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US Gov't Says They Can Still Freeze Megaupload Assets If the Case Is Dismissed
The Megaupload case continues, and on Friday attorneys for the U.S. government made some interesting claims. They were in court to argue against a request to dismiss the indictment against Megaupload that was raised on the grounds that Megaupload has no U.S. address. After a debate about jurisdiction and precedent, this happened:
"The government also argued that it could keep Megaupload in legal limbo indefinitely. 'None of the cases impose a time limit on service,' the government's attorney told the judge. Therefore, the government believes it can leave the indictment hanging over the company's head, and keep its assets frozen, indefinitely. Not only that, but the government believes it can continue to freeze Megaupload's assets and paralyze its operations even if the judge grants the motion to dismiss. That's because in the government's view, the assets are the proceeds of criminal activity and the prosecution against founder Kim Dotcom will still be pending. The fact that the assets are in the name of Megaupload rather than its founder is of no consequence, the government claimed."
Telling the court that you're going to circumvent the law in the case you lose probably isn't going to be so swell.
should be brought to justice... This is insane and a clear message from the government to everyone: You have NO rights at all! Time to fight terrorism people and it starts at home.
Guilty until proven innocent?
Who needs things like laws and due process when the government can just shut down your business without them?
Fuck yeah.
Face it. This is no longer a country of laws. The powers that be do what they want, how they want, whenever they want. Get used to it.
What the US govt got from this?
The US government does not benefit anything from this, but on the other hand, those who are paying the politicians, ie, the king makers get to thumb their collective noses down to the rest of us
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Get used to it.
If you wanna bend over and get it, that's your choice
But do not bet on it that many will follow you
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
This happens with citizens all the time.
http://reason.com/archives/2010/01/26/the-forfeiture-racket/singlepage (Behind a paywall, bu the first paragraph will give you the gist.)
You get arrested for a crime. Your assets are seized. Charges are dropped or you are found not guilty. They don't give you your assets back.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
Doesn't this violate the Speedy Trial Clause?
- "Nobody came out that night, not one was ever seen. But Old Man Stauf is waiting there, crazy sick and mean!"
Not only that, but the government believes it can continue to freeze Megaupload's assets and paralyze its operations even if the judge grants the motion to dismiss.
The message they are sending seems to be: If you do something that might piss off a powerful enough lobby in the United States, even if the legal system sides with you, get your money out of the country.
That doesn't seem like a very smart message to send.
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/when-government-is-the-looter/2012/05/18/gIQAUIKVZU_story.html
It's much worse than what I've said. Some people commit a crime on your property and they seize your property.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
US Constitution, Amendment V:
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
An executive branch agency just deciding to keep your property because they don't like the outcome of their attempt to indict you is not the "due process of law". In fact, it's quite the opposite: it's grand larceny.
While I hold no illusions about the US government's willingness to break the law and violate the constitution whenever they find it convenient to do so, the constitution remains the entirety of the legal basis for its existence. When the government violates the constitution, it does not act as the agent of the people, but as usurpers of the people's sovereign power.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
If they don't follow the law then they're not the government they're just a gang.
Like the thugs in any 3rd world hole - they're already making threats of what they'll do regardless of what the court rules.
Pack them up and send them off to North Korea where they belong.
Biden brought the Hollywood money back in the day, and that got him the VP slot and his **AA bosses some seats in the Justice Department, including Mr. MacBride who's working Kim Dotcom today. Despite the whole "supporting your vice president" thing, that's a liability moving into new elections. I don't want to think the O-man needs to or wants to make these sacrifices as an incumbent. He's a constitutional scholar and I think, a geek like us. At least I hope so.
BTW: I really hate the politicization of /. during crazy season. And yet here I am contributing to it.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
ALL the branches of the US government have become corrupt outlaws who have no clue as to what the Bill of Rights means. It's behavior for the last 8 years is a dictionary example of "power corrupts", made worse by the insufferable arrogance they display.
Running with Linux for over 20 years!
The US government accused Kim Dotcom of racketeering. And now they say they themselves are the real racketeers. Oh the irony.
Who needs hammers if all that's required is your name on the wrong list? He won't be able to fly, get a government or bank job and will probably be unable to get a job flipping burgers starting Monday if they'd take him seriously.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
Actually they're saying that indefinite asset seizure -by the government during an investigation in order to prevent criminal activity- is within the law. You are assuming this case is a dispute between some hollywood bigwig and a person - ie. a civil case - but it's not. It's the government "researching" (so to speak) whether this guy was committing criminal activities directed against the community as a whole (like, say a murder investigation). As a general rule, if you're under criminal investigation, the government is pretty much at liberty to do a whole lot of things to you and you have no recourse.
(to make this more clear, compare it to the police -and thus the government- taking a gun away from a shooter - it is obviously not theft. The question you should be asking is why this is a criminal investigation. But they certainly seem to have support from congress for making it a criminal case ...)
The exact argument made : ...)
1) because the law empowering them to seize those assets exists and does not mention a time limit, nor the necessity of there being a case afterwards (of course they have to return the assets if they decide not to sue, but until then
2) there have been tons of court cases about this, in all cases judgement was in their favor
So, to be realistic, this is a fucking strong argument.
Like anarchy? Move to Somalia.
The western system will grind you to dust if it gets you into its gears but it is still a million times better even for the pile of dust then the pure anarchy of the libertarian.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
...why I should care for American copyright laws? Ahh, forget it. I would ignore them anyways.
Get rid of the party system. Get rid of popularity contests and get rid of single sentence referendums.
The entire problem is that the running of a country, a society, a culture is FAR to complex to leave to religious lunatics and sound bite issue describers.
Religious lunatics? You don't have to believe in a talking bush to believe. Socialist, Capitalist, Communists and Libertarians and god knows what other feeble dregs exist, they ALL believe in the doctrine of their chosen fate.
An excellent example of this was in The Netherlands when right during a parliamentary investigation into the effects of privatization during the last two decades and wide spread condemnation of the miserable results of privatization in healthcare and public transport, the VVD and CDA were caught advocating taking it even FURTHER while a few doors away the disastrous effects were being discussed.
These two parties BELIEVE in the free market and facts be damned.
Not that it is just a failing of the right. The bleeding hearts keep ignoring clear evidence of troubles with immigration. Belgian TV has aired a docu showing a hidden camera following a woman through several areas, recording the harassment by immigrants. The left media is AMAZINGLY silent on this, not even mentioning it. News that youth unemployment among immigrants is sky high could not be ignored but the list of causes was mysteriously short in the left wing media.
They BELIEVE that nothing can be going wrong with the idea of a multi-cultural society and will do EVERYTHING to ignore it. And the right? The VVD (right wing) had a minister say Holland needed MORE Moroccan immigrants to start new businesses to boost the economy... guess who let immigration get out of control in the first place? The right, to import cheap labor to break the unions and lower salaries.
When the boss of the dutch state bank was questioned about the bank crisis, he kept referring to the people who didn't see it coming (himself included) as the experts and those who did see it coming as doomsayers. He couldn't grasp that HE was no expert, that he and everyone close to him that he hired was wrong and incompetent and the people he was still dismissing as quacks, were the ones who really understand economics.
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It is NOT right vs left
BOTH sides, ALL sides, are WRONG.
Really running a country (and the US that claims to be capitalist but has tons of socialist programs is a prime example) is the job of balancing a pendulum upside down. You can't do it if you are convinced that the counter movement that needs to be done is "wrong". You just need to do it. That means sometimes you need to do a "leftie" policy and sometimes "right" and sometimes a weird mix or something else altogether.
And neither can you do it with simple referendums. LA has these. Do you think cannabis should be legal for the ill? DOES NOT WORK.
Because it doesn't then give a full policy such as "what defines ill". "who is going to grow it". "when does someone become better again". "when does medinal use become recreational use" "who pays for it" "who pays for it when people abuse it".
Nor does it answer questions about heroine which started out as a drug and can still be used for medical purposes if it did not carry the drugs stigma. It is a very effective pain killer and for terminal patients, the addiction is not an issue.
A real policy on drugs needs to be extremely broad and you cannot run it on ideals of people who smoke and drink who think abusing substances is against the word of god.
You would need a body of wise men who have NO opinion of their own, who can look at what society needs and wants (and wants and needs can easily contradict each other) and then create a policy that is mostly in line with this.
It would require looking at public transport not as a restriction of the freedom of car travel or the environment or road congestion but ALL of them at once without to much bias but with a very heavy dose of reality. the s
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.