Megaupload Dead

[elmagicochrisg]

Fair enough...

I guess Anonymous would only be effective if they would keep up their efforts for a very very long time. Which will most certainly not be the case. So I get your point...

not necessarily. There are better avenues to get your point across and to get your voice out. They are basically the equivalent to internet terrorists. They try to use scare tactics and the threat to cause anarchy or damage upon those who displease them, innocent bystanders be damned.

To a degree the same could be said about the feds shutting down MegaUpload...

[Zing]

Hacking those websites doesn't really mean much, since no one actually visits those sites in the first place.

[MrPopo]

Fair enough...

I guess Anonymous would only be effective if they would keep up their efforts for a very very long time. Which will most certainly not be the case. So I get your point...

not necessarily. There are better avenues to get your point across and to get your voice out. They are basically the equivalent to internet terrorists. They try to use scare tactics and the threat to cause anarchy or damage upon those who displease them, innocent bystanders be damned.

To a degree the same could be said about the feds shutting down MegaUpload...

Except only one of these was in response to an illegal act.

[Xeogred]

p.s. If they can do this without SOPA and PIPA, imagine what they can do if those acts are put in to place.

Exactly, like I said in the SOPA/PIPA thread.

I can only hope this, happening a day after the big protest, just fuels the fire even more.

And fuck Anon, they aren't helping.

[Flake]

EDIT No wait, you shouldn't listen to this. You didn't pay for it. Sorry...

Your sarcasm would work better if your joke made sense. Maybe you don't understand how copyright law works in the US or where the onus of legality is placed. Don't sweat it, though. I know you're from across the pond. Belgium, right?

Look dude, I admire the moral outrage you have going on here. It's great that you care. But step back and examine your stance for a second. Think critically. It's good and well to blame the entertainment industry for a lot of the crap that has led us to SOPA and PIPA being actual pieces of legislation. The entertainment industry here in the US (Hollywood in particular) still has not figured out that the Internet is a thing and that they need to re-tool their revenue models.

At the same time, this "if it is on the Internet it is free gimme gimme" culture does not leave the other side a whole lot of options. If the Internet policed itself, grew up a bit, took responsibility for its own actions instead of launching temper tantrums when people who have created content try to re-coup perceived losses, things might go a lot better for everyone.

I honestly do think that the entertainment industry and the Internet could live in harmony if both sides were willing to compromise and give the other side a couple of options.

[jfrost]

I'm more worried about the people, in my opinion, unfairly arrested. There are still tons of places to host stuff.

[elmagicochrisg]

Your sarcasm would work better if your joke made sense. Maybe you don't understand how copyright law works in the US or where the onus of legality is placed. Don't sweat it, though. I know you're from across the pond. Belgium, right?

I think copyright is copyright, regardless of where one lives.

I think it's the same in Belgium as it is in the US.

Look dude, I admire the moral outrage you have going on here.

I have to admit, my outrage is not completely moral. In essence I'm pissed about being cut off from a vast library of easily accessible movies. I like a good balance between watching movies legally and illegally. I think paying for everything one does or wants is almost impossible, and I for one don't like to limit myself. Last week I bought 6 movies on DVD. Blindness, Bone Dry, Cinderella Man, RE: Afterlife, Revolver (awesome movie btw), and Black Snake Moan. Today I downloaded The Reeds...

Noone got killed, noone lost money. Simply because I would not have been able to spend more money then I did, even if I wanted to. Is what I am doing legal?... No. Am I hurting the industry with it?... Again, no. Like I said, one has only that much money to spend...

It's about giving the man in the street a break. We can only bleed that much...

Except only one of these was in response to an illegal act.

You are right. There's no denying that. Still, unlike me, a lot of people used MUs service in a legal way. Those people got punished too. Some of them even paid for that service. So there are innocent bystanders...

As for downloading The Reeds. It only shows that shutting MU down did nothing at all. They just made it a little more difficult to find and download a movie. That's all... Come to think of it. It's like the war on drugs. It's not working. Some things just cannot be stopped... lol

[MrPopo]

Look dude, I admire the moral outrage you have going on here.

I have to admit, my outrage is not completely moral. In essence I'm pissed about being cut off from a vast library of easily accessible movies. I like a good balance between watching movies legally and illegally. I think paying for everything one does or wants is almost impossible, and I for one don't like to limit myself. Last week I bought 6 movies on DVD. Blindness, Bone Dry, Cinderella Man, RE: Afterlife, Revolver (awesome movie btw), and Black Snake Moan. Today I downloaded The Reeds...

This is nothing but entitlement. Prior to the invention of VHS the only way for the average consumer to see a movie was to go to the movie theater and pay the fee. Then VHS came out and they could see it at home. And the movie companies were scared, because VHS had a built in copy mechanism. And some people did copy their movies and gave them to their friends (I won't even get in to the large bootleg scene). But it wasn't a large hit to the studios because dealing with physical media is relatively painful. Digital distribution is another matter.

Like Flake said, the industry is coming down too hard on their end. There is a middle ground here. But claiming that you have some sort of right to be able to see free movies because you want to see them but don't have the money for them? That's the whole basis behind our society; you pay for the goods you wish to consume.

Except only one of these was in response to an illegal act.

You are right. There's no denying that. Still, unlike me, a lot of people used MUs service in a legal way. Those people got punished too. Some of them even paid for that service. So there are innocent bystanders...

If you are complicit in illegal activity you should expect the government (local or federal) to step in at some point and stop you from being complicit. If you knew a tenant was running a meth lab in the apartment you rented them and did nothing then you wouldn't be surprised when you got arrested for it. A similar thing happened here.

As for downloading The Reeds. It only shows that shutting MU down did nothing at all. They just made it a little more difficult to find and download a movie. That's all... Come to think of it. It's like the war on drugs. It's not working. Some things just cannot be stopped... lol

But it can be curbed. Are you suggesting we just allow it to run free?

[Erik_Twice]

There's no more reason to shut down megaupload than to shut down youtube or this very forum.

@elmagicchris

You are not entitled to the movie. The owner has the right to distribute the film as he pleases, who are you to steamroll that right? Who are you to be entitled to more than he?

You simply have no right at all to see that movie.

[AmishSamurai]

Piracy was only a secondary charge. The main reason the owners were arrested was because of money laundering charges.