Megaupload case near collapse: report
An American district court judge has cast doubt over the whole Megaupload trial, telling the FBI the criminal charges against Kim Dotcom may never make it to trial. The New Zealand Herald is reporting that during a hearing in Virginia the judge, Liam O’Grady, doubted if “we are ever going to have a trial in this matter” when …
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Re: Worst intentions?
The incompetent lawyers might very well be holdovers from the Bush administration, hired because they declared personal loyalty to Bush. Many of them have law degrees from "Liberty University", the late Jerry Falwell's piss-poor excuse for an institution of higher education.
Spanner, meet Works
It does appear like one mega obfuscation tactic to me.
$$$ makes people retards
Yep absolutely disgusted with my country these days. Its becoming as bad as all the rest. Greed has become a virtue that people value more than honesty, integrity, honor, or self sacrifice. A bunch of damn goatse corporate whores.
More unimpressed with NZ
Why would you agree to allow the raids if they were outside US jurisdiction?
The FBI should not have tried to bring a foreigner to the US in the hope of a more favourable outcome - its always easier to convict foreigners, especially arrogant ones. The FBI should not have been involved at all. If the studios wanted to prosecute, they should have done so in NZ. Now the arrogance is seen to be back on the American studios. D'oh!
I suspect it wouldn't take MU long to get back up and running, especially if the threat of US action has been nullified. It'll send the opposite message if US judges are known to acknowledge the existance of other jurisdictions.
Re: More unimpressed with NZ
I doubt MU can ever start grinding again - the customers would be terrified the US gov. goes after then.
Re: More unimpressed with NZ
Yes, it is rather disgusting that the NZ authorities toadied up to the Americans in this way. Although they no doubt claim they had no choice under extradition agreements, it's typical of the Key government's attitude to the US (along with leaving the NZ SAS in Afghanistan long beyond the point at which it's obviously futile).
Re: More unimpressed with NZ
Whoever trusted "The Cloud" with important data should be really scared now. Ok, Amazon is too big to be prosecuted for file sharing, but there are lots of copyrighted files available there. Dropbox has a public share function, too ....
Porn, alcohol, abortion.
All of the above are illegal somewhere in the world. Can we expect to see a succesful extradition of multi-millionaire businessmen to face trial?
If this man has committed a crime in NZ, then he should face charges in NZ.
Only if they are not US millonaires
See online betting for an example.
This was more about the un-launched music publishing service than Megaupload as a file sharing site.
Mega-upload was looking at becoming a public company. A game changer. This is why it was put out of business by the USA. Job done. No prosecution needed. Just another way the USA throws its weight around.
Just goes to show
That riding into town shootin' yer six-gun in the air still makes you look like a fucking idiot and a bully.
Which is most of the USA'a history really apart from ex Nazi Rocket Scientist's firing shit at the moon.
I hope Dotcom, irrespective of his likeability, gets some compo for this. Just to rub salt in.
Re: Just goes to show
Yes, the USA, home of the morally bankrupt. This is what really sucks. They go on about the moral high ground and how he's breaking copyright etc. and have a good point there. However, they then use it as an excuse to be morally bankrupt and downright evil in how they deal with him, removing their moral right totally.
Also, given their actions in recruiting Nazi and Japanese scientists after the war, moving them to the USA and then ensuring they never faced justice for their crimes, rather shows their moral bankruptcy.
MU
Will the "files" on MU servers be available to download if case collapses ? MU has always been fastest servers for porn!
In a year, you won't even remember...
... In a year, the U.S. bullies will have failed. MegaUpload case will be dismissed completely, and they will legally get the right to re-obtain all of their equipments and possessions.
In a year, MegaUpload will have re-setup all of their servers, and it's founder back to his mansion.
In a year, the only thing that will really have changed is that MegaUpload will be up again, and the U.S. will fear trying to dare and go after them again just to lose their faces.
The only losers will be the media industry who will have failed not at stopping piracy and loosing millions in court battles, but they will fail to innovate and pursue new avenues at generating revenues and still sit on an old business model, and continue to harm innocent people in the way, like all those legitimate users who had legitimate content on MegaUpload.
As an example of innovation instead of futile repressions, remember when the VHS tapes came out, along with recorders that you could buy and set-up at home to record your favorite programs. The TV and movie industries were furious at the time, and told that people would start recording programming, and they would lose revenues. But instead of spending millions in legal battle, they changed their business models, and started to capitalize with movie rentals. That's an example of innovation done right.
>"The only losers will be the media industry"
And the winners will be everyone in the entire world, as a major blow is struck against the US' attempt to impose its domestic laws extra-territorially on the rest of us. It's a huge victory in the cause of freedom and a big kick in the ass to the copyright tyrants; sounds like the best of both worlds to me.
Re: In a year, you won't even remember...
"In a year, MegaUpload will have re-setup all of their servers, and it's founder back to his mansion."
Unless, of course, U.S. authorities decide to "engineer" an accident for MU's founder. A car accident here. A heart attack there. Maybe even a helicopter crash (with MU's founder on board, on the way to being illegally extradited to the US) to drive the point home.
The truly sad fact is the US has very nearly accomplished what Hitler could only dream of accomplishing--the subjugation of the world (albeit under the guise of "economic stability" instead of military superiority). Once a country begins ruling over a different, sovereign, state with its own laws, backed up by the threat of high explosives (launched from a drone), the noble idea of "the land of the free" becomes rather diluted.
*note: opinions expressed in this post are my own and should not be mistaken for anybody else's.*
Cowboy Justice in the Wild West
Doesn't look like we're going to have ourselves a hanging after all.
Re: Cowboy Justice in the Wild West
They couldn't find a rope strong enough for dotcom.............
DMCA - Bo Bo
The real big bo bo here is the fact that USA can not use USA law against a foreign business. So think about that for moment. So if you own a forgen business that dosn't have office in USA then they can not do anything against that business in USA. So what could that mean, well I would say fuck off to DMCA as my business is not American. LOL. You can send me billion and 1 DMCA take down notices and will do naff all, as you can not do naff all!
Re: DMCA - Bo Bo
Except in this case they did exactly that and basically took MegaUpload offline and forced their hosting firm to hold Petabytes of data on their servers (which AREN'T being paid for any more, since the case to seize them) indefinitely at their own expense.
Just because the law is there, doesn't mean it's followed to the letter. That's basically what's happened in this case. There's no way the US has any jurisdiction whatsoever but they still consumed millions in legal fees, millions in lost business, millions in evidence preservation, etc. not to mention all the other hassle.
Yeah, MegaUpload were a bit dodgy. But not one half of one percent as dodgy as trying to apply US law to foreign servers and companies by force.
This is a great move plot !
Its got everything, a villain with a silly name, the FBI in a tail spin, big business baying for blood. Where is James Cameroon when you need him?
Re: This is a great move plot !
The studios would not finance it as it makes them look like the c*nts that they are.
Future Business Model
Find a country where a particular activity is illegal.
Apply that law to organisations in the USA that do these things.
Get an Interpol warrant sent out.
There are some very big companies in the USA that have business practices that may well be illegal in lots of other countries.
a. Profit from peoples illness.
b. Sell equipment to private citizens to kill other citizens
c. Persuade the less well off to buy what they cannot afford and don't need.
d. Ensure killers, thieves and other criminals do not face justice.
These organisations are
a. Health insurers
b. Gun manufacturers
c. Advertisers
d. Lawyers
There must be a lot of money we can make from those bunches of criminals...
Re: Future Business Model
Yikes.
I'm in with the emotion of your sentient. But for me, the math just doesn't work out.
Here's the divide-by-zero error, as I see it. It's a kind of an "I'm better than my neighbors" sentiment--that they need to be controlled, but not by me since it's kind of beneath me, and I've got other things to do.
So, wait--I have an idea. I'll charge my government with keeping my idiot neighbors under control. But somehow (surprise!) I'm being lumped together with my inferiors who I think need to be controlled.
Then (a) I don't have any HIV medication, because no-one can make a living off R&D, (b) I can't defend myself from my own government when it becomes fascist, (c) I can't tell anybody about the better mousetrap I just built, and (d) I can't defend myself from my idiot neighbors when they insist that my mousetrap is evidence of witchcraft, and that I should be burned at the stake for it.
Life sucks. It's true. But it could suck worse.
In the words of James May...
Well that's been a bit of a cock up!
If the US had thought things through it could have worked with NZ but instead it has messed everything up.
The FBI deals with DOMESTIC cases so why didn't someone check if they could do anything to a foreign company?
Now there is little chance of dealing with things like this in a reasonable manner.
i hope whoever shot from the hip gets fired.
How long does it take to forget how to do due process right?
Well, I guess this was a test case of sorts. So used to circumventing and skirting due process requirements in other cases, it seems pretty obvious that U.S. authorities have forgotten how it's done. Although you'd think even a few of those involved might have recalled something from their first year civil procedure class... apparently not.
Re: How long does it take to forget how to do due process right?
The US government has been doing this for decades, at least since 1932 (check out some of the controversies around FDR's New Deal's legality at the time), probably during Woodrow Wilson's administration, and in all likelihood, longer. Seriously, other than Jefferson and Coolidge (and possibly Reagan from certain statistics), has there been an administration & congress that actually REDUCED the government?
Let justice prevail
If this jackass is guilty then prosecute him. Don't allow him to escape punishment on a technicality.
Re: Let justice prevail
you have put the cart before the horse, you can only establish guilt at the end of a trial. And as for "escaping on a techicality' then maybe you'd need to have a word with those prosecutors who didn't follow their own rules.
Re: Let justice prevail
I agree. Prosecute him in NZ and if found guilty, he takes the appropriate punishment. Unfortunately, the good old US of A and the American media companies have ensured this can't happen. It will look like a vendetta and the possibility of a fair trial has pretty much gone. The FBI posted trumped up stupid charges to try and get him, showing the persecution.
They need to get sensible and actually enforce the law rather than the law according to their backers.....e.g. the media companies. The FBI is a laughing stock the world over because of this as it has shown without doubt who they report to, and it doesn't lead anywhere near the White House or the Capitol. They report to a place in California.
I'm not for copyright violation, but when you can't win (even with the law on your side), it's time to try a different tack. Being too thick to think of one is no excuse..........that's Darwinian evolution.
OK
Hands up all those governments who're going to go along with the FBI the next time they try a stunt like this?
Ahhhhh hello? Is there anyone there?
OK I'm leaving too.....
Re: OK
> all those governments who're going to go along with the FBI the next time
That'll be the UK.
We're used to being on our own.
Vic.
Irony
The MPAA/RIAA thought that killing Megaupload was going to be the turning point. But it could be in a different direction than they thought - the US government might be less interested in getting involved after being burned, foreign governments less likely to roll over for the US gov, and filesharing services learning what changes to make to be harder to eradicate.
Shit happens
In this case, shit hits helicopter blades. The security camera files are gone too. When they begin to hide evidence, you have to ask questions. The judge is right on the mark. The answer is for the FBI to pick up the server bill until this goes to trial and verdict. To do otherwise would be to destroy evidence. Then that can be handed to the bunch of losers. In fact MU could even resume operations, after all, they are not guilty unless the verdict goes against them.
Jurisdiction?
Lets see, The accused are not US citizens, The company is not a US company, yet the FBI (FEDERAL Bureau of Investigation) have attacked and ruined the people and their business...
Perhaps they want to be INTERNATIONAL Bureau of Investigation.
Oh right, they already consider themselves that..
I'm appalled that my Gov't is spending my tax dollars ($1,000,000 so far) http://www.3news.co.nz/Dotcom-case-costs-1m-so-far/tabid/412/articleID/250062/Default.aspx on placating a bunch of thugs from the USA.
Billions of lost value
Just before this happened, Mega was looking into floating on the Stock Exchange, and it was expected to be worth billions of dollars.
Also, the article I read about that talked about how in order to do that, they would have to undergo thorough inspections to ensure they were a legal company...
How is this different from Google?
My own personal experience:
Downloading legitimate KDE addons from MU: yep
Downloading pirated apps from MU: yep
Now for the part I usually hate ("butbutbut *they're doing something worse!*"):
Google has a copy of every page they've ever seen, and they'll hand it over to anyone who asks for it. If you want that behavior to stop, all you have to do, as the owner of the data in question, is tell them you don't want that particular page cached anymore (find it on their site, and click the DMCA link). Just like MU.
HOW DOES THIS MAKE ANY SENSE????
Re: HOW DOES THIS MAKE ANY SENSE????
First, a little background:
http ://techcrunch.com/2012/01/24/was-megaupload-targeted-because-of-its-upcoming-megabox-digital-jukebox-service/
http ://www.itworld.com/cloud-computing/247854/megaupload-planned-launch-legal-music-service-when-raided
and
http ://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2011/111221airvinyl
[BTW, the links have a 'space' embedded in them between the 'p' and the ':' (to keep them from being recognized as a link).]
Now, IIRC, one aspect of this (MegaBox) was that artists could DIRECTLY contract with MegaBox, and (wait for it)
BYPASS THE RECORD LABELS COMPLETELY!!
And you know that those RIAA pigs got their snouts in a tizzy when they found out that they were being kept away from the 'trough'. And, we now see how those `piggies` decided to retaliate.
Does it make any sense now?????
I thought so!!
Icon department, how about a RIAA/MPAA piggie icon? Please??
How can this be?
How can he pile himself on top of himself to become a farce?
The grandstanding is hilarious. Sean O'Connor et al are a right good bunch, keep it up lads, you sound like the lone Daily Heil reader at a conference of legitimately intelligent people who keeps yelling fundamentally moronic things and getting laughs at first and then people feeling slightly embarrassed when they realise that's what you do think.
After what happened in New Zealand
I start wondering if the book "Smith's Dream" or movie adaption "Sleeping Dogs" was simply 30 years early.
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