
Feds seize $50 million in Megaupload assets, lodge new charges - evo_9
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/02/feds-seize-50-million-in-megaupload-assets-lodge-new-charges.ars
======
einhverfr
So here's the obvious question:

If I read the Supreme Court's decision in Grokster correctly, it seems that
the government will have to prove not only that they knew that there was
infringing material on their servers but that they either colluded with
infringers or marketed material as infringing material, right?

This seems to me to be important since that's what differentiated Grokster and
Betamax. So is there evidence in this case? Are they going to be able to
convince a jury of that specific link?

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astrodust
Maybe I'm just an armchair observer here, but why didn't someone like Kim
Dotcom move to a more protected location? With that kind of cash I'm sure he
could've earned some favors from a military dictatorship in Fiji, or a country
so small that his revenues could've easily eclipsed their GDP. Iceland?
Tuvalu? Burkina Faso? There's lots to choose from.

~~~
rdl
Having lived in various "more protected locations", I'd rather live in New
Zealand than some place like Burkina Faso!

He probably assumed at most he was at risk for civil penalties -- it's not
like he was running drugs or supporting jihad. The company was based in HK,
and the obvious legal target; his personal residence in another country should
have protected him from civil issues related to the company in HK.

However, once criminal charges and an international task force get involved,
doomed. Maybe he could have had better intelligence or lobbyists to figure out
criminal charges were brewing, but I don't think his behavior was that
unreasonable given the ambiguity of what criminal laws megaupload may or may
not have been breaking.

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rickmatt
I never used Megaupload. Never saw their site before the takedown notice went
up, so I don't know anything about their business model. But where did they
get $50M in assets? I have seen the number $175M as a subscription revenue
number, but how did they rake in that much in subscriptions? That's a huge
number.

~~~
ObviousThrow14
rickmatt, I see you are a new user; please ignore the condescending tone in
the replies from wmf and publicus. I thought I would never say this: the
comments section on the linked Ars article is more helpful than HN (and much
less condescending).

Despite everything pg has tried to keep September from arriving, the September
that never ends has arrived. And by now it should be obvious _why_ the eternal
September is here. It's because the problem is _people_ and this is one
problem technology will never solve.

------
anxiousape
If i were Kim i'd have money stashed in a Swiss bank account.

------
publicus
Jury nullification will be at play here.

~~~
nitrogen
_Voir dire_ will be used to make sure nobody who's ever downloaded anything
sits on the jury, just as with Thomas-Rasset.

~~~
slavak
Do such people actually exist this day and age? Someone might not have
downloaded anything themselves, but how likely it is they don't enjoy watching
a downloaded movie with their grandkids from time to time?

~~~
nitrogen
I don't doubt that many of them exist, or at least don't know they don't
exist.

 _After tossing out four jurors (the ones who had the most experience with
file-sharing friends)..._ \- [http://arstechnica.com/tech-
policy/news/2009/06/jury-selecte...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-
policy/news/2009/06/jury-selected-in-thomas-retrial-shockingly-law-
abiding.ars)

 _Judge Gertner repeatedly sided with the plaintiffs, who objected to the
presence on the jury of those who essentially admitted to the same activity of
which Tenenbaum, a 25-year-old Boston University graduate student, stands
accused._ \- [http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/tenenbaum-
tr...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/tenenbaum-trial-opens-
following-last-minute-dismissal-of-fair-use-defense.ars)

~~~
slavak
So much for "trial by a jury of your peers"...

------
maeon3
I wonder what the news would be like if the feds here raided some foreign
company in some foreign country, and someone like Kim had some "panic" secret
automated target aquisition weapons systems and killed all of the guys as they
ran up and busted down the doors with rifles drawn?

Feds bust corporation in other country, gets slaughtered. Which legal system
deals with the situations where one country is imposing its laws on another,
and the citizens use deadly force to fight back?

~~~
anigbrowl
Or what about if they raided some alien company on _another planet_? Well,
they'd probably use something similar to what they use now, an international
warrant for arrest or seizure and cooperation with the local law enforcement
authorities to the extent that that was available. I suggest looking into how
this works rather than trying to come up with B-movie scenarios.

~~~
jonah
I think the parent's talking about the backlash in NZ were there bloodshed,
etc.

Obviously international warrant, cooperation, etc. etc. is how they arranged
the raid.

