This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
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?»
- advertisements -
Not only is it gone, it is being treated as contraband. Think of the implications of that.
I think everyone should think twice before using cloud services to backup all their data. I sure as hell don't.
Why was this even considered? I only store my stuff on a device or hard drive in my possession that I can destroy myself.
In terms of "self-determined destruction", you shouldn't even rely on stuff staying in your possession.
(Hint: Encryption. Yes, by law they can demand you to hand over the keys (i'm ignoring some advanced legalese ecryption schemes that can circumvent this, for simplicity)... all you at most have, is control in one way or another over your data.... and the most fundamental one is: "Only i can access it with MY CONSENT, damnit!" - THIS IS OWNERSHIP AT IT'S ROOT... I DECIDE, YOU CAN AT MOST JUST EXTORT by putting me into extortion-based - yet still requiring my choice of going into SUBMISSION).
You want to backup data at some offsite location? Get a computer (or with some knowledge, even just an ext. harddrive).... station it at the flat/house of some relative/friend whom you trust (what, you have no relatives/friends whom you trust more that some vendor of whom you know no one personally???).
Got that? Good.... next up, install some http file server.... most are too complicated? Here's an easy and small one, that doesn't even require installation:
http://www.rejetto.com/hfs/
Next up, get an account at someone like dynip (they're no longer free, but there are other vendors who offer the same for free). What is this for? Well, it is so that you can access that computer from anywhere in the world, via a domainname, rather than a constantly changing IP address.
Got that too? Cool, now the only thing left to do, is to configure the above http file server (in which directory on the PC to store uploads, configure a good password, etc).
There, your own personal megaupload, and no one can shut it down without raiding the flat/house where your computer/hdd is located. And yes, you can even configure it so, that everyone can download files, but only you (or those with the password) can upload files... or you can also set seperate passwords for upload and download.
In fact, you don't even need a dedicated computer/hdd for it... maybe your relative/friend is willing to put asside a few GBs of his own hdd for you?
So yeah, cloud my ass! You don't control it, you don't own it - same as with PMs. And contrary to PMs, it is very easy to set up your own trusted remote storage, operated by someone whom you know personally.
Just remember: This is not a replacement for backups - always have your important files in at minimum two locations (i.e. remote computer, and your own computer).
Cloud storage is the electronic equivalent of buying paper instead of physical.
Megaupload was seized. That sucks, I had all my files stored there. Hope they give my files back.
MF Global went bankrupt. That sucks, I had all my gold stored there. Hope they give my gold back.
I've been warning people for so long, and sadly, many people still don't get it. Oh well.
I ain't touching cloud storage with a 10-foot poleaxe.
Of course, when I bought a new Mac recently, the new versions of iTunes, etc., all try to push you towards storing your tunes in the cloud. Eventually, it'll be mandatory, one assumes.
With enough available bandwidth, you get devices that store nothing locally and merely access everything on an as-needed basis.
Ack.
Viva -- Sager
Your files are safer in your boat.
if they seize countries, I'm pretty sure the rest is fair game
Precisely.
My country was seized. I had some oil there. Hope they give my oil back.
my country seized by thee, they call it liberty
Succinct, as always, DJ. :)
My thoughts exactly.
I asked this question to RM only a week back! Little did I know that we would get a real life example of Big Brother tactics and cloud confiscation of people's data: accross the board!
Reality beats fiction every time these days! Brave new world!
You are 100 % right.
"All yours internetting belongs to us" - Amerika.
And another great safety move you have made, Mr Banzai, is living outside of the US Empire.
---
As many ZH readers know by now, just like Facebook hands over every scrap of data to the US government, the CIA-seed-money-developed Google Inc. also records every jot of internet searching you do and hands that to the US regime, along with censoring and manipulating Google web search results, to guide what you read ... especially toward the CIA's favourite prized Wikipedia project, while truth-telling sites go far down the list, or are outright 'erased' from Google, when Google Inc. and the CIA think they can get away with it.
You have no privacy, despite the myth of 'court orders' being needed. There is no delay for so-called 'court orders' because such orders now are automatic, comprehensive, secret, and hidden from you, US high court judges rubber-stamp everything, and you never know it.
There is a European internet search engine based in the Netherlands, available in many languages, which does not record your searches, if you desire some privacy - Here it is in English:
http://ixquick.com/uk/
Thanks for this one! I was using one called scroogle (search browser hooked to google engine) but unfortunately 2 days ago the site was qualified by googel as a bot engine and it's cut off for now as such.
Don't get me wrong this is not about secrets I just hate somebody watching over my shoulder.
every browser of goodnatured citizen has to have an option: instead - delete coockies or browsing history , it shell read multiple selection(please tick) submit to CIA....FBI...NSA...PIPA...SOPA and small text*
*you might be prosecuted for waisting the athourities time.
As i wrote further down, if you're affraid about google, because of surveilance, then you have no clue about in how deep trouble you are, from an entirely different direction.... someone MUCH closer to you than google - your ISP.
The guy you thanked, is a gov tool, who spammed the same post since days over and over across threads. He is posting to distract you from real issues, with insignificant issues.
What about the embedded search mechanisms, and the lovely analytics that is part of every site you visit? We're screwed all around, unless we take back the world from the lunatics.
Mate I am in the middle of London right now - CCTV on every corner. and as I've said it's not about secrets.
Whoever this guy is - its just a drop of info to consider.
Reading about Greek championes...no copy rights, no stinking lobbys, no money behind or MSM...just choosen by people accordingly to performance...fed, glorified, recorded in history, and layed for fucking free....DEMOCRACY in pure form
http://www.zerohedge.com/users/bank-guy-brussels/track
SOMEONE like REALLY has an agenda :)
Oh, i almost forgot - GFY gov sockpuppet.
And since you're trying like really hard to deceive people, i'll now piss you off really much:
https://www.ipredator.se/
(who is the vendor? Someone who has a long history of laughing at CnD letters, and who likes to give govs and the ponzi the middle finger: The pirate bay. And yes, they know their legal stuff (which is why they have a dedicated staff just for legally pissing of govs and cartels):
https://www.ipredator.se/faq/security/
)
Good stuff. Listen...the entire planet acts the same way. There is no "Global Law of Privacy." NONE. That's the "secret sauce" of the "Internet Play." all governments want to spy on their people. Did the Government of New Zealand file a protest? I rest my case. My only beef with this slab of beef is "WTF are you doing having millions in checking accounts?" that's what brief cases are for! Anywho the cloud is the future...and part of that future was just foreclosed on..."to make way for an inter-galactic highway of the mind" I might add. Complain...rightly in my view...all you want. The fact is "mission accomplished." Apparently they didn't like my pot plant comment the other day as "all they do." Oooooops. I'll keep it on the QT next time.
no search engine keeps your searches private.
Word, cloud is the opposite of the libre p2p hacker internet spirit
I am SO FREAKING GLAD people are waking up to this!
"Cloud computing is a trap, warns GNU founder Richard Stallman""It's stupidity. It's worse than stupidity: it's a marketing hype campaign."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/29/cloud.computing.richard...
I never liked it. It places too much faith in the assumltion the provider will even be here in the future. Cloud sites are owned by companies and those that dont go out of business, will eventually realize they can charge you a lot because they have you hooked on thier services and its difficult for you to change.
So you store your files in your house (and with a couple backups there too).
Then the house burns down.
People need a multiple backup method, both local and in the cloud.
ever heard of fire-proof safes?
One model I know will stand against 1 hour of a 1000 degrees fire.... should be enough.
price, maybe 1000$, has space for hundreds of cds/dvds.
I can't even BELIEVE that ANYBODY (least of all anybody here on ZeroHedge) would be STUPID enough to trust their valuable personal or business files to some unknown third party "in the clouds". In just how many ways can one say DUMB!!
This is as bad as all those suckers and idiots who fall for the tired line of the anti-gold propagandists like Nadler who constantly spout that it is "too dangerous" to hold gold, for example, in one's own personal possession --- oh no, nothing is ever "safe" unless SOMEBODY ELSE is holding it for you. "Trust us". Yeah, right. Well, there are risks in life no matter what one does, but I'd be damned if I would blithely send files over the internet for some OTHER party to "safely" hold for me.
For anyone who lost their files in this Megaupload case, you certainly have my contempt, but absolutely not a speck of pity from me. One has to wonder, in fact, just what the agenda is of any company purporting to be in the business of "safely storing" others' personal files --- to me, it looks like just another method for ignorant sheep to hand over every informational aspect of their lives to an all-seeing Big Brother.
Yes, and who has a lot of stuff in his own posession, usually also is very well ARMED. (or has a strong desire to arm himself)
Maybe TPTB dont like us to hold our own stuff/information AND be well armed.
Be your own government and cetralbank and military!
I think if the house burns down, digital collection would be the least of the worries for most people.
On the contrary, if storing in the cloud provides for centralized way for authorities to monitor what I'm storing there, I would think twice before upoloading anything into the cloud. And please, I don't believe any of the cloud service providers, especially majors, are not vulnerable to government pressure and won't be willing to cooperate by providing backdoors into the data storage while maintaining visibility of protecting privacy.
Actually, the problem has already been solved. Get a Cannon Gun Safe. Check out the power and network features:
http://www.tractorsupply.com/cannon-gun-safe-ts6040-60-in-h-36-gun-capacity-3910204
Get yourself a NAS, put it in the safe, and you're good to go!
You gotta change that avatar - way over the top. There's an entire Internet for porn, but it's not here on ZH.
JLee, there is a whole internet for ugly so please remove your avatar from ZH
JLee has removed my avatar. What a perfect thread to demonstrate authoritarian assholery!
Like the new one better, guys?
i like how a thread on thge topic of internet censorship has somewone getting their avataR banned.,
ZH works on so many lewvels
ZH works on so many lewvels
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
No. This site is full of US citizens and as such, the reflection of US citizenism.
US citizens do not support freedom of speech, they want to exert censorship power and are ready to fight over it.
US citizens do not disagree with tyranny, they disagree with being tyrannized.
US citizens on this site do not blame their elite for censorship, they blame the elite for exerting the power of censorship.
Hey! Hey! Hey!
There's a freakin na-duck here that keeps it's beak out of such issues as his citizenship is not among the species of men - kawak!
FYI I like to browse ZH from work because that's when the markets are open, and the company I work for could FIRE ME for displaying "pornographic images" on my work computer. I could try to make the case that it's just someone's avatar as opposed to the main show, and it's a small image, but it still puts me in jeopardy.
Ah, typical US citizen, exporting rules of your location on a foreign body.
You could also stop coming here.
Ah, I withdraw that, US citizens can not self control.
So yep, better to cancel that avatar.
I didn't export a thing other than my opinion. I didn't submit the avatar for being banned. I came to this thread after it was already banned, although I do know of a few other jeopardizing avatars. I merely expressed my opinion. I intend to keep coming back, and even for that matter keep reading ZH at work despite a few bad avatars, because it's one of the best places for unspun financial news. That said, I would personally prefer it if people refrained from having x-rated avatars. Do I wish my company would change its policies? Yes I do. But it won't.
Can't believe this discussion is happening here.
Quite the commentary on property rights by the Tyler's.
And I agree with it. A line can always be drawn by the property owner at their sole discretion.
While I personally didn't find your avatar offensive some of the ladies could have and JLee obviously did. The next line to cross might have been...well, best left to the imagination. Its a judgement call and the Tyler's get to make that call as its their place...they own it & maintain it for all.
"We reserve the right to modify any terms and conditions of userdom at any point, without notification."
"Users may be banned or removed from the system without notification or due process of any sort."
http://www.zerohedge.com/node/12342
Its their house...they're asking you to wipe your feet, which is their right ;-)
With US citizens, there is no freedom of speech, it is all about censorship power.
No difference, no discontinuity between the elite and the base, they are all US citizens, but in different situations.
Best bit is that it happens on a thread like this, which shows how it is natural for US citizens to express one thing and its contrary in the same breath.
That is good enough.
So what are US citizens reproaching their elite with?
If you are addressing what I wrote...
When you come into my home and shit in the middle of my living room you should not have any expectation whatsoever of my approval...no matter how proud you are of the steaming pile left behind for someone else to clean up. In fact you should expect me to actively stop you and forcibly remove you before damages are done to my property.
I'm not as forgiving as Tyler.
Now, you can always go out on the public sidewalk (off of my property) and lament to the world how I infringed on "your right" to crap on my living room floor but I doubt many will see the merit of your whining.
That would be freedom of speech.
It was property rights I commented on here as anyone can plainly see, not speech.
////////////////////////////////////////
Edit:
Speaking of freedom...
"Next week a class-action civil lawsuit will be heard in San Jose to determine if Google, Apple, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Adobe, Intel, and Intuit conspired to eliminate competition for skilled labor. In anticipation of the hearing, TechCrunch has obtained evidence from the Department of Justice’s investigation in 2010 which was made public this evening for the first time. It appears to support the plaintiff’s case that the defendant companies tried to suppress employee compensation by entering into “no poach” agreements.
Previously, only the DOJ was privy to the evidence, so there was no way for the public to know whether the settlement came out the defendants’ fear they would lose. Now we know the C-level management at these companies did enter into anti-competitive agreements."
http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/19/damning-evidence-emerges-in-google-apple-no-poach-antitrust-lawsuit/
The only thing I expect from US citizens is to behave according to US citizenism.
Im not disappointed.
As I stated, US citizens do not support freedom of speech.
Why keep masquerading? As a US citizen, I would not expect you support freedom of speech but on the contrary, I expect US citizens to try to exert censorship power.
Is it that hard to accept yourself as you are? You are a US citizen and as such, wants to exert censorship.
Depict yourself as a friend to censorship, not one supporter of freedom of speech.
As to lamenting, well, that is US citizens' job and nature.
I've hammered a countless number of times that there is no discontinuity between the US citizen elite and their base.
Yet it does not prevent lamenters on this site to try to bring up a kind of differences between them and their elite.
No, both are US citizens. Both prefer censorship over freedom of speech.
Take your lesson for yourself first, ah sorry, as a US citizen, it is not in your reach.
Finally, property has no rights. People have.
Thanks, nmewn, for bringing it home.
You're welcome sir.
But as you can see below, the US-a-phobic is unreachable ;-)
And you are exactly who, JLee? "I gotta"?! The avatar is much appreciated by other users. Go screw yourself, Mr WouldBeCensor!
Anyway.
Control Your Computing Before It Controls YouA Commentary by Richard Stallman
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,775218,00.html
Your avatar demonstrates you are a moral degenerate who needs to show off naked chics on a public message board. Grow up loser!
That's who I am. I do not need to "show off". But for the idiots like yourself who need to have a porn show, I email abuse@zerohedge.com.
Have a nice day scumbag.