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Comment RSSMegaUpload.com Shut Down by Feds
Written by pacelattinJanuary 19, 2012 # 1:53 pm # Industry News, Specials # 13 Comments
File-sharing website, MegaUpload.com has been shut down effective Janaury 19th, by federal prosecutors claiming that the website has violated piracy laws. The website, founded by entrepreneur (and convicted criminal) Kim Schmitz, was until being shut down, the #1 file sharing website. Much of its revenue was made from performance-based and affiliate marketing advertisements placed on the website, providing one of the top display sources for the industry.
The indictment accuses the site of being actively involved in costing over $500M in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. Seven people were named in the complaint, and four people have already been arrested. They have been charged with a variety of crimes including piracy, conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, money laundering and even racketeering (organized crime).
The three people arrested, were arrested outside the United States by New Zealand Police, who arrested them based on provisional arrest warrants.
Megaupload had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers, including Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and most famously Kanye West. The acting CEO of the company was revealed to be, just today, before the announcement of the prosecution, Swizz Beats, the husband of Alicia Keys.
In response to these allegations, the company has said “The fact is that the vast majority of Mega’s Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch.”
What makes this lawsuit interesting, is that despite enormous protests on the 19th against laws that addressed this, it seems that government is shutting down websites without court orders, based on accusations, effectively preventing them from continuing operations.
Flavorpill.com pointed out,
It will be interesting to see how this drama shakes out. Megaupload has already filed a countersuit against UMG. Obviously, if Universal is successful, similar file-sharing sites are sure to be fair game for legal action. Meanwhile, we can’t help thinking that this is major labels’ way of punishing all of us for hating SOPA.
Additionally, New Zealand Police and the FBI raided the NZ Home of Schmitz, and seized loads of property, including a Lamborghini and MiniCooper. (Wonder which one he drove?)
Here’s the full list of seized goods, not counting bank accounts:
- 2010 Maserati GranCabrio, VIN ZAMKM45B000051328, License Plate No. “M-FB 212” or “DH-GC 470”, registered to FINN BATATO;
- 2009 Mercedes-Benz E500 Coupe, VIN WDD20737225019582, License Plate No. “FEG690”;
- 2005 Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM, VIN WDB2093422F165517, License Plate No. “GOOD”;
- 2004 Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM AMG 5.5L Kompressor, VIN WDB2093422F166073, License Plate No. “EVIL”;
- 2010 Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG L, VIN WDD2211792A324354, License Plate No. “CEO”;
- 2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drop Head Coupe, VIN SCA2D68096UH07049; License Plate No. “GOD”;
- 2010 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, VIN WDD2120772A103834, License Plate No. “STONED”;
- 2010 Mini Cooper S Coupe, VIN WMWZG32000TZ03651, License Plate No. “V”;
- 2010 Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG, VIN WDC1641772A608055, License Plate No. “GUILTY”;
- 2007 Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG, VIN WDD2163792A025130, License Plate No. “KIMCOM”;
- 2009 Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG, VIN WDC1641772A542449, License Plate No. “MAFIA”;
- 2010 Toyota Vellfire, VIN 7AT0H65MX11041670, License Plate Nos. “WOW” or “7”;
- 2011 Mercedes-Benz G55 AMG, VIN WDB4632702X193395, License Plate Nos. “POLICE” or “GDS672”;
- 2011 Toyota Hilux, VIN MR0FZ29G001599926, License Plate No. “FSN455”;
- Harley Davidson Motorcycle, VIN 1HD1HPH3XBC803936, License Plate No. “36YED”;
- 2010 Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG, VIN WDD2163742A026653, License Plate No. “HACKER”;
- 2005 Mercedes-Benz A170, VIN WDD1690322J184595, License Plate No. “FUR252”;
- 2005 Mercedes-Benz ML500, VIN WDC1641752A026107, License Plate No. DFF816;
- Fiberglass sculpture, imported from the United Kingdom with Entry No. 83023712;
- 1957 Cadillac El Dorado, VIN 5770137596;
- 2010 Sea-Doo GTX Jet Ski, VIN YDV03103E010;
- 1959 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible, VIN 59F115669;
- Von Dutch Kustom Motor Bike, VIN 1H9S14955BB451257;
- 2006 Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM, VIN WDB2094421T067269;
- 2010 Mini Cooper S Coupe, VIN WMWZG32000TZ03648 License Plate No. “T”;
- 1989 Lamborghini LM002, VIN ZA9LU45AXKLA12158, License Plate No. “FRP358”
- 2011 Mercedes-Benz ML63, VIN 4JGBB7HB0BA666219;
- Samsung 820DXN 82” LCD TV;
- Samsung 820DXN 82” LCD TV;
- Samsung 820DXN 82” LCD TV;
- Devon Works LLC, Tread #1 time piece;
- Artwork, In High Spirits, Olaf Mueller photos from The Cat Street Gallery;
- Sharp 108” LCD Display TV;
- Sharp 108” LCD Display TV;
- Sony PMW-F3K Camera S/N 0200231;
- Sony PMW-F3K Camera S/N 0200561;
- Artwork, Predator Statue;
- Artwork, Christian Colin;
- Artwork, Anonymous Hooded Sculpture;
- 2009 Mercedes-Benz ML350 CDI 4MATIC Off-Roader;
- Sharp LC-65XS1M 65” LCD TV;
- Sharp LC-65XS1M 65” LCD TV;
- TVLogic 56” LUM56W TV;
- Sixty (60) Dell R710 computer servers.
Written by pacelattin
Pace Lattin is one of the top experts in interactive advertising, affiliate marketing. Pace Lattin is known for his dedication to ethics in marketing, and focus on compliance and fraud in the industry, and has written numerous articles for publications from MediaPost, ClickZ, ADOTAS and his own blogs.
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I think that the cause of this , is the SOPA, we are now experiencing it nationwide , I think this brilliant idea of the congress to for us to avoid website piracy.
Kate Brown Wilson recently posted..קבלה
I think that goes way beyond any freedom in any country, when the feds can take down an offshore hosting account and arrest someone for something that is illegal in a different county without a court order. Kate Brown why don’t you just give up all the freedoms anyone have and this is just not about piracy. It is censorship starting now and lasting forever.
You know, I personally own several web properties. Some may skirt the edge of restraints but for the most part they are 100% compliant (do I like it, no, do I comply, I must.) What really gets to me, is that if a man goes out and shoots another man, we don’t shut down Smith and Wesson or H & K, we put the man in prison.
These people weren’t indicted, they were just persecuted. This is exactly what will eventually turn the world into China, the failure to follow due processes. Owners of sites, even of questionable content, have rights.
Megaupload was a tool, much like p2p and torrent sites, they’re tools – Even if SOPA is a complete success, they’ll never stop piracy.
Punishing Megaupload is not going to be as successful as they might want to think, all its going to do is make similar sites wipe their data, and new sites/up and comers to be more discrete.
Ultimately – we have a large group that our taxes pay for, who’s going around shutting down sites without cause, and seizing property they have no right to seize. Why? Because Joe Schmo downloaded a movie that someone else gave him a link to.
Yeah, so lets blame the guy who owns the server, and not the actual pirate.
Smart thinking. Hey, 33 people were killed yesterday in DUI accidents, go shut down grey goose, they’re actually killing people, leave the pirates alone.
Steffan Redhawk recently posted..turkey day surprise
It was because they were hosting the video of Obama tap dancing for lobbyists.
A few days ago the White House condemned SOPA at their fraud of a petition site. All of the responses to the petitions so far have been lip service. When they posted a response supporting the anti-SOPA bill I was suspicious. In the second half of their response they basically said that the Internet community needs to come up with an alternative way to regulate. This latest act seems to demonstrate that they do not need SOPA to defend perceived losses of the entertainment lobby, or censor websites.
Kate’s response does not surprise me in the least. There are plenty of self righteous attacks on black hat techniques here. Commenters have called for criminalizing comment spam as an example. It seems like most have a low regard for freedom and would prefer that the government be trusted to keep everyone safe.
The market has already found a better solution to content distribution. The established media companies just have not caught up with the times. They want to measure every download as a lost sale, yet consumers around the globe do not have equal access through their supply chain. Sure, there will always be people who are unwilling to pay. But how many of those users are willing to do an email submit?
Instead of an all or nothing proposition; Where it is either the sale of a DVD which is only available in select markets, or piracy where the MPAA & RIAA cry to the nanny state for help; Why not actually take the product to the consumer and sell it? If that means going to the consumer at his preferred location and media, why not? What is worse, micro payments from a larger market, or loosing sales to piracy? The big business of Hollywood does not want to risk making that choice. They want to offload their issues with advancing technology on our freedoms. Obama is happy to dance to that tune.
Worst part is about all this SOPA, PIPA nonsense is, not gonna matter what the people say. Government is going to do what it wants either way. If everyone in the world signed that petition that was on Google home page, law still will pass. Just my thoughts.
However, from the looks of this Christmas list on here, I am in the wrong biz! I would love to have a few items listed above. Sounds like that Kim person was ballin’ outta control. Buying shit bc I can
So do I get my 10 bucks back?
Ahaha can I ass Bill Why? are you asking to get back your 10 backs? For what? because this one its really nice and helpful..
Fatima Hipolito recently posted..חינוך
I think he just wanted his money back from megaupload, not from performinsider (which I don’t think anyone pays for Fatima….)
Steffan Redhawk recently posted..turkey day surprise
I wish I could charge.
pacelattin recently posted..Google’s New Anti-Banner Algorithm
The dumbest part is that in every report that I read that mentions “Online Piracy accounts for loss of XYZ million $ per year and ZYX number of jobs blblbaalb”
Sure there is some loss but the numbers are super inflated. Before I got too busy to watch almost 2 movies a day, I would download 99% of the movies as opposed to buying them.
So let’s say I downloaded 50 movies per month. The dumb*ss reports would calculate this as 50 times the cost of a DVD sale or rental (or somewhere in between). But the truth of the matter is that if there was no torrent-sites and no kid on the block to dub me a copy of the latest blablba movie, I would have maybe bought 1 or 2 DVD’s that month, so the actual loss isn’t 50x $ but more like 2x $
So Hollywood lobyiest; cry me a river.
It’s time for an old-school MTV Silicon Valley lobbyest vs. Hollywood Lobbyist non-celebrity deathmatch.
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