

Why was MegaUpload really shut down? - bane
https://plus.google.com/u/0/111314089359991626869/posts/HQJxDRiwAWq#111314089359991626869/posts/HQJxDRiwAWq

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dwyer
I think it's a bit of a stretch. The FBI had been investigating the MegaEmpire
for years. If anything, their plan to legitimatize their business was a
reaction to the inevitable raid, not the other way around. Conspiracy theories
make great link bait, but it's ridiculous to believe that somebody at UMG
called somebody at the FBI and said "those gosh darn do-gooders at MegaUpload
want to take down our evil empire and offer artists 90%, they must be
stopped!" and the FBI complied.

Anyways, this made me laugh.

> "Yes that's right, we will pay artists even for free downloads. The Megakey
> business model has been tested with over a million users and it works."

Yeah, they tested it alright.

~~~
Sapient
> but it's ridiculous to believe that somebody at UMG called somebody at the
> FBI and said "those gosh darn do-gooders at MegaUpload want to take down our
> evil empire and offer artists 90%, they must be stopped!" and the FBI
> complied.

After years of exposure to American media, I actually find this relatively
easy to believe as far as conspiracy theories go.

~~~
phyalow
Very unlikely, if you want some more background read the indictment (actually
very interesting) in its raw glory here:
[http://www.nbr.co.nz/sites/default/files/images/78786408-Meg...](http://www.nbr.co.nz/sites/default/files/images/78786408-Mega-
Indictment.pdf)

It certainly changed my opinion on the whole matter.

~~~
larryfreeman
Thanks for the link. I started to read the court case and to be honest, the
wording and descriptions really rubbed me the wrong way. I only read the first
7 or so pages.

The more I read about the case, the more I feel that Megaupload did not break
the law.

Here's the best evidence against Megaupload that I can see:

* Questionable characters (criminal background)

* Obnoxious Lifestyle (Kim DotCom, license plates, etc.)

* Loads of illegal content available

The only one of these items that could be a crime is whether the site broke
the law in providing incentives to reward popular content which often happened
to be illegal.

As far as I can tell, the following is true:

* Megaupload rewarded popular content even if it was illegal

* Megaupload took down all illegal content upon request following DCMA

* The Megaupload employees did not seek out or upload illegal content.

If my reasoning is correct, then Megaupload did not break the law. They
followed DCMA.

The scariest thing for me about this is the wording of this complaint and the
ease at which its participants were criminalized.

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forrestthewoods
This is stupid and wrong. The investigation into MegaUpload took two years.
This post wants me to believe the US government convinced the New Zealand
government to perform a 70+ person raid in two weeks? The government can't
give authorization to someone to tie their shoe in under two weeks!

More importantly, this is an opinion piece with zero facts or evidence posted
by a freaking high school student. Why in the hell is this nonsense being
posted to HN?

~~~
tintin
_"Why in the hell is this nonsense being posted to HN?"_

I think it's a very interesting business model. One way to kill the movie and
music industry is to give artists a better place to sell there art.

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dazbradbury
I think you only have to look at the indictment to see why they were shut
down. Whilst it's an interesting point, and perhaps if the mega empire had
attempted to legitimize their business a lot quicker then the indictment would
never have been put together, I simply think this falls into the realms of
conspiracy theory.

I have posted the full Indictment as a news story, with highlights, for those
that are interested in the actual reason for their shut down:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3487808>

------
cubicle67
aside - is there a way to remove the stupid, fat search bar from the top of
the page, or at least let it scroll with the rest of the page. I'm a habitual
space-to-page-up user, and this type of design means I have to scroll back a
few lines each time.

I know, their site they can do what they like and all, but it's messing with
my muscle memory :)

