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From File-Sharing To Prison: The Story of a Jailed Megaupload Programmer (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes: "I had to be made an example of as a warning to all IT people," says former Megaupload programmer Andrew Nomm, one of seven Megaupload employees arrested in 2012. Friday his recent interview with an Estonian journalist was republished in English by Ars Technica (which notes that at one point the 50 million users on Megaupload's file-sharing site created 4% of the world's internet traffic). The 37-year-old programmer pleaded guilty to felony copyright infringement in exchange for a one-year-and-one-day sentence in a U.S. federal prison, which the U.S. Attorney General's office called "a significant step forward in the largest criminal copyright case in US history."
"It turned out that I was the only defendant in the last 29 years to voluntarily go from the Netherlands to the USA..." Nomm tells the interviewer, adding "I'll never get back the $40,000 that was seized by the USA." He describes his experience in the U.S. prison system after saying good-bye to his wife and 13-year-old son, adding that now "I have less trust in all sorts of state affairs, especially big countries. I saw the dark side of the American dream in all its glory..."
In U.S. court documents Nomm "acknowledged" that the financial harm to copyright holders "exceeded $400 million."
"It turned out that I was the only defendant in the last 29 years to voluntarily go from the Netherlands to the USA..." Nomm tells the interviewer, adding "I'll never get back the $40,000 that was seized by the USA." He describes his experience in the U.S. prison system after saying good-bye to his wife and 13-year-old son, adding that now "I have less trust in all sorts of state affairs, especially big countries. I saw the dark side of the American dream in all its glory..."
In U.S. court documents Nomm "acknowledged" that the financial harm to copyright holders "exceeded $400 million."
The "American Dream" doesn't have anything to do with copyright infringement. It has to do with owning your own home and building a nice life for yourself, free of all but the minimal government interference. I guess he's just bitter and wants to shit on America by saying some words he heard once.
Seriously, I don't know what people like this are thinking. If you're going to commit copyright infringement on this scale then you've got to realize the forces you're up against and evaluate your risk against this kind of thing. And if you do decide on this career, stay in your own country where they can't get you.
What bothers me the most, I think, is the incessant whining. Waah, waah, police got me waah waah. You're going to be a martyr, don't be a baby about it. That's what bothered me about Assaunge, what a crybaby he was. Be defiant, tell them they can jail you but never silence you, and wear your prison sentence like a badge of honor. But no, it's always whine, moan, complain. P.U., what a bunch of stinkers.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!