Feds Shut Down Megaupload.com !!

Federal prosecutors in Virginia have shut down one of the world's largest file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, and charged its founder and others with violating piracy laws -- a day after a 24-hour blackout of popular websites such as Wikipedia drew national attention to the issue.

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. The indictment, which was unsealed on Thursday, says that at one point Megaupload was the 13th most popular website in the world.

Megaupload.com has claimed it is diligent in responding to complaints about pirated material.

The individuals each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison racketeering charges, five years for conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, 20 years on money laundering charges and five years on related charges.

The indictment comes 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.

Motion Picture Association of America is DOWN!
http://www.mpaa.org/ taken offline by #Anonymous
http://RIAA.ORG DOWN!
http://JUSTICE.GOV down

In addition to MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom who was arrested today in New Zealand, another six alleged members of the Mega “conspiracy” were charged in the indictment:

• Finn Batato, 38, a citizen and resident of Germany, who is the chief marketing officer;
• Julius Bencko, 35, a citizen and resident of Slovakia, who is the graphic designer;
• Sven Echternach, 39, a citizen and resident of Germany, who is the head of business development;
• Mathias Ortmann, 40, a citizen of Germany and resident of both Germany and Hong Kong, who is the chief technical officer, co-founder and director;
• Andrus Nomm, 32, a citizen of Estonia and resident of both Turkey and Estonia, who is a software programmer and head of the development software division;
• Bram van der Kolk, aka Bramos, 29, a Dutch citizen and resident of both the Netherlands and New Zealand, who oversees programming and the underlying network structure for the Mega websites.

Novozélandské médiá dnes priniesli bližšie informácie o akcii na členov služby Megaupload, ktorých vo štvrtok zatkla miestna polícia v spolupráci s FBI. Do vily zakladateľa portálu, Kima Dotcoma, poslala polícia niekoľko desiatok policajtov a dve policajné helikoptéry.

Miestna polícia na tomto prípade spolupracovala s americkými úradmi od roku 2011 a zavŕšila ho včerajším zatknutím niekoľkých jej členov. Pri zatýkaní Dotcoma poslala polícia do jeho vily Coatsville dokopy 76 policajtov a dve označené policajné vrtuľníky. Podľa správy sa v dome v tom čase nachádzalo 15 ľudí, vrátane jedného dieťaťa.

Dotcom sa však hneď nevzdal, ale mal sa zabarikádovať v dome a aktivovať elektronické zámky. „Zatiaľ čo sa polícia snažila neutralizovať tieto zámky, Dotcom sa ďalej zabarikádoval v bezpečnostnej miestnosti v dome, do ktorej sa polícia musela vlámať,” pre TVNZ to povedal inšpektor Grant Wormald. V miestnosti, v ktorej sa Dotcom ukrýval mala byť aj strelná zbraň.

Vo vile polícia objavila aj 18 luxusných vozidiel značiek Mercedes-Benz, Rolls Royce či Lamborghini v hodnote 6 miliónov dolárov, umelecké diela a inú drahú elektroniku. Polícia ďalej zadržala 11 miliónov dolárov z niekoľkých bankových účtov.

Kim Dotcom a ďalší traja zamestnanci spoločnosti - spoluzakladateľ Mathias Ortmann, marketingový riaditeľ Finn Batato a programátor Bram van der Kolk - sa v piatok ukázali na súde, kde im bola zamietnutá žiadosť o prepustenie na kauciu. Všetci teraz čelia vydaniu do USA, kde ich obvinili z prania špinavých peňazí, porušovania autorských práv a vydierania.

Súd sa bude konať opäť v pondelok. Ostatní traja obžalovaní, vrátane jedného Slováka, sú stále na slobode.