ miss timed it by three days, and their case is far from certain.
I predict this will drag out for a long time.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
The rise in web based (advert laden) file sharing was annoying, and seemed to coincide with a lull period in P2P network development.
Clearing away this junk will drive the evolution of P2P networks which are cryptographically addressed (ala Tor).
Nothing to see here, move along. Gawkers will be shot.
NZ won't have any problem extraditing them.
General piracy and making a profit of it are two very different things here.
Combined with the fact dotcom was let in despite his criminal convictions making the government look bad.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1201/S00059/peters-calls-for-dotcom-immigration-inquiry.htm
We might have been sympathetic if he was making a small profit off file sharing but its a more than that and its little embarrassing hes in the country.
the only people who complain about the 'draconian DMCA' are fucktards who never actually create or build anything themselves.
Actually, they usually are objecting to the criminalization of hacking encryption schemes.... that is the part that gives the whole law a "piece of legal shit" rap.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Megaupload's mistakes will be used to guide the next round of similar websites. There will be sites that will rise up and fill the hole left in the market, and they wont be so easy to catch next time.
This is not true. The DMCA has a few flaws.
As I posted previously..
The simple fact that a DMCA notice is submitted automatically causes content to be removed immediately and subject to lengthy proceedings regarding the rights of that content.
Various members of the RIAA have been notorious in submitting DMCA takedown letters for content that is very clearly covered by things such as fair use and sometimes even for content they don't even remotely have the rights to. But the creative individuals creating these parodies, or even original material, have limited recourse and the recourse they do have is time-consuming, difficult and sometimes expensive, not to mention it destroys their business (if the content is related to a business).
There is little argument for a business conglomerate having the power to shut down smaller competitors for a short period by simply writing a letter.... and for there to be no recourse for these smaller competitors from it happening repeatedly other than lengthy legal arguments and possibly litigation. That's absurd and anti-competitive.
But the remainder of the DMCA... well, it's not terrible, but I'm not sure it accomplishes a ton either. Going after kids on YouTube seems to be the greatest use of it and repeated studies have shown it doesn't help (and may hurt) their business model and revenues.
... And the American governments Fs you in the A.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
or with pirate bay, or with any of these other sites.
beyond that, when Geohotz and failoverflow got attacked by Sony for jailbreaking the PS3, he was accsed of the following:
Violating the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. 1201)
Violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 U.S.C. 1030(a)(2)(c))
Contributory copyright infringement (17 U.S.C. 501)
Violating California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act ( 502)
Breach of Contract (related to the PlayStation Network User Agreement)
Tortious interference
Misappropriation
Trespass
----
the Computer Fraud and Abuse act is far worse - its what they are using against Bradley Manning, its what they used against Thomas Drake, its basically criminalizing 'anything we dont like, when done on a computer'.
but since it has almost nothing to do with some 25 year old man-childs ability to download free copies of Transformers 8, the moronic fat assholes of the warez-o-sphere dont give a shit about it, and they wouldnt dream of writing endless tirades against the CFAA or its provisions.
Enough with the Megaupload.
Kim Schmitz is a German serial fraudster and wouldn't be allowed to open a business in Germany again. The "millions of damages" are a stately home in NZ with a ton of expensive cars, a golf course and of course Schmitz' globulous ego. This is not the fight you want to fight. If that scumbag gets sent back to prison then that's good. He knows the drill. He'll feel right at home. Only this time he will not get probation and a 100000 Euro fine for making 1.5 mil in fraud.
He's been convicted for a pump&dump racket involving his company Kimvestor and letsbuyit.com. Made a cool 1.5 mil on that. Then there was that thing with monkey.com. And with Megaupload there was that Mega Manager that was a ripoff of some other software(forgot the name), the "premium service" and other highly shady things he did from his golf-course attached villa in NZ that he wasn't allowed to purchase himself because he didn't pass a most basic character test.
there was that Mega Upload song thing that was unjustified. Copyright law still needs reform. There is the problem of US caliming jurisdiction in NZ, but frankly NZ gladly handed him over since he shouldn't have been there in the first place.
20 minutes into the future
No, it isn't a first amendment violation, but it is censorship. The word and concept has never been limited to the government. Universal Studios used their power to censor what Megaupload had to say, and anytime those with power use it to silence other it is a big problem, not just when the government does so.
princess. balls. leaving aside the fact that using a female adjective/noun as if it was some derogatory word is beyond STUPID itself, even in the sick framework you are using you are lacking the balls to post with an identity yourself.
using dmca to take down content that is distasteful/damaging against one's interests over the usage of the trademarked names or similar beyond-fair-use concepts and ip is censorship.
Read radical news here
But the DOJ miss timed it by three days
they mistimed it with 3 days havent they ...... it was apparently a means to give sopa a boost. and yet not only it missed the bus, it will have the opposite effect.
Read radical news here
Schmitz' globulous ego
i prefer schmitz's globulous ego. because, schmitz's globulous ego is not buying laws to restrain MY freedoms for HIS profit. schmitz can queue up to 100 mercedes, bmws if he wants to. as long as he doesnt interfere with my freedoms for the sake of his own profit.
Read radical news here
"which by the way, means the GPL means nothing, because its entire existence is based on copyright law"
Since the GPL only NEEDS to exist because of copyright law that isn't saying much. Without copyright law everyone has the rights granted by the GPL by default.
legions of bastards are holding office in congress. one former bastard is just in the heat now for telling other bastards to do their masters' bidding. everyone's hands in everyone's pockets. and these are all legal.
maybe the understanding we need to shatter about this, is the one that makes people believe that what the real bastards are doing, are acceptable.
Read radical news here
Am I the only person who thinks that mega got raided because of the lawsuit they have against universal? While we will never know, it did seem like they had a good case against them.
but it doesn't matter now, because they (Mega) will probably never recover even if they were to win this case.
Be seeing you...
"which by the way, means the GPL means nothing, because its entire existence is based on copyright law"
Since the GPL only NEEDS to exist because of copyright law that isn't saying much. Without copyright law everyone has the rights granted by the GPL by default.
you have no clue what the gpl is there for. tthe GPL is there is force source code to remain available to the user so we can modify the programs we use. without copyright law, we don't get that right to the source code.
The "industry" did themselves far more harm than good with this whole fiasco. People hated them, now they not only hate them, but want their blood. This is going to change a lot more than people think.
Without copyright you can disassemble the executable back to source in a fairly trivial fashion. Without copyright you have the right to modify that source and then distribute your modified program freely, without any permission.
All of that is true. Kimble is a fraud and a douchebag. But I'm not sure what that has to do with this particular indictment, or whether he should be jailed on this particular indictment because of his past fuckery.
He is very likely guilty of things charged in this indictment and may very well serve time for it, but I'll wait for the jury trial before forming that opinion.
The simple fact that a DMCA notice is submitted automatically causes content to be removed immediately and subject to lengthy proceedings regarding the rights of that content.
If implemented well, the person who posted the content (assuming they're using a third-party host) should be immediately notified and can file a counter-notice with the host to have it immediately put back online. Of course, then they're on the hook for defending themselves in court, which was more or less the point of the claim-counterclaim system -- anonymous uploaders can't hide behind a third-party host, but the host retains their immunity to copyright liability.
Various members of the RIAA have been notorious in submitting DMCA takedown letters for content that is very clearly covered by things such as fair use and sometimes even for content they don't even remotely have the rights to. But the creative individuals creating these parodies, or even original material, have limited recourse and the recourse they do have is time-consuming, difficult and sometimes expensive, not to mention it destroys their business (if the content is related to a business).
Unfortunately, while there are potentially very serious penalties under the DMCA for knowingly filing illegitimate takedown notices, they're not pursued.
As PJ, at Groklaw asked: what about innocent folks who have placed their files on the service? Who restores their property to them when the entire site goes down? They have property rights too, which are not currently being addressed, that I've seen.
good luck with that.
Who wipes their ass with pieces of shit? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?
Also Kim, aka Kimble, was a nark, and ratted out tons of BBS to avoid getting nailed on credit card fraud charges here in Germany in the mid 90s. Everyone defending Kimble today needs to get off my lawn. The dude is not some defender of rights, he's just a crook.
Under New Zealand extradition law, those arrested will face extradition only if:
i. the conduct as it occurred in the jurisdiction of New Zealand it would have been an offense under New Zealand law; and
ii. the offense would have been punishable by 12 months imprisonment or more.
read more:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1201/S00110/extradition-procedures-for-the-megaupload-four.htm
There is also the accusation of money laundry.
...and then all his transgressions will be thrown together into a kettle and stirred into a nice shit soup for all of us to eat. Can you see the headlines?
Because copyright laws are so fucked up they need longer for that accusation to stick. Or even make a case. You don't have to make a case with copyright infringement.
Baby-raping, drug money launderer sentenced to 999 years for grand copyright theft
Nobody would dare to speak up against the likes of SOPA again.
20 minutes into the future
Right here. The system is so corrupt people dont even get outraged anymore.
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Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
Since in America we have trial by jury
Actually, you don't. Some 95% of criminal cases in America end with a plea bargain. This is one of the reasons that prosecutors throw a million charges at someone - so they can offer to drop most of those charges if only you'll save them the trouble of a trial. If you want to defend yourself, they throw not only the book, but the whole #$%@# library at you.
Many, many innocent people have gone to jail because of these tactics.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
2 weak neighbors?
No. You have a neighbor to the north which is not an imperialistic war machine.
There is a difference. We don't have to pour an insane amount of money into our military budget because we don't practice insane foreign policy just to line the pockets of the men that own the politicians.
A large part of the fault lies with spineless leaders in Europe too. It's easier and more comfortable to let the United States run a large part of your defence, even if it means losing your freedom.
"This and much more was revealed in the arrest and their internal emails."
Or its just made up "facts" like when the greedy industries make up numbers to describe how much they have "lost" to piracy
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Most likely I think this is because MU is dead. No point in fighting for the dead...
DMCA provided a mechanism for people to complain about copyright problems to the site owners in a reasonable and calm fashion. in the 'rest of the world', there is the rule of the fist, and copyright violations mean nothing - which by the way, means the GPL means nothing, because its entire existence is based on copyright law.
the only people who complain about the 'draconian DMCA' are fucktards who never actually create or build anything themselves.
You're probably a troll, but it never hurts to explain the issue yet another time.
Here in Sweden, owners of electronic bulletin boards have been required to take down illegal material upon notice ever since people used 14400 bps modems. That's half a decade before the DMCA. However, the copyright lobby here has decided it's more efficient to prosecute infringing sites (such as the Pirate Bay) so they can be closed down.
The main problem for the copyright lobby here is that the standards of proof are relatively high. I believe it's more accurate to describe a system where the side with the most money can bully people into giving in as "the rule of the fist".
I also create things myself and put them up on the Internet under Creative Commons.
More likely the DoJ has petitioned the court to dismiss it, which was done since MU's accounts are frozen (therefore they can't pay their lawyers).
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
At least Kim Schmitz / Kim Dotcom provides a useful service to his customers and creates jobs. Universal and the other media corporations just lobby the government to prevent competition, so they can continue to offer mediocre services at a high price.
Oh yes! There's also that episode of his pointless and sordid little life.
Deal with him and you will get burned. I can't even imagine why so many people would want to jump to that assholes defense. What even astonished me is that he was free to do his usual shady thing again.
The man is scum.
20 minutes into the future
He did create 12 jobs with Megaupload. He cost a lot more jobs at letsbuyit.com(which might have worked 10 years later...just not then). His useful service also consisted paying people for sending punters his way. He ripped off a shareware download manager and claimed it was his own and didn't even think of scrubbing the about box.
Job creation is NOT something you can credit that man for. And if I had used his "service" I'd wonder how he ripped me off. The man is a rat. He ratted on BBSes in the '90ies just to keep his lard arse out of jail. What kind of deal do you think he will make to escape prison this time?
If you gave him an enema he'd shrivel to smurf size.
20 minutes into the future
That may very well be true, but he made sure MegaUpload was a useful service to a lot of people, and paid people for providing content to it (both pirated and original). It wasn't just the 12 jobs in the company itself, it was also the artists who used MegaUpload to get paid for their music.
You may hate him for the other things he has done, but letting him go down for something he did that is not clearly illegal is not doing yourself any favors. It sets precedence, and has far-reaching consequences that may end up biting you in the ass.
Starbucks, Harbuckle of Breath.
But the remainder of the DMCA... well, it's not terrible, but I'm not sure it accomplishes a ton either.
Criminalization of tools that may be used to circumvent copy protection schemes is terrible, in fact it's the worst part of the act.
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