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Megaupload Takedown: The Real Meaning
The Feds’ takedown of Megaupload shows beyond the shadow of a doubt that SOPA, PIPA or any similar legislation is wholly unnecessary.
As the Atlantic’s Dashiell Bennett correctly notes:
The shutdown inadvertently proved that the U.S. government already has all the power it needs to take down its copyright villains, even those that aren’t based in the United States. No SOPA or PIPA required.
Indeed, that might be why SOPA’s chief sponsor – who said he’d still push SOPA even after Wednesday’s web blackout – backed down right right after megaupload was taken down. (Granted, it could have also been because Anonymous’ hacking spree showed that draconian legislation won’t stop techies, or because of increased political pressure from other areas.)
WHY THE TAKE DOWN OF MEGAUPLOAD WAS WRONG
Every day, criminals use storage lockers to stash drugs, stolen jewelry, etc. When the Feds raid, they seize the ill-gotten loot, and throw the criminals in jail … as they should.
They don’t shut down the entire storage company, or the train station where the locker is located. We can all agree that that would be absurd.
But the Feds say that Megaupload was basically a criminal enterprise, focused on illegal conduct. In other words, their response to the storage company analogy will be that the storage company gave money to people who stored dope or stolen property there, and that the whole thing was a criminal enterprise. (The Feds also point out that a grand jury found that Megaupload probably did bad stuff.)
I don’t know enough about Megaupload to know whether or not that is true. Numerous top entertainment celebrities endorsed Megaupload (major stars like Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas sung Megaupload’s praises)… so it’s not like the entire business was criminal. On the other hand, some people accuse Megaupload’s founder as being a serial criminal.
But the take down of Megaupload was wrong. It should have gone through the normal court process, and a judge should have ruled on the site before anything was done to kill the business. This is especially true because the. countries involved are signatories to international copyright and extradition treaties, not “rogue” nations.
It should be the courts which examine the evidence and determine whether the business used a criminal business model, or was mainly a legitimate business. Whatever happened to due process of law?
IN THE “REAL” WORLD, PEOPLE WOULD GET THEIR PROPERTY BACK
Even if the criminal company analogy is accurate, the honest customers of a storage company would normally get their property back. They wouldn’t say “60 percent of the customers are crooks, Mrs. Jones, so we threw away your priceless family heirlooms, too.”
Indeed, if it were easy for the Feds to arrest the criminal owners of the company and to give people notice that they could pick up their property, they would probably do so, and give a specific timeframe to pick it up.
The Feds would not shut down the storage company and throw out all of the property stored there by honest people.
As Ernesto at TorrentFreak writes:
Do the feds realize that hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people used the site to share research data, work documents, personal video collections and much more?
What will happen to these personal non-infringing files?
People are outraged on Twitter and are demanding access to their files immediately.
By mindlessly shutting down the site, the Feds have made a very stupid move, indeed.
Update:
Did the Feds Just Kill the Cloud Storage Model?»
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Back in 2008, Digital Railroad, one of the first "Cloud" services for photographers went bankrupt, giving customers 24 hours to retrieve their files. They didn't have even a fraction of the bandwidth needed to get everyone's data back:
http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2008/10/digitalrailroad.html
A cloud may be a great off-site backup service, or a way to transmit large files to friends. But you should never have only one copy of anything in the cloud.
You can buy a 1TB USB portable drive for $100. Why would you need to trust the cloud?
You need to trust them with original files in some instances. For example, database files. Remember, the cloud is not just for albums and music. There are collaborative efforts that might require several people to access and modify files. I know the focus here is on personal storage in the cloud. However, it creates a concern for commercial users if the government can freeze a provider. Imagine if your cash register stops working or Customer Management System because the government went after rackspace.com. Many people have illegal copies of software installed in some of those cloud servers. I know that for a fact since I work in the field.
You can buy a 1TB USB portable drive for $100. Why would you need to trust the cloud?
NOT FOR LONG! There are move's to remove all data storage from future devices (the public is to be weened of hard drives and solid state drives over a couple of generation (of devices not people). Soon it will be just a screen battery and wireless connection. for portables and not much more for the household terminal.
There is certainly a lot of pressure from some companies to get us to rent our data rather than own it. Like Tommy Lee Jones in MIB "Guess I'll have to buy the White Album again".
But the marketplace is a powerful force. We serfs need to keep our own backups whether we use a cloud or not. We need to own our files and buy devices that allow us to carry them with us.
The Library of Alexandria is a powerful example of why data centralization is its own risk factor.
"The Library of Alexandria is a powerful example of why data centralization is its own risk factor."
Very well put CL.
the desktop isn't going anywhere soon.
Or a LAN based enterprise server if you have multiple users.
If desktops start coming out without internal (or external port) storage I'll just as well build my own.
Also, somebody seems to find a work around just as fast. It has been a cat and mouse game since the Gutenberg and translating bibles into English which was a carried the death penalty. Probably even before.
MEGA BALLZ IN YOUR FACE GETTING FUCKED is the best thing that could have happened.
the .gov just tipped their hand.
the government just showed you what will happen over and over again , relentlessly and without question to all 'offensive' websites , should you pass pipasopadoparopa.
don't pass the doparopa!
max keiser:
http://maxkeiser.com/2012/01/21/viewers-in-britain-will-no-longer-be-able-to-watch-my-show-on-the-edge-due-to-this-ban/
I agree. But the author indicates Megaupload isn't criminal because celebrities endorsed it. Say what? This guy is really drinking the koolaid. News flash: Celebrities are not the gatekeepers of all that is right in the world.
To me, cloud storage is the equivalent of asking a stranger to hold on to your diary.
This never made one singular shred of sense to me. If it's valuable information, why in the world would you put it out of your reach? Get an external drive and keep it at home. What is so difficult about that?
This is why I think Cl0oud computing has absolutely no future.
Storage company analogy is actually quite right. They should shut down PSA, SPG, and all the REITs because criminals live in those apartments, store weapons, drugs, bombs in the storage and they also shop materials in the malls. Shut them all down!
All these "clouds" seem like FEMA camps for files to me. No thanks.
Don't hurry the process along. That's coming.
Their main problem was not with copyright infringement. It was with not greasing the wheels with enough bribes, kickbacks, favors, vacations and "other" contributions to get a AAA government sponsorship rating. Amateurs.
Indeed. I was a regular user and will miss the sites dearly. However, I do wish the owners of megaupload did more with their money than buy expensive man toys like luxury cars, giant tv's and lots of strippers.
There's lots of things about megaupload being taken offline. Most I was going to say has already been so I'll just say the things I haven't seen.
1. It is legal for someone to own a movie (or other media file) and put it on a digital locker site like megaupload. It's called fair use.
...Now everyone getting the link and downloading it, that is another thing. But in a court they'd have to prove that the person provided the links to someone else. But this wasn't done through the courts.
2. Very few media files are direct copies. They are usually re-encoded, sometimes have watermarks, different resolutions or bitrates, so on and so forth. If the copyright is on a movie, specifically say blu-ray, what is a movie re-encoded? In theory the copyright is a string of 0's and 1's (numbers not being able to be copyrighted/patented...see Pentium vs 586). So how can any digital content be copyrighted? It's just 0's and 1's. Whatever the media is, what's on the net ISN'T the SAME series of 0's and 1's that is 'copyrighted'. So it's more like a close facsimile of a copyrighted work. That's reality.
Sure it's close to identical. But it isn't identical. Last I checked you hold copyright or patent on the exact or same specs as the patent. If you have a widget that is a square shape, and someone makes it cylinder. It's around your patent. If someone uses your tune, but adds a beat and changes it, see Vanilla Ice, you are around it.
Only makes sense that if you take a bluray, and change it's properties, alter the original sequence of 0's and 1's. Then you should be around it.
Sure all the above are a bit dicky, but that's the way things have been before. Whether it was physical products, or even music.
So they take ahold of someone's property, don't prove they provided that link (just assume since it's on their servers), and file charges hoping people look the other way beyond they are blurring the lines and breaking down their case at just about every step. They get away with it.
In a court of law you need to prove many things to win a case. Unless you are a big lobby trying to enforce copyrights, where you can make shit up and blur the lines. Even harm innocent people, because others were supposedly giving away digital copies (not selling) a copyrighted work (that isn't the same as what is copyrighted).
Then push to take away people's rights with draconian legislation to keep people from downloading something that is similar, but not exact, to something you sell.
I assume, then, that you would advise that a round i-phone, would be unstoppable?
"If someone uses your tune, but adds a beat and changes it, see Vanilla Ice, you are around it."
No, that is not correct. Even he had to pay royalties to David Bowie and Freddy Mercury for sampling "Under Pressure" (I'm assuming you're talking about "Ice Ice Baby" or whatever the fuck it was called).
There are countless cases like that and they all had to pay royalties for the music they sampled. But this did not take place after the fact. It was negotiated from the start in most cases.
I remember that episode of VH1 Behnd the Music. In Vanilla Ice's case, he did not recieve prior consent from Bowie and Mercury to sample Under Pressure. However, Ice and his producers knew if the song ever got big, they would have to pay up.
If you violate copyrights AND make a pile of money, you better watch out.
The government has an open door to anything it wants - we can't avoid it. We are stuck behind the eight balls. They have their teeth sunk into every aspect of our lives, they've been at it for so long that it's no little pinchy bite. But then again the mindset of the American people have left the problems unchallenged with the notion of patriotism - you know, support your government, support your troups. Which leaves me with a question. I read GW's other piece about the DoJ and the bankers - if the bankers are foreclosing on the soldiers homes then why do we not hear more people telling the banks to support our troups?
Federal toads have forced their slimy tentacles into every part of our existence.
They have a habit of causing good to look evil and evil to look good.
They represent neither morals nor ethics nor the high ground.
They do not represent the rule of law as they are lawless.
They are EVIL and make no mistake about that fact.
I know this because I have been dealing with these federal toads the past ten years.
See for yourselves what evil these murderous toads represent:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gravedestruction/sets/72157628090245369/
http://www.ncmilitia.org/spycounterspy/fs005.html
http://www.ncmilitia.org/spycounterspy/fs017.html
http://www.ncmilitia.org/spycounterspy/fs024.html
Yes for services with servers in the US like dropbox. Just steer clear of US based cloud storage comps and use a swiss based service like Wuala.
They caught these guys in friggin' New Zealand. Last time I checked that was a sovereign nation...like Switzerland. The FBI and black helicopters can now get you...anywhere you go.
If you look at the pic of the house where dotcom was arrested,it was flying the national flag of Finland. I am still waiting for the media to comment on that
nah, we're going to abolish new zealand too ... they can't pronounce sux
No it was our cops that nabbed them - on an arrest warrant from the FBI. Kim Dotcom is a German national with NZ residency who is now facing an extradition hearing to be taken to the US. This follows 5 charges laid in an idictment by a US grand jury.
They use any and all aircraft - especially those that most would least suspect.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gravedestruction/6737225901/in/photostream
what the hell are we supposed to going to do if they take down ZH? What am I supposed to read- the Drudge Report? That woudl be fucking disaster. I hope Tyler is making preparation for a jump to lightspeed, or at least mirroring on an eepsite or Tor hidden site or smthng
come inside our tent and watch our zerohedge simulation....uh yes we use cardboard and stickmen drawings with crayon....
Don't worry, he borrowed my photo copier and some stamps.
start the revolution
Exactly. Exactly.
you first. I'll follow...I promise.
You coward. Come with me.
The elite want to control the internet, just like they want to control everything else...that is what this is all about - CONTROL.
They are using fascism to limit competition and maintain their own positions.
Read:
http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Wealth-Mr-Andrew-Costello/dp/1463523017/ref
Laws are just for the little people. Propery you own actually belongs to whoever has it or can get it. Who do you think you are anyway questioning the Mighty Oz and his DOJ jackboots?
Get Off of My Cloud
I live in an apartment on the ninety-ninth floor of my block
And I sit at home looking out the window
Imagining the world has stopped
Then in flies a guy who's all dressed up like a Union Jack
And says, I've won five pounds if I have his kind of detergent pack
I said, Hey! You! Get off of my cloud
Hey! You! Get off of my cloud
Hey! You! Get off of my cloud
Don't hang around 'cause two's a crowd
On my cloud, baby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkfwfM1tMNw
I can conclude from this thread that most ZHers watch a lot of free pron
Most financial blogs end up with a core reading population of...
age 35-45
male
income >$150,000.
it explains all the tit avatars.
Dam, I'm way below average. Must ask for pay rise.
thought it was the decline in breast feeding. By the way, is "pron" porn for dyslexics? How are you BigDuke?
i'm good davy,
hope you get this... i've had a bad cold so have not been keeping up with zh... not that you can it nevere sleeps.
good health to you mate.
It is standard internet spelling because of various filters and search engines. So go back to sleep.
obviously someone doesn't know you're right. many misspellings are means to bypass the filters. others are common typos. others still are abbreviations from when sending text cost real money.
need a cloud in your pocket, not someone elses
Don't be surprised if this comes out to be a failed prosecution, because existing laws are "inadequate." It would set the stage for a renewed push for SOPA / PIPA.
http://georgesblogforum.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/the-daily-climb-2/
yeah those poor people complaining about their "legit content" http://mystic-water.tumblr.com/post/16164978300/now-that-megaupload-is-gone oh wait, shes bitching about not being able to snag jap movies for free off megaupload.
due dilligence shitbrick ever heard of it
Well, they can be free of distribution rights.
Some high profile sites like YT have some of these Japanese stuff free to watch because of this point.
She could have acted totally legally.