Censorship Of The Internet Options

[clhenry]

Feds shut down file-sharing website Megaupload.com

CODE

McLEAN, Va. –  Federal prosecutors in Virginia have shut down one of the world's largest file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, and charged its founder and others with violating piracy laws.

The indictment accuses the company of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed Thursday, one day after websites shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to thwart the online piracy of copyrighted movies and TV programs.

Megaupload.com has claimed it is diligent in responding to complaints about pirated material.

The indictment says at one point, Megaupload was the 13th most popular website in the world.

How can the feds shut down a site from HongKong? And charge them. Block the site yea. But shut them down?

[jan]

Apparently Marxist thuggery has no bounds/ limits.

[Webb]

Anonymous strikes back

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- In one of the U.S. government's largest anti-piracy crackdowns ever, federal agents on Thursday arrested the leaders of and shut down megaupload.com, a popular hub for illegal media downloads.

Hours later, Megaupload's fans turned the table on the feds. "Hacktivist" collective Anonymous said it set its sights on the U.S. Department of Justice and apparently knocked the agency's website offline.

"We are having website problems, but we're not sure what it's from," a DOJ spokeswoman told CNNMoney.

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

[jan]

[jan]

Wikipedia protest hits home: U.S. senators withdraw support for anti-piracy bills as 4.5 million sign petition

U.S. Senators have publicly withdrawn support for the two controversial anti-piracy bills that prompted Wikipedia and thousands of other websites to shut down for 24 hours.

A total of 18 representatives said they no longer approved of the SOPA and PIPA bills that critics say would allow U.S. Congress to implement draconian laws to police the internet and combat piracy.

It means yesterday's protest, supported by Google and Facebook's Mark Zuckerburg, has had a startling effect, with one of the Senators who initially sponsored the bill now backing down.

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Bravo! This is about the administration's ability to shut down access to websites anywhere in the world if someone complains there is a violation. Think about all the 0bama news we get from Canada, the UK and Australia. Does anyone honestly think that given the power, 0bama's Czars would only be shutting down link access to downloads of 'Fifty Cent'?

[jan]

Man behind Megaupload remains defiant

Kim Dotcom, the 37-year-old man behind Megaupload.com, was already a notorious figure in the online file-sharing world before he was forced out of the “panic room” of his $24m New Zealand mansion and arrested, in one of world’s largest criminal copyright cases. >>>

A list of property subject to forfeiture, contained in the DoJ’s indictment of Mr Dotcom and seven other individuals, included more that 20 sports cars, including several Mercedes, a Maserati Gran Cabrio and a Rolls Royce Phantom. Many of the cars featured personalised numberplates reading GOD, EVIL, HACKER, MAFIA and GUILTY. Other items seized include three 82-inch TVs, a statue of sci-fi character Predator, and 60 Dell computer servers, alongside $175m in what the DoJ alleges are “criminal proceeds”, spread across more than 60 bank and online payment accounts, registered from New Zealand, Hong Kong and the Philippines to Germany and the Netherlands.

After being denied bail at an Auckland court on Friday, Mr Dotcom and his alleged co-conspirators will spend the weekend in jail, as the US seeks his extradition. As he appeared before the court, Mr Dotcom said he did not mind the press attending, saying: “We have nothing to hide.”

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The indictments and raids and arrests clearly demonstrate that SOPA is not needed to effectively protect copyrighted material. This was an international investigation and they are arresting people all over the world who participated in this enterprise. (Note the ultimate pirates starting a War on Piracy.) So once again the government takes a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

[jan]

MPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who Aren't Corrupt Enough To Stay Bought

Reinforcing the fact that Chris Dodd really does not get what's happening, and showing just how disgustingly corrupt the MPAA relationship is with politicians, Chris Dodd went on Fox News to explicitly threaten politicians who accept MPAA campaign donations that they'd better pass Hollywood's favorite legislation... or else ...

>>>>>

This certainly follows what many people assumed was happening, and fits with the anonymous comments from studio execs that they will stop contributing to Obama, but to be so blatant about this kind of corruption and money-for-laws politics in the face of an extremely angry public is a really, really, really tone deaf response from Dodd.

It shows, yet again, that he just doesn't get it. People were protesting not just because of the content of these bills, but because of the corrupt process of big industries like Dodd's "buying" politicians and "buying" laws. To then come out and make that threat explicit isn't a way to fix things or win back the public. It's just going to get them more upset, and to recognize just how corrupt this process is. MORE ...

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Of course Dodd and his pals in the 0bama regime will never see indictment or prosecution, let alone jail time. These days politicians are so brazen that the graft is in print as public record; they don’t care, because apparently, we don’t care. Or not enough of us do.

[WereBo]

Sheeesh!!! And I thought our ex-'leader' T Blair with his socialist cronies was corrupt, he seems near angelic compared to your lot