US government shuts down Megaupload.com

By Tom Bramwell Published 20 January, 2012

Accuses owners of criminal copyright infringement.

Move over Wikileaks, because this week's internet site that the US government loves to hate is Megaupload.com - or at least it was until the FBI and US Department of Justice shut it down yesterday and arrested most of the people running it.

Megaupload allowed users to upload files of virtually any kind and receive a unique download URL to share with their friends, clients or whoever. The basic free service allowed for files up to 2GB, while the premium service had no such limits. Files were deleted if no one grabbed them for 21 days.

However, the FBI and DOJ claimed Megaupload was used to distribute pirated material - including video games - on a massive scale. The authorities alleged that the site's operators were not only aware of this but encouraged it and only paid lip service to removal notices from copyright holders.

According to their swanky federal calculators, Megaupload brought in $175 million in "illegal profits" through advertising revenue and premium memberships, and the damage done to copyright holders by all this criminality was "well in excess of $500 million".

Before it was shut down Megaupload posted a statement, picked up by the BBC, saying that the allegations were "grotesquely overblown". "The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay," it added, before being switched off.

The news has not gone down well in all corners of the internet, with notorious denial-of-service group Anonymous apparently targeting the FBI and DOJ websites in response. Both were back up at the time of writing.

The FBI and DOJ statement about the arrests - described as "among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States" - went into some detail about the allegations of criminal copyright infringement and money laundering listed on the indictment.

"The conspirators allegedly paid users whom they specifically knew uploaded infringing content and publicised their links to users throughout the world," it said.

"As alleged in the indictment, the conspirators failed to terminate accounts of users with known copyright infringement, selectively complied with their obligations to remove copyrighted materials from their servers and deliberately misrepresented to copyright holders that they had removed infringing content.

"For example, when notified by a rights holder that a file contained infringing content, the indictment alleges that the conspirators would disable only a single link to the file, deliberately and deceptively leaving the infringing content in place to make it seamlessly available to millions of users to access through any one of the many duplicate links available for that file."

The FBI and DOJ announced coordinated arrests in nine countries. Co-founders Kim Dotcom (formerly Kim Schmitz) and Mathias Ortmann were both arrested in Auckland, New Zealand while others were rounded up elsewhere. A few of the company's employees remain at large.

The news comes in the same week as widespread protests against SOPA and PIPA laws that could cause massive disruption to the internet under the auspices of preventing copyright infringement and piracy.

US authorities denied that the two things were linked, claiming the Megaupload decision was made weeks ago.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (115) Latest comment 4 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Stratix #1 4 months ago

    Ah, Megaupload, what a fantastic site that was. Like a torrent site, but with waiting times.

    That'll stop the pirates in their tracks. They'll never think to migrate to a new one.

    Disclaimer: I tend to buy my games, and would prefer not to have to walk the plank. Many thanks!
    Edited by Stratix at 20/01/12 @ 08:06

  • BloodSaint #2 4 months ago

    Aww I use mega video to watch my anime and stuff ):

  • kassmageant #3 4 months ago

    so, that's what mayans meant about end in 2012? end of the internetz?

    EDIT:

    http://kwejk.pl/obrazek/852527/zostawcie,w,spokoju.html
    Edited by kassmageant at 20/01/12 @ 13:21

  • Spong #4 4 months ago

    @Stratix

    Waiting times? Not if you used the RS/MU downloader add-on for Firefox. Not that it matters any more. Here's hoping FileSonic gets blitzed next, I fucking hate that site.

  • matty_matt_mattmatt #5 4 months ago

    Megaupload didn't have waiting times between downloads unless u mean the 40sec b4 ur download starts thing. Im gonna miss it but will continue to use the other 100 sites just like them

  • Doctor_What #6 4 months ago

    I know a lot of people who used it for legit purposes to share work with each other. 100% of my experience with it was kosher, but it does sound very open to 'abuse'.

  • Stratix #7 4 months ago

    @matty_matt_mattmatt

    That's exactly what I mean.

    @Kassmageant

    They didn't plot the start very well so I wouldn't worry too much.

  • CaptainQuint #8 4 months ago

    Frankly, I'm surprised Megaupload wasn't shut down sooner. It was a useful site indeed, but dodgy as hell - and the site owners obviously knew that.

    Clearly, this has nothing at all to do with SOPA.

  • jstar #9 4 months ago

    @BloodSaint

    Hey, use crunchyroll.com instead. It's all free and HQ.

  • ZizouFC #10 4 months ago

    Shiver me timbers!

  • Zozzilla #11 4 months ago

    And then Anonymous shut THEM down.

  • jstar #12 4 months ago

    What the fuck have I been down voted for... Crunchy Roll is legit.
    Edited by jstar at 20/01/12 @ 08:25

  • makariel #13 4 months ago

    Apparently they don't need this whole SOPA and PIPA stuff to shut down sites after all.

  • supermaniacs #14 4 months ago

    Can the public shut down the US government also for the criminal behaviour??

    Serious note though, as much as Megaupload had legitimate files to share, it was open to abuse!!

  • kassmageant #15 4 months ago

    @Zozzilla - yeah, anonymous had kill streak yesterday, including spawnkilling session with FBI : D

  • thebuttonz #16 4 months ago

    Check THIS out http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/01/20/10-mercedes-a-harley-108-inch-tvs-among-the-items-seized-from-megaupload/

  • paulf #17 4 months ago

    One down around 60 odd left running. Was megaupload hosted in the USA?

  • bad09 #18 4 months ago

    Next up blank DVD makers are to be shut down because despite legitimate use discs can to be used for piracy the modern day crysis that is making very rich companies fall to their knees as their million dollar CEOs can't buy a 2nd jet.

    I don't wanna live on this rock anymore.

  • Kaonazhie #19 4 months ago

    Not gonna defend piracy or anything, but I have to point out:

    --the damage done to copyright holders by all this criminality was "well in excess of $500 million".

    Bull.

  • Cobalt_Jackal #20 4 months ago

    Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.

    We have no elected government, nor are we likely to have one, so I address you with no greater authority than that with which liberty itself always speaks. I declare the global social space we are building to be naturally independent of the tyrannies you seek to impose on us. You have no moral right to rule us nor do you possess any methods of enforcement we have true reason to fear.

    Governments derive their "just" powers from the consent of the governed. You have neither solicited nor received ours. We did not invite you. You do not know us, nor do you know our world. Cyberspace does not lie within your borders. Do not think that you can build it, as though it were a public construction project. You cannot. It is an act of nature and it grows itself through our collective actions.

    You have not engaged in our great and gathering conversation, nor did you create the wealth of our marketplaces. You do not know our culture, our ethics, or the unwritten codes that already provide our society more order than could be obtained by any of your impositions.

    You claim there are problems among us that you need to solve. You use this claim as an excuse to invade our precincts, invade our privacy and take us from our homes. Many of these problems don't exist. Where there are real conflicts, where there are wrongs, we will identify them and address them by our means. We are forming our own Social Contract . This governance will arise according to the conditions of our world, not yours. Our world is different.

    Cyberspace consists of transactions, relationships, and thought itself, arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. Ours is a world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies live.

    We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or place of birth.

    We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity.

    Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and context do not apply to us. They are all based on matter, and there is no matter here.

    Our identities have no bodies, so, unlike you, we cannot obtain order by physical coercion. We believe that from ethics, enlightened self-interest, and the commonweal, our governance will emerge . Our identities may be distributed across many of your jurisdictions. The only law that all our constituent cultures would generally recognize is the Golden Rule. We hope we will be able to build our particular solutions on that basis. But we cannot accept the solutions you are attempting to impose.

    In the United States, you are trying to create/pass a law, The Stop Online Piracy Act & Protect IP Act (SOPA/PIPA), which repudiates your own Constitution and insults the dreams of Jefferson, Washington, Mill, Madison, DeToqueville, and Brandeis etc. These dreams must now be born anew in us.

    You are terrified of your own children, since they are natives in a world where you will always be immigrants. Because you fear them, you entrust your bureaucracies with the parental responsibilities you are too cowardly to confront yourselves. In our world, all the sentiments and expressions of humanity, from the debasing to the angelic, are parts of a seamless whole, the global conversation of bits. We cannot separate the air that chokes from the air upon which wings beat.

    In the United States (and eventually the entire globe), you are trying to ward off the virus of liberty & freedom by erecting guard posts at the frontiers of Cyberspace. These may keep out the contagion for a small time, but they will not work in a world that will soon be blanketed in bit-bearing media.

    Your increasingly obsolete information industries, your dinosaur business model(s) would perpetuate themselves by proposing laws, in America and elsewhere, that claim to own speech, song & video itself throughout the world. These laws would declare ideas to be another corporate industrial product, no more noble than pig iron. In our world, whatever the human mind may create can be reproduced and distributed infinitely at no cost. The global conveyance of thought no longer requires your factories to accomplish.

    These increasingly hostile and colonial measures place us in the same position as those previous lovers of freedom and self-determination who had to reject the authorities of distant, uninformed powers. We must declare our virtual selves immune to your sovereignty, even as we continue to consent to your rule over our bodies. We will spread ourselves across the Planet so that no one can arrest our thoughts.

    We will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace. May it be more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before.


    John Perry Barlow (with minor contributions from Cobalt_Jackal) - A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace.
    Edited by Cobalt_Jackal at 20/01/12 @ 13:19

  • Eraserhead #21 4 months ago

    @Cobalt_Jackal Well that was just embarrassing.

  • Casserole #22 4 months ago

    You shouldn't be concerned about where to get your porn, or where to pirate. You should all be concerned with how the US (without SOPA) managed to get 7 foreign governments to carry out raids on their own citizens, confiscate property and arrest their own people based on US law.

  • Cobalt_Jackal #23 4 months ago

    @EddieMink Your welcome XD. And im not claiming I wrote it (Although I did tweak it a tiny bit with adding in SOPA/PIPA and mentioning the corporations), but I digress. Im simply spreading the message that nothing the US goverment(or worlds goverments in general), and nothing the old corporations... nothing they both try to do will stop us the people. The genie is out of the bottle and it will never go back in.

    The US goverment and the greedy corporations cannot control whats not theirs.
    Edited by Cobalt_Jackal at 20/01/12 @ 09:44

  • DrStrangelove #24 4 months ago

    The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's internet traffic is legitimate
    Sorry, but I do have some minor doubts about that.

  • Breadbitten #25 4 months ago

    How the hell is it costing copyright holders anything if Megaupload made their profits through advertising?

    I'll miss this site, helped me out of a rather nasty bind in college once when I idiotically forgot to carry a USB drive even knowing that I'd have to collect a large amount of data that day...

  • DrStrangelove #26 4 months ago

    BTW



    Hope I'm no copyright infringer now.

  • Byzanite #27 4 months ago

    @Cobalt_Jackal Maybe you could just spread better grammar?

  • riceNpea #28 4 months ago

    "John Perry Barlow - A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace."


    i can't take anything the son of Ken says seriously.

  • Markusdragon #29 4 months ago

    Now I can see why the MPAA is so desperate for SOPA/PIPA; actions like this are just going to send the digital dropbox companies overseas.

  • AustinHoffman #30 4 months ago

    I can't believe they went and arrested him in ANOTHER country!!!

    p.s. LOL @list of the owner's seized cars: (i call dibz on the royce!)
    http://www.peeje.com/positivity/5666-megaupload-sued-defendants-property-lol

  • IneptPercy #31 4 months ago

    I did use this to distribute legit video work I had done for people, out of interest anybody know a decent alternate?

  • anthonypappa #32 4 months ago

    a damn shame, i used megaupload for downloading porn. it was probably the best host out there. rapid download speeds, a short countdown and no waiting after downloading. not like some other hosts where you download a measly 100MB and you need to wait 45 mins to download another :mad:

    why was this an FBI case?! big companies with too much political power.

    i can support anonymous on this one.

  • neorich #33 4 months ago

    Its really nice from them close US company who payed their taxes. Make money on their coast. Now money goes to another country. China maybe.

  • Spekingur #34 4 months ago

    Wasn't megaupload supported by legitimate celebs and hadn't they stepped into the music publishing business? I remember seeing something about Universal (I think) getting youtube to shut down one of their videos claiming infringement of label/musician that Universal have never signed.

    Personally I think it this is bullshit. Megaupload relied on questionable material being reported and promptly got rid of that material. This is very much like any other governmental body. The police for example requires crime to be reported or obviously witnessed by themselves to actually know about it.
    Knowing that 20s1032_203ssaoao.zip at first upload includes copyrighted material is challenging job for ANY business or governmental body.

    Seriously, the people in charge of police, laws, government and protection (of mostly corporate interest with no regard to individual security of the public) are at the age of our parents or grandparents. They often seem to have very little idea of how current technology works.

  • SG #35 4 months ago

    http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/01/20/megaupload-may-be-trying-to-get-back-online-under-new-domain-name/

  • anthonypappa #36 4 months ago

    @Spekingur - it says that they basically ignored requests to take down reported copyright material, which if true is wrong.

    of course it hosts pirated material, and you can maybe get away with the excuse that it is used for legit material, but not if you don't comply with takedown requests - that's just stupid... people find ways round it anyway, like indiscreet filenames.

    taking down files on the copyrighters requests keeps you good. even if you have a backlog and get to it eventually. you could put a disclaimer up that requests will be dealt with within a certain time frame.
    Edited by anthonypappa at 20/01/12 @ 10:25

  • inutaihanyou #37 4 months ago

    Look well world. This is the face of a government body under control of corporate entities. The reason the recording industry can even enlist the DOJ to this extent says it all.

    Lobbyist money gets results for Corps. Meanwhile, the citizens get their livelihoods cut. Its a problem.

  • vlaana #38 4 months ago

    I hate the way these people think that everytime someone downloads something it is a lost sale, complete bull.... imo 95% of things people download they wouldnt actually think of buying if these sites weren't available, its just a case of its there, and they're slightly bored, so why not..

  • spidermanalf #39 4 months ago

    Interesting read, but what was with the double double words every so often?

  • TeaFiend #40 4 months ago

    I had no idea people had legitimate reasons to use it.

    Piracy happens, but measuring the loss it causes is pretty near impossible. If it was not avaliable people would have to buy it in shops. Unfortunately people when given the option of free or paying are very much inclined towards free.

    Using the argument "I was not going to buy it anyway!" is not that good. If you were not buying it, why download it?

  • lolercopter #41 4 months ago

    I am now expecting the American authorities to close down every weapons shop in the country because the things you can buy there can be used for illegal activities.

  • maguire12 #42 4 months ago

    reminds me of the US invading Iraq when bin laden was hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan

  • anthonypappa #43 4 months ago

    If you were not buying it, why download it?

    because it's free and easy, and also curiosity is a big part. don't like it? delete it. isn't so simple with an actual purchase.
    Edited by anthonypappa at 20/01/12 @ 11:00

  • obscured021 #44 4 months ago

    The usa think they can flaunt there power around the world, shame on them. I Guess they were hiding WMD's or oil some where on Mega.

  • crispyduckman #45 4 months ago

    @lolercopter I'm pretty sure it's legal to shoot people in America. As long as they're not famous.

  • TeaFiend #46 4 months ago

    If you are worried about the music being a pile of wank toss there are numerous (legal) ways to hear to music for free. Spotify, Last.fm, YouTube, Myspace, Facebook. And those ways the artist gets an insulting amount of money for the play of their track.

  • miiiguel #47 4 months ago

    I feel so excluded from this internet piracy thing. I have no idea what's Megaupload, or all the other names you wrote about. Ffs, digital stuff's free ? I could have a lot more money...

  • jetsetwillie #48 4 months ago

    @vlaana that still does not entitle these people to this stuff for free.

  • IvorB #49 4 months ago

    These Copyright Wars are getting serious. I don't consider myself a pirate but I did use Megavideo to watch some TV shows (Breaking Bad, Battlestar Galactica). I would have paid for them if they were available anywhere else. R.I.P Megavideo *sigh*

  • Whatascoop #50 4 months ago

    Anyone who changes their name to Kim Dotcom deserves all they get.

  • Silvervein #51 4 months ago

    What have we got here? Ah, I see. The latest movie directed by US companies: PirateBay II: The Megaupload angle. A political thriller, starring clueless governments, greedy corporations and regular people.

    So, if memory serves...pirate bay was up in what, 3 months after the whole malarky? I wonder how long will it take for megaupload to be back.
    Taking bets, make it fast!

  • dsmx #52 4 months ago

    The really scary thing is they did this with existing laws if those god awful SOPA/PIPA bills pass through congress and the senate...well for example eurogamer would be taken offline if anyone in the threads posted a link that may be copyrighted in the US and eurogamer would have no way of defending itself and even if it was found innocent at a later date it could not seek any compensation from the person who filed the take down request.

  • Donaldthescotishtwin #53 4 months ago

    Apparently Megaupload has returned.

  • tankboi #54 4 months ago

    So when are they going to go and arrest all the clip-lock bag manufacturers, tin-foil manufacturers, bong and pipe manufacturers, spoon manufacturers, hyperdermic needle manufacturers, digi-scale manufacturers, etc?

    Because y'know they are all used for illegal means too...

  • retr0gamer #55 4 months ago

    Isn't this like arresting Smith and Weston CEO's because the gun they manufacture are used in murders?

  • jonfon #56 4 months ago

    Dear Entertainment Industry. It might be worth focusing on why sites like this are so popular rather than just treating them like criminals (rightly or wrongly) and sending downloaders threatening messages.

    Give us a fair, easy-to-use means of legitimately downloading or streaming new movies and TV shows for a fair and reasonable price and you'll be surprised how many people will happily use it.

    Netflix is a step in the right direction. So why is it's UK and Irish release full of so much outdated dross and not much else? Are you deliberately trying to sour the brand at launch so I associate it with the sorts of movies you see on ITV at 0:30 on a Tuesday or is it just down to incompetence?

  • PlugMonkey #57 4 months ago

    @bad09
    Next up blank DVD makers are to be shut down because despite legitimate use discs can to be used for piracy...
    If you read the allegations, it's a lot more than that.

    If they really were promoting copyrighted material and only pretending to remove it when requested, as a core part of a $175 million business, it's hard to say anything other than "Busted!".

  • haderach512 #58 4 months ago

    You'd think that with the world crysis and sh*t, the world's governments would find better things to do. Like, you know, solve the crysis. Instead, they SOPA and PIPA and care more about corporate rights. Wrong approach, people! This is the effin internet, no one can, no one will own it. So the major companies want more customers? Let them adjust their prices and cut those million $$$ profits. We're talking about world crysis and I haven't seen a price drop for a new product in years.

  • jetsetwillie #59 4 months ago

    @haderach512 if only every post on the internet was as constructive and intelligent as this one.

  • uknortherner2000 #60 4 months ago

    @haderach512 It's "crisis", not "crysis". Crisis=real world issue, Crysis=Sub-par tech demo.

    EDIT: Other than that, agree 100% with your post.
    Edited by uknortherner2000 at 20/01/12 @ 12:15

  • JMac Verified Designer, Rebellion #61 4 months ago

    Looks like current laws can crack down on global piracy just fine. No need for SOPA/PIPA then!

  • anthonypappa #62 4 months ago

    if i were in court personally (for personal usage), couldn't i argue, that the pirated stuff is not as good as the original? it may be 'digital'. but rips vary wildly in quality, there are often faults in them - artifacts, little fuck ups here and there, syncing issues etc.

    and especially on mp3's - many have skips in them, not too mention the user-ripped methods are different with each mp3 almost. whether it's program settings, the program itself, the EQ settings on the mixer. a lot of mp3's i have listened to are muffled and really bad quality despite being '320kps' - that means nothing.

    compared to the original digital file, a lot of pirated stuff is like second hand, in a digital sense.

  • cellardoor #63 4 months ago

    Cut off one head and five more will replace it.
    Hail Hydra!
    Also, if you change your second name to Dotcom and aren't on 30 Rock then you're almost definitely a D-bag.

  • neorich #64 4 months ago

    Next time they close youtube, because there is illegal content too and owner know it!

  • Gearskin #65 4 months ago

    The "people might not have bought it anyway" argument is a load of arseholes. If they didn't intend to buy it then THEY SHOULD NOT GET THE LUXURY OF ENJOYING IT.

    A thing costs MONEY TO MAKE. If you WANT IT. You PAY FOR IT.

  • Gearskin #66 4 months ago

    The other argument that is a load of arseholes is the "give people a more convinient way to pay for it and they will"

    What misguided faith in humanity.

    Before the internet, you generally had to walk into shops etc to buy things. It was the only way to do it. Did that stop people going on the rob? No.

    iTunes is a pretty swish service. Does that stop people from downloading music for free? No.

    STEAM has every game worth playing. Does that stop people downloading them for free? No. Hell, Crysis 2 was piss easy to buy via STEAM and then Origin. How many times was that downloaded for nothing? MILLIONS!

    Don't pretend that it's the industry's fault for not providing the best way to supply in the face of demand. People are dicks. And there are plenty of people who will ALWAYS be on the take, regardless of how easy it is to obtain via legitimate means.
    Edited by Gearskin at 20/01/12 @ 12:38

  • SEVQA #67 4 months ago

    Does this mean the US government will be extraditing Rizla for making 'king size silvers'. And they may as well ban COD for being rife with stoners, hence the amount of camping as users skin up mid play!

  • jonfon #68 4 months ago

    @Gearskin
    Of course there will be people on the take. There are also a lot of people happy to pay a fair price for what they download.

    The thing is if you offer legitimate and easy to use alternatives a lot of people will use it as evidenced by the two examples you cite yourself (both are doing pretty damn well for themselves aren't they?). Of course neither has stamped out piracy, nor will they ever, but they both function as viable alternatives for a hell of a lot of people (although personally I hate iTunes, mostly due to how it tethers my iPad to only one machine when I own two)

    Nothing will ever stamp out piracy totally, but if you offered legitimate ways for people to, for example, subscribe to a service which then allowed them to watch their favourite US TV series at the same time as the Americans a large chunk of people will use it (see Hulu for details)
    Edited by jonfon at 20/01/12 @ 12:45

  • anthonypappa #69 4 months ago

    @Gearskin - if listening to music for FREE is far easier and much more convenient, then i think it's actually misguided to think that people will honestly GO OUT OF THEIR WAY to buy it legitimately.

    a LOT of it is convenience. i'm sure you don't jump through unnecessary hoops in life just for the sake of it.
    Edited by anthonypappa at 20/01/12 @ 12:47

  • arcam #70 4 months ago

    The other argument that is a load of arseholes is the "give people a more convinient way to pay for it and they will"... What misguided faith in humanity

    The argument isn't that it will wipe out piracy completely. The argument is that the more convenient you make something, the more people will choose the legitimate option over piracy. The success of iTunes and Steam are examples of that.

  • jetsetwillie #71 4 months ago

    @SEVQA hmmm these metaphors are getting pisspoor

  • Gearskin #72 4 months ago

    @Arcem

    Can you tell me how many legit copies of Crysis 2 have been purchased via STEAM/Origin compared to the MILLIONS downloaded for free?

    If you set up a service with two buttons, one which said "Pay to Receive" and the other "Receive for Free"... and the ENTIRE system of obtaining this content was identical. Do you honestly think people are so good natured they would choose to pay?

    That's a load of crap. And you know it. People.Are.DICKS

  • kangarootoo #73 4 months ago

    So the massively widespread Dropbox is also on the chopping block? Or is this more a matter of knowledge and complicity?

    I've never used megaupload so I don't know how shifty it was. Dropbox I use all the time and it is super useful.

  • SEVQA #74 4 months ago

    @jetsetwillie, Well sorry my metaphors don't amuse you. I was making a point for where does this all stop! As I see this going as far as we will allow it and as we already live in a world where people can be imprisoned without trial and/or extradited I'd say we are all pretty much fucked unless we take action against this bullshit corporate cock sucking world we all live in!

  • TeaFiend #75 4 months ago

    Using Spotify is far easier than using torrents, yet people still use torrents.

  • jonfon #76 4 months ago

    @Gearskin
    If you set up a service with two buttons, one which said "Pay to Receive" and the other "Receive for Free".
    You could do that, but it would prove nothing as it's not actually a real-life example.

    At the moment peoples choices tend to be "Wait for anything between a week to 4 months for a show" vs "Go to something like PirateBay or a Forum, find the show and then use the download link(s) to download it".

    Pirating the show you want to watch is thus the easier choice at the moment. However if it was a case where I could log onto my subscription service and watch what I want to watch streamed down I'd do that instead.

    It's not just about cost, a monthly subscription of 5 euro is pretty much meaningless to me (a fiver is one pint out) and a lot of other people, for me it's about ease-of-use and time. If my fiver means I just have to start an Application on my PC or console, scroll to what I want to watch and then off it goes that because the path of least resistance and the one I'd use.

  • Sharzam #77 4 months ago

    I have used megaupload before, for legit things like random DLL files to fix a game. The US gov say they didn't do enough to stop piracy. So what they should inspect every single uploaded file?

  • kangarootoo #78 4 months ago

    @arcam and Gearskin

    The issue not just that you make the legit method more convenient. It is crucial that you make it MORE convenient than the non-legit route.

    iTunes has shown the success of making downloadable music convenient, but that doesn't mean pirated music has gone away. The two routes speak to different user bases to some extent.

    Lots of people who pirated music still do so, and lots of new digital music consumers used to buy CDs and so on. Even for those that pirate, sometimes iTunes will be more convenient (want a song, buy it and download it on your phone, listen to it immediately).

    Your example Gearskin, with the two otherwise identical buttons next to each other is contrived specifically to reinforce your point of view. In reality, the options are much more varied and depend to some extend on the situation in which the consumer finds themselves. Equally, its too simplistic to suggest that convenience wins over all else (as if people are moral and want to do the right thing, if only it were more convenient to do so). All these factors just push the numbers a bit in one direction or another, and only when lumping all consumers together. The behaviour of any given individual is much harder to change (not least because if one method works for you, you have less visibility of newly emerging methods you apparently have no need of).

  • kangarootoo #79 4 months ago

    @TeaFiend

    Exactly. Individual habits are hard to change, even if the new avenues are often better.

  • actionfitz #80 4 months ago

    So tell me again why it's so urgent to pass SOPA and PIPA?
    Seems they have no problem whatsoever of charging and seizing the assets of whoever they damn well please, for whatever reason they care to.
    Racketeering? Even better since they now have the NDAA passed, why not add terrorism in there too and they wouldn't even have to bother with charging them or pursuing a costly trial at all :/

    America! Fuck yeah!

  • Gearskin #81 4 months ago

    @jonfon

    Actually, my system would prove everything. And you can list off stuff about the delay on TV shows etc but do you know why it happens? Distribution. Licensing. The whole world is not the same in how these things run and noone has total control over every single territory because that would be bad for everyone.

    The problem, the grass root problem, is that people do not consider that the things they enjoy cost money. They don't look at music and think about what it cost to put that there. They don't look at games or films and think about the amount of time and money it took to create. How many companies were involved, their staff. The overheads of all that.

    All they see is something they want and if they can take it they will.

  • skunkfish #82 4 months ago

    Damn, things sure have changed since I used to run my Roms site at the turn of the millenium...

  • Dr_Cowley #83 4 months ago

    the damage done to copyright holders by all this criminality was "well in excess of $500 million".
    What? You think if we didnt get it for free we'd pay for it? Oh Hollywood you jesters, you really think the crap you churn out is worth paying for?

  • tankboi #84 4 months ago

    @retr0gamer

    This is exactly my point. Although apparently your version is worth a plus and mine, a minus!

    I really don't understand the people that actually click on those plus/minus buttons.

  • ZuluHero #85 4 months ago

  • cw- #86 4 months ago

    @IneptPercy Dropbox

  • cw- #87 4 months ago

    Blog post from garry (maker of garrys mod)

    http://garry.tv/post/16165810877/megaupload

  • cw- #88 4 months ago

    @Gearskin I'm on my phone, so it's difficult to find exactly what I'm looking for, but...

    World of Goo (and I believe some indie packs of games) gave people the choice of paying what they want. You could pay nothing, or you could pay a lot, if I remember correctly the world of goo guys posted the sales from this and a significant amount of people paid for it.

    So given your scenario, people will still choose the pay button. But now you have to factor in what the content actually is. World of goo probably got people paying to support an indie dev of a great game (same for the indie bundles), but would people pay for say transformers? Or lord of the rings?

    Like gabe newel says, offer something more, a better service, give people a reason to buy it instead of pirating!

  • digitalash #89 4 months ago

    They'll be a lot of moaning about legitimate users and fascist government meddling and such, but let's drop the pretence, it was a fair cop.

  • anthonypappa #90 4 months ago

    they could've easily forced them to take down any offending files by saying they are actually still available, get lawyer to lean on them, warn them.

    but they wanted the full site down.
    Edited by anthonypappa at 20/01/12 @ 14:59

  • Bravestinsane #91 4 months ago

    TBH, it pisses me of when they pull these figures out of their arse.


    $500million in damages? FUCK OFF

    I can 100% guarantee that even if there was no ways of piracy AT ALL... NOT EVERYONE would buy your fucking product Jesus christ these companies are so full of shit.

  • Phredreeke #92 4 months ago

    @Silvervein

    3 months? I think TPB was up and running again after 3 DAYS.

  • PlugMonkey #93 4 months ago

    @Gearskin
    The other argument that is a load of arseholes is the "give people a more convinient way to pay for it and they will"
    The counter argument there, I think, is that MegaUpload has allegedly made $175 million in advertising revenue by letting consumers download other peoples' copyrighted material for 'free'.

    That would suggest to me that there is a currently untapped $175 million market that the legitimate copyright holders aren't exploiting.

    If the "more convenient way to pay" for the content was to look at some adverts for the duration of a 40 seconds timer, or to pay money to skip the timer, it's hard to argue that these 'pirates' wouldn't do it, because they already are doing it.
    Edited by PlugMonkey at 20/01/12 @ 15:20

  • Ironsword #94 4 months ago

    Did they catch the most dangerous of these criminals - the guy who did the site graphics. Last time I checked this fugitive was still at large.

  • PlugMonkey #95 4 months ago

    @gotyourmoney

    I'm not so sure. It would be difficult to undercut, and also very easy for the rights holders to offer a superior service, given that the source would be official and could be trusted.

    Is there anyone who uses torrents / warez sites who hasn't either:
    a) Wasted time downloading something misnamed.
    or
    b) Wasted time downloading something of unusable quality.
    or
    c) Wasted time removing a virus.

    It's all about the service.

    I know some people are saying that pirates still download music even though Spotify is easier.

    And they do. But I don't. Not since I got Spotify. Some things do change.

  • azic #96 4 months ago

    Bla Bla,
    All the little whiter than white dribble bums on here banging on about Piracy.. You don't have a clue!
    Dropbox / Suguar Sync / box.net can all be used for and are used for illegal file sharing...come on then make your stupid comments about them.

    Mega Upload im sure was aware of what went on, but so is dropbox et al.
    End of the day I doubt any of the goody2shoes on this site are download free.

    Im not condoning piracy, but I cant stand the twats on here who don't know what they are on about. Mega Upload was used by the same people who were behind shutting it down for their own ends..

    Mega Upload is being made an example of here..rightly if its found guilty, but to sit here and act like Mega Upload was a de facto Piracy site is a joke.

    Get off the band wagon.
    Edited by azic at 20/01/12 @ 15:45

  • jogyourmind #97 4 months ago

    Good riddance.

  • johnson81 #98 4 months ago

    Most if not all of the filesharing sites host illegal content. I think Mega Upload have been made a scapegoat after the Wiki protest etc. But it's not just file sharing sites, Youtube, Vimeo etc all share copyrighted material (this is actually better than Mega Upload as the videos/Music is available to stream instantly rather than waiting for a download).

  • VibratingDonkey #99 4 months ago

    These media corporations should look into offering their content through quality digital online streaming subscription on demand downloading services. Maybe then instead of losing imaginary money they'd be making actual money.

    The situation with such things is currently pitiful in Sweden.

  • whatfruit #100 4 months ago

    FUCK THE MPAA

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mOB_5KkEuI
    Edited by whatfruit at 20/01/12 @ 16:24

  • Jamiesan #101 4 months ago

    @Gearskin
    If you set up a service with two buttons, one which said "Pay to Receive" and the other "Receive for Free...."

    Check out http://www.humblebundle.com/
    They make a lot of money with pretty much that exact business model, people choose how much they want to pay for the games.

  • FortysixterUK #102 4 months ago

    Sell everything cheaper, it will shift more numebrs, and if its crap, it falls by the wayside.
    Brand new games, any format £14.99.
    Brand New films, any format £8.99.
    Everything sells a lot more and a lot faster.
    Then maybe sites that allow D/L of material would not be needed anymore.

    I'll just wait for the next spate of summer hacking attempts.

  • smelly #103 4 months ago

    >Sell everything cheaper, it will shift more numebrs, and if its crap, it falls by the wayside.


    Yes - you're right... Because NO-ONE pirates 99c iphone games do they.... oh wait..

  • Inmediasress #104 4 months ago

    Well for that matter they could easly shut down all of them since every single one of them is used for that and live of of that.

  • arcam #105 4 months ago

    Post deleted at 17:23:13 20-01-2012

  • PlugMonkey #106 4 months ago

    @gotyourmoney

    I hear yah. There will always be arseholes. 'tis the nature of the world.

    But I still think Spotify is a good example of how these things CAN work, and be a change for the better. I couldn't go back to no Spotify now. It's completely changed the way I consume music.

  • DirectAim #107 4 months ago

    I find it funny that true pirates dont use these public sites, 100mbit boxes that are invite.only and are used by the real pirates are never shut down, so this means a new source for the public to get access to these files can be setup in no.time!

  • TexMurphy01 #108 4 months ago

    Oh, the Eurogamer comments, where I don't come for informed opinion, although I'm sure there are a few tired memes still making the rounds here.

    Where was Eurogamer on SOPA and PIPA when it was news?

  • Subdominator #109 4 months ago

    Why don't they go after the other big site that has lots of illegal content? You know, Youtube. I'm pretty sure Google knows that they host lots of fishy content. In fact Youtube wouldn't be anywhere near what it is today without copyright infringements. It's what made them interesting.

    It will be very interesting so see how this goes. I don't know about the US, but over here in Europe emails (and the whole case is built on incriminating emails) have absolutely no value as evidence in court because they can easily be manipulated. This will only change with the digital signature which finally makes emails become legal documents that can be traced back to the author.

  • Trigg3rHippie #110 4 months ago

    I seriously hated when hackers were on the killing spree not so long ago but they might be useful fear factor here.

  • SpaceMonkey77 #111 4 months ago

    I agree with Gotyoumoney, its another day and it still won't change the big picture.

    Guess the butthurt of SOPA/PIPA not getting passed got to the big corps, and they wanted a scalp to settle their appetite. And this was no doubt planned far in advance.

    This whole dance got old since the days of Napster. For these companies to mould and adapt their business models, may seem impossible, but certainly is not. And until the day they do so, those canny ones and zeros will continue to bite them online.

    They still think that chasing people will solve the problem, when in truth it just winds potential consumers up, some who will then stick to piracy even more for their fix. Now the games industry, has learned well, the trick of how to attract and keep a customer (best example Valve), but then there are those who don't get it, and lace everything in unreasonable DRM.

    The one thing that SOPA/PIPA show, is that big media money talks when it can grease the palms of law and those in positions of power. And just like those greedy bankers who fucked with our money, only to get a pass from those same people in power, we lose out and like Terminators, they will be back.

    Netflix is a good way to go, but they even want to resist even this.

  • Discalceaterabbit #112 4 months ago

    Well it can only be a matter of time now before the FBI shut down General Motors.
    Admittedly, the vast majority of GM buisness activity is perfectly legal and above board, however there is a small number of persistent hardcore offenders who use what GM supply to commit many heinous crimes (drink driving/speeding/bank robberies) which causes the loss of many millions of dollars to other legitimate buisnesses.

  • Valland #113 4 months ago

    Why in the world would I use Megaupload for video games or even series? Torrenting is far superior for that purpose, I only used Megaupload for porn.

  • craziii #114 4 months ago

    if they shut down MU, why the hell not the others??? that is just plain stupid. if they start something, they should finish it. shutting 1 site is just plain useless and stupid. stupid.

  • PlugMonkey #115 4 months ago

    @Discalceaterabbit

    Again, as with the DVD-rom analogy, if you read the allegations, it goes way beyond people using their otherwise innocent product for illegal ends.

    GM don't supply ram-raiders with specially tuned cars with reinforced rear ends. If they did, they would be breaking the law.