

Megaupload Founder Goes From Arrest to Cult Hero - erickhill
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/04/technology/megaupload-founder-goes-from-arrest-to-cult-hero.html?_r=1&hp

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aw3c2
Be aware that <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Schmitz> is missing the bits
about how he ran some piracy and carding BBSs back in the days and then tried
to sneak his way out of trouble by telling the law all about the users. I
would not be surprised if Megaupload kept logs of everything for this purpose
as well.

~~~
Gring
That's very interesting. Do you have any sources to back this up?

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aw3c2
It is common knowledge in the german hacker scene. See the german wikipedia
article for references and further links.

------
revelation
This article fails to mention that the FBI has illegally copied and extradited
out of NZ jurisdiction the vast amount of data gained in the illegal raid on
his home.

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pgrote
This is what amazes me. For a civil case another country has just run all over
another country's laws.

~~~
aidenn0
It's a criminal case actually; commercial copyright infringement is criminal
in the US (non-commercial is civil).

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kiba
To me, he went from being a "victim that is also a douchebag" when he seems to
be doomed to "antihero" as soon he's started winning.

That being said, I don't have any problem with the services that megaupload is
providing even if it tremendously anger copyright holders.

~~~
Iscariott
I agree. Personally, the man seems like an ass of the highest caliber but I
don't feel the service he provided warranted a raid. A great example of misuse
of power and questionable priorities.

~~~
stfu
His personality might be a bit "problematic", but eccentric entrepreneurs have
always been around, from Howard Hughes to Larry Ellison in his best better
days.

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02good
Does the punishment match the crime?

Not all countries have the same penal system for copyright infringement. This
of course does not favor the US. Where is ACTA when we need it? ;)

Even under US law, criminal copyright infringement only carries a maximum of 5
years. Legal experts correct me if I'm wrong. Can we assume that's not 5 years
per item?

Now, assuming that's true, what if he does not get the max penalty? A couple
of years is not too severe. Why not just sue him for damages? He has assets.
He can pay. It makes a lot more sense. The answer is likely because they are
trying to send a message. Why do they need to send a message? Isn't getting
sued for millions enough of a message?

Let the readers answer that one.

So, what can we do if a sentence of a few years is not scary enough? We can
allege a "conspiracy". A "mega conspiracy". Then we can accuse him of
racketeering. And the sentence can be much longer.

The whole thing is just a little over the top.

They should have just sued him, taken his assets and left him a broke hacker.

Instead they want to brand him a serious criminal. Not just a petty one.
People are not buying it. What they see is overzealousness. The punishment
does not match the crime. So he becomes a hero.

Interesting.

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nmridul
This is what scared me from the article.

“Two helicopters and 76 heavily armed officers to arrest a man alleged of
copyright crimes — think about that,” he wrote. “Hollywood is importing their
movie scripts into the real world and sends armed forces to protect their
outdated business model.”

What were they thinking when they sent such a large force ?

~~~
J3L2404
>What were they thinking when they sent such a large force ?

Take it up with New Zealand. Though you can hardly blame them as Kim is
clearly a nutjob.

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TimJRobinson
Can't say I like the company, it's good that a lot of their files are
legitimate but they really didn't care about pirated files in the slightest.
One of my friends ran a company selling physical software and hired outside
help to find and serve DMCA notices to sites hosting cracked full versions of
the software. Megaupload generally complied with the notices but every single
time the file was taken down it was put up again a few days later (the exact
same file with the exact same file size). They could have implemented even a
very basic md5 check to stop this from happening but they chose not to because
they knew it would bring more profits if they didn't.

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ktizo
Given his past and the megaupload business model, you have to fuck up pretty
badly to turn Kim into this much of a hero.

If Hollywood had chased a civil case against him, they would have almost
certainly won it and shut down his business, which would have then paved the
way for them to pursue a criminal investigation (although I am far from
convinced that he has done anything explicitly illegal as opposed to merely
unlawful).

This way round it looks as though they could lose badly on all counts and make
themselves look like malicious and incompetent fools in the process while
simultaneously souring US relationships with their political allies.

Perhaps they are just malicious and incompetent fools however. It would
certainly seem to be the simplest explanation for the current situation.

~~~
shin_lao
What he does is probably illegal, according to copyright laws, but is it
_that_ immoral?

The problem to me is the amount of physical violence he endured, compared to
the amount of physical violence he caused.

It's as if the police would beat down someone who didn't tip a street
performer.

~~~
ktizo
_What he does is probably illegal, according to copyright laws_

My understanding is that what some of the users were doing was possibly
illegal under US law, but probably unlawful most everywhere else, and that
what he was doing was possibly unlawful but not illegal pretty much
everywhere, including in the US. Knowingly facilitating copyright infringement
is a charge that can be leveled at every industry that provides consumer
equipment or services that copy or transmit data, from ISP's through to the
manufacturers of video recorders.

~~~
billpatrianakos
That's too simplistic. Lets take the example of a gun. The gun industry makes
a product that can be used for intentional harm or for protection. One company
sells a 35mm handgun to the general public and another sells assault rifles to
the general public. A reasonable person knows an assault rifle is not for
protection (and don't get pedantic and say "well depends where you live", etc.
because you know what I mean). That's like what MegaUpload is. Dropbox and
Box.net are file locker services. MegaUpload was very obviously a file sharing
service - one that was very much all about sharing movies, music, and software
with no regard to copyright law. Dropbox and Box.net are the handguns to
MegaUpload's assault rifle when you put it into my above example.

~~~
modoc
A 35mm handgun would be hilarious:)

~~~
billswift
I heard about someone back in the 1970s who replaced the barrel of an old .38
Special revolver with a piece of pipe (about an inch-and-a-half or 40 mm) and
used .38 blank cartridges to shoot golf balls about a hundred yards.

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Tangaroa
He's a hero because he let people warez and they lost their favorite source
for warez when his system was shut down.

Everything else -- the FBI fuckups, the legitimate users losing data, and so
on -- is a secondary justification for supporting a warez site. Those issues
can be opposed on their own without making the warezer-in-chief into a hero.

~~~
icebraining
That's certainly an important part, but I think it ignores the natural
tendency for considering "the enemy of my enemy, my friend".

He is (not by choice, but still) fighting the US government, particularly in
an area where many perceive the latter to be bound by lobbies. That's enough
to make him seem like a knight in shiny armor.

Personally, I'd like for both to lose ;)

~~~
stfu
Plus the difference is, that he is putting himself out there and for the first
time giving a face to the "fight".

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vtry
Kim Dotcom for the rest of us.

