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US DOJ Claims It Did Not Entrap Megaupload
angry tapir writes "The U.S. Department of Justice did not mislead a court and attempt to entrap file storage site Megaupload on copyright infringement charges, the agency said in a new filing in the case. Megaupload's charges that the DOJ conspired to entrap the site on criminal copyright charges are 'baseless,' an official with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia wrote in a court document filed last week. Earlier this month, Megaupload filed court documents saying that in 2010 the DOJ asked the site, through its hosting vendor, to keep infringing files as part of a DOJ investigation, then later charged Megaupload with copyright infringement."
They were asked to keep the files for an unrelated case. Then they were raided, and charge with copyright infringement for having the files the DOJ had earlier asked them to keep.
No, it's entrapment because the DOJ said "Keep the files" then charged them with crimes for keeping the files. It's like when a police officer tells a drunk person to move their car, then when they do they arrest them for a DUI (and yes, this does happen). Dumb as shit, but hey, that's America!
Exactly.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
They actually did that.
The moral of the story? Don't talk to the the police. Don't help them. Don't believe anything they tell you, it is perfectly legal for them to lie to you. Don't sign anything. Don't volunteer any information, even if you think it's helpful. You do one thing and one thing only: Ask for a lawyer over and over... and even then, it has happened, that the police send in the DA and tell you "here's a lawyer" and you admit everything while they're taping. It's legal, and it's been done. Fuck the police, they are not your friends, they are there to arrest you.
Most of what you say is true, except for the one about the DA. I am a lawyer, and we studied that case in my professional responsibility class - that defendant's statements were suppressed, and the DA was disbarred. You frequently can trust the bar overseers: one benefit of our adversarial system is that since the other side's lawyer is trying to fark you, and your lawyer is trying to fark them, the neutral party really does end up pretty neutral. Just don't trust the cops. They're always on the other side.
no, because the DOJ specifically asked them not to alert the users who uploaded the files.
They're using their grammar skills there.