19-1-2012
Một trong những site chia sẻ file nổi tiếng nhất thế giới vừa bị đóng cửa vào sáng sớm nay (giờ VN). Các nhà sáng lập và một số nhân viên của Megaupload bị bắt vì tội download bất hợp pháp hàng triệu bộ phim, đĩa nhạc và các nội dung khác.
Megaupload.com bị tố cáo vi phạm bản quyền, làm tổn thất doanh thu ít nhất là 500 triệu USD. Bản cáo trạng được đưa ra một ngày sau khi hàng loạt trang web nổi tiếng, như Wikipedia, Google và Craigslist đóng cửa trang web để phản đối dự luật về vi phạm bản quyền Internet SOPA và PIPA. Hai dự luật này được xem là rất vô lý và có thể “giết chết Internet” khi ngăn chặn không cho phép người dùng truy cập vào các website có chứa nội dung vi phạm bản quyền, thậm chí có thể yêu cầu các công ty cung cấp máy chủ tại Mỹ xóa bỏ chúng nếu các trang web đó chứa trên máy chủ tại Mỹ. Ngoài ra, dự luật còn yêu cầu các dịch vụ tìm kiếm trực tuyến như Google, Yahoo hay Bing… phải loại bỏ các trang web vi phạm này ra khỏi công cụ tìm kiếm của mình.
Thậm chí, nếu 1 website có dẫn đường liên kết đến một trang web khác có chứa nội dung vi phạm bản quyền, trang web đó cũng sẽ bị quy kết “đồng lõa” và bị trừng phạt.
Megaupload đặt trụ sở ở Hong Kong, nhưng một số nội dung vi phạm bản quyền được đặt trên các máy chủ ở Virginia. Chính vì thế, Megaupload.com là “nạn nhân” đầu tiên của dự luật “giết chết Internet”.
Trang chia sẻ file nổi tiếng đã bị ngừng hoạt động từ sáng sớm nay.
Theo phòng Tư pháp Mỹ, nhà sáng lập của Megaupload là Kim Dotcom, 37 tuổi, và 3 nhân viên khác bị bắt sáng nay ở New Zealand.
Trước khi bị đóng cửa, Megaupload đã đang tải một thông điệp trên trang web của mình cho rằng các cáo buộc site này vi phạm nghiêm trọng các điều luật về bản quyền là “hoàn toàn vô lý”.
Cáo buộc của Bộ Tư Pháp Mỹ đã khiến nhóm tin tặc khét tiếng Anonymous “nóng mặt” và ngay lập tức đã đánh sập trang web của tổ chức này và Hiệp hội hình ảnh của Mỹ.
Megaupload nằm trong top 100 website hàng đầu thế giới, với 150 triệu thành viên đăng ký, và mỗi ngày có khoảng 50 triệu nội dung được đăng tải. Bộ Tư pháp Mỹ cho rằng bất kỳ ai download các nội dung vi phạm bản quyền đều vi phạm pháp luật, nhưng tổ chức này truy trách nhiệm cho những người thành lập công ty, chứ không phải là người dùng cuối.
Bat rang web “anh em” với Megaupload cũng bị đóng cửa, trong đó có một trang bị kết tội chia sẻ các nội dung khiêu dâm trẻ em.
Khôi Linh
Theo AP
http://mobil2buy.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27391
Feds say 7 behind celeb-endorsed Megaupload.com ran massive, worldwide piracy ring
Feds say 7 behind celeb-endorsed Megaupload.com ran massive, worldwide piracy ring
Published January 19, 2012
| FoxNews.com
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Kim Kardashian and other celebrities star in a promotional YouTube video for Megaupload. On Thurs., Jan 19, federal investigators charged 7 foreigners (not including Kardashian or the other endorsers) connected to the site with piracy.
McLEAN, Va. – Federal prosecutors have shut down one of the world's largest file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, on charges of violating piracy laws -- a day after a 24-hour blackout of popular websites such as Wikipedia drew national attention to the issue.
"This action is among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States," the Justice department said in a statement about the indictment.
Related Stories 'Anonymous' hackers take down Justice Department site over Megaupload shutdown Relieved users welcome Wikipedia's return after 24-hour blackout SOPA -- What It Is and Why It’s Bad The Truth about SOPA
The indictment accuses seven individuals and two corporations -- Megaupload Limited and Vestor Limited -- of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. It was unsealed on Thursday, and claims that at one point Megaupload was the 13th most popular website in the world.
Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.
The Hong Kong-based company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO. Beatz declined to comment through a representative.
The individuals in the criminal enterprise each faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on racketeering charges, five years for conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, 20 years on money laundering charges and five years on related charges.
Megaupload was led by colorful Australian Kim Dotcom -- aka Kim Schmitz, or Kim Tim Jim Vestor. He is a a resident of both Hong Kong and New Zealand, and a dual citizen of Finland and Germany, who legally changed his last name to "Dotcom."
The website's founder and "chief innovation officer" was once convicted of a felony but has repeatedly denied engaging in piracy, according to CNET.com -- and he made more than $42 million from the conspiracy in 2010 alone, according to the indictment.
A promotional video for Megaupload.com added to YouTube in December 2011 features celebrity endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, and other popular musicians.
The indictment comes the day after a 24-hour "blackout" of Wikipedia, a protest doodle on the homepage of Google, and numerous other protests across the Internet against proposed anti-piracy legislation that many leading websites -- including Reddit, Google, Facebook, Amazon and others -- contend will make it challenging if not impossible for them to operate.
The Protect Intellectual Property Act under consideration in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House are bills backed by the motion picture and recording industries intended to eliminate theft online once and for all. S. 968 and H.R. 3261 would require ISPs to block access to foreign websites that infringe on copyrights.
Online piracy from China and elsewhere is a massive problem for the media industry, one that costs as much as $250 billion per year and costs the industry 750,000 jobs, according to a 2008 statement by Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
But how exactly the bills would counter piracy has many up in arms.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/01/19/feds-shut-down-file-sharing-website/
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7 Charged as F.B.I. Closes a Top File-Sharing Site
By BEN SISARIO
Published: January 19, 2012
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In what the federal authorities on Thursday called one of the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought, the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation seized the Web site Megaupload and charged seven people connected with it with running an international enterprise based on Internet piracy.
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Associated Press
An undated screenshot of Megaupload.com, which allowed users to transfer large files. The U.S. shut the site on Thursday.
Related in Opinion
Room for Debate: What's the Best Way to Protect Against Online Piracy? (January 18, 2012)
Coming just a day after civil protests in the United States over proposed antipiracy bills, the arrests were greeted almost immediately with digital Molotov cocktails. The hacker collective that calls itself Anonymous attacked the Web sites of the Justice Department and several major entertainment companies and trade groups in retaliation for Mega-upload’s seizure. The Justice Department’s site and several others remained inaccessible for much of Thursday afternoon.
Megaupload, one of the most popular so-called locker services on the Internet, allowed users to anonymously transfer large files like movies and music. Media companies have long accused it of abetting copyright infringement on a vast scale. In a grand jury indictment, Megaupload is accused of causing $500 million in damages to copyright owners and of making $175 million through selling ads and premium subscriptions.
Four of the seven people, including the site’s founder, Kim Dotcom (born Kim Schmitz), have been arrested in New Zealand, the authorities said; the three others remain at large. Each of the seven people — who the indictment said were members of a criminal group it called “Mega Conspiracy” — is charged with five counts of copyright infringement and conspiracy. The charges could result in more than 20 years in prison.
As part of the crackdown, more than 20 search warrants were executed in the United States and in eight other countries. About $50 million in assets were also seized, as well as a number of servers and 18 domain names that formed Megaupload’s network of file-sharing sites.
Ira P. Rothken, a lawyer for Megaupload, said in a phone interview on Thursday that “Megaupload believes the government is wrong on the facts, wrong on the law.”
The case against Megaupload comes at a charged time, a day after broad online protests against a pair of antipiracy bills in Congress, the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, in the House, and the Protect I.P. Act, or PIPA, in the Senate.
The bills would give federal authorities expanded powers to crack down on foreign sites suspected of piracy. But technology companies and civil liberties groups say that the powers are too broadly defined and could effectively result in censorship. On Wednesday, Google and Wikipedia joined dozens of sites in political theatrics by blacking out some content and explaining their arguments against the laws.
Anonymous, which has previously set its sights on PayPal, Sony and major media executives, was more blunt in its response. The group disabled the Justice Department’s site for a time, and it also claimed credit for shutting down sites for the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America, two of the most powerful media lobbies in Washington, as well as those of the Universal Music Group, the largest music label, and BMI, which represents music publishers.
“Let’s just say, for #SOPA supporters their #SOPAblackout is today,” Anonymous wrote in a Twitter post. In an e-mail, a spokesman for the group said it was responsible for the Web attacks.
The Megaupload case touches on many of the most controversial aspects of the antipiracy debate. Megaupload and similar sites, like Rapidshare and Mediafire, are often promoted as convenient ways to legitimately transfer large files; a recent promotional video had major stars like Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas singing Mega-upload’s praises. But they have become notorious inside media companies, which see the legitimate uses as a veil concealing extensive theft.
Mr. Dotcom, a portly 37-year-old with dual Finnish and German citizenship, has made himself a visible target. He splits his time between Hong Kong and New Zealand and casts himself in flamboyant YouTube videos. His role as one of the most prominent Web locker operators has earned him a half-joking nickname in Hollywood: Dr. Evil.
According to the indictment, he earned $42 million from Mega-upload’s operations in 2010.
The indictment against Mega-upload, which stems from a federal investigation that began two years ago, was handed down by a grand jury in Virginia two weeks ago but was not unsealed until Thursday.
It quotes extensively from correspondence among the defendants, who work for Megaupload and its related sites. The correspondence, the indictment says, shows that the operators knew the site contained unauthorized content.
The indictment cites an e-mail from last February, for example, in which three members of the group discussed an article about how to stop the government from seizing domain names.
The Megaupload case is unusual, said Orin S. Kerr, a law professor at George Washington University, in that federal prosecutors obtained the private e-mails of Megaupload’s operators in an effort to show they were operating in bad faith.
“The government hopes to use their private words against them,” Mr. Kerr said. “This should scare the owners and operators of similar sites.”
Nicole Perlroth contributed reporting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/technology/indictment-charges-megaupload-site-with-piracy.html?_r=1
Megaupload Shut Down by Federal Prosecutors; Swizz Beatz Unmasked as File-Sharing Site's CEO
By Tyler Coates
January 19, 2012
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If you thought yesterday's online protests of the Stop Online Piracy Act were going to deter anyone from stopping online piracy, you were definitely wrong. Just this afternoon one of the biggest file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, has been shut down following a federal indictment that allegest the services encourages online piracy.
The Associated Press reports:
The indictment accuses the company of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed Thursday, one day after websites shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to thwart the online piracy of copyrighted movies and TV programs.
Before the site's was shut down this afternoon, Megaupload made news this morning when the New York Post alleged that CEO Swizz Beatz got some of his famous friends, including Sean "Diddy" Combs, Kanye West, and Will.i.am to promote his service in a video uploaded to YouTube last month.
But after the starry promo appeared on YouTube last month, Diddy, Kanye and Will.i.am’s label, Universal Music Group, issued a “take-down notice” to YouTube, saying the artists’ performances were unauthorized. Their individual reps followed up, sources say. Mega-Upload fired back with a lawsuit against Universal to stop it from blocking distribution of the video. A Mega rep told us: “We have never received any word that any artist has [individually] filed a take-down . . . [we have] legally binding agreements with the performers that appear in the video..."
You can check out the video below:
Not only did the New York Observer confirm this afternoon that Swizz Beatz is indeed the CEO of Megaupload, it appears that the rapper and record producer (and husband to Alicia Keys) will be facing a lot of tough legal battles in the future -- including a few fights with some of the people within his industry.
![Kim Dotcom (38), geboren als Kim Schmitz, wordt ervan beschuldigd dat hij miljoenen heeft verdiend door via zijn website illegale kopieën te verspreiden van auteursrechtelijk beschermde films, muziek en software.](javascript:fotovenster("http://images2-telegraaf.nl/multimedia/archive/00950/Megaupload_jpg_950791d.jpg","Kim%20Dotcom%20(38),%20geboren%20als%20Kim%20Schmitz,%20wordt%20ervan%20beschuldigd%20dat%20hij%20miljoenen%20heeft%20verdiend%20door%20via%20zijn%20website%20illegale%20kopieën%20te%20verspreiden%20van%20auteursrechtelijk%20beschermde%20films,%20muziek%20en%20software. ","AFP ",200,150);)
