
Feds Shutter Megaupload, Arrest Executives - rsingel
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/01/megaupload-indicted-shuttered/
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sabret00the
This is ridiculous. What is the point of DMCA if you arrest sites that comply
with DMCA requests? The onus is on the copyright holder to find infringing
content and report it. The concept is a simple one.

"No one is coming to see my movie because they're all downloading it via this
link that I've just reported and thus everyone will come and see my movie
again."

That is the concept everyone agreed to, so why now is that not enough? The US
Government is laughable in this regards, they handle something as simple as
this so completely and utterly poorly and then think to themselves, that's too
hard, let's take a sledgehammer to it all in the name of SOPA. This is
everything that's wrong with the Anti-Piracy movement.

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seanp2k2
Why is MegaUpload not protected under DMCA for user uploaded content?

Very much related: [http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/appeals-
cour...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/appeals-court-
reaffirms-dmca-protection-for-user-generated-content.ars)

~~~
true_religion
They are. The Justice Department apparently is trying to argue that they
aren't following the DMCA.

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chrismsnz
Slightly off-topic, but can someone explain the history and use of the word
"Shutter" in this context?

Obviously it means "shut down"... I see the term fairly often on HN, but
haven't really seen it used that way elsewhere.

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Tim-Boss
It's an American colloquialism:

shuttered is a form of: shut·ter verb /ˈSHətər/ shuttered, past participle;
shuttered, past tense; shuttering, present participle; shutters, 3rd person
singular present

Close the shutters of (a window or building) \- the windows were shuttered
against the afternoon heat \- barred and shuttered stores

Close (a business) \- the city was gripped by economic forces that were
squeezing its tax base and shuttering its factories

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Zarathust
It seems that the whole SOPA/PIPA fight is useless, it already happens without
the new regulations

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seanp2k2
This is also a valid argument against SOPA and PIPA since DMCA + regular old
due process provides all the relief required.

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maeon3
They should be found guilty in a court of law before the site is taken down...
Not before. Innocent until proven guilty is a cornerstone of a great and
lawful nation.

Let the due process begin. Luckily they didn't screw up the global dns to pull
this stunt.

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ajross
You're not interpreting the constitution correctly. _People_ have the right to
due process, and are presumed innocent of their crimes such that they cannot
be punished for them without a guilty verdict. _Web sites_ (like other
property) do not. They are things, and often evidence, and they can (subject
to the fourth amendment requirement for a warrant) be seized in the course of
an investigation.

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seanp2k2
This is at odds with "corporations are people".

Also, IIRC /People/ were arrested, not just websites.

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Erwin
If a factory was illegally dumping poisonous material into a river, would you
require a prolonged case against their executions to succeed before stopping
the criminal behaviour?

Why would a website which allegedly engages criminal behaviour be treated
differently? You don't have to search very long to find direct megaupload
links containing rips of Hollywood movies or AAA computer games.

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true_religion
It doesn't matter if it was a corporation, _actions_ can be prevented from
occurring via injunction even when the actor is an independent person.
Example: gag orders in slander cases.

