# Megaupload.com shut down by Feds
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 19, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064 "2012-01-19T20:43:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/1 "2012-01-19T20:43:43Z")
[Link](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/technology/indictment-charges-megaupload-site-with-piracy.html?_r=1).
> [@](#):
>
> An indictment accuses the company of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content.
Seems like poor timing to me, with SOPA and all in the news. And I’m already hearing a lot of people angry about this; plenty of people use it for things that have nothing to do with piracy. And you could use the same logic to shut down, say, YouTube; plenty of copyrighted material there, despite how they try to keep it off. Any general file sharing service will.
And I’m…extremely skeptical of that “$500 million” claim; I’m highly skeptical that it can even be quantified.
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### Author:  [@Scholar\_Beardpig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scholar_Beardpig)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/2 "2012-01-19T20:44:44Z")
Noooo! Not Megaupload! Where will I get porn now?
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### Author:  [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/3 "2012-01-19T20:46:16Z")
The internet?
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/4 "2012-01-19T20:58:11Z")
Interesting. I thought Megaupload was based in Hong Kong.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/5 "2012-01-19T21:06:29Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#):
>
> Interesting. I thought Megaupload was based in Hong Kong.
According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaupload):
> [@](#):
>
> Although its incorporation was located in Hong Kong, the company did not operate in Hong Kong.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/6 "2012-01-19T21:29:33Z")
According to [this story](http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/megaupload-founder-arrested-new-zealand-us-officials-request-aw-108114), the founder was arrested in New Zealand and assets seized in 8 countries other than the US.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/7 "2012-01-19T21:30:57Z")
Wow. This takedown was a global operation.
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### Author:  [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/8 "2012-01-19T21:53:56Z")
There’s always rapidshare…but damn, lots of porn links are going to go dead this week ☹
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/9 "2012-01-19T21:58:03Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#):
>
> There’s always rapidshare…but damn, lots of porn links are going to go dead this week ☹
Along with things like links for game mods and small time band music and all sorts of other things.
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### Author:  [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/10 "2012-01-19T22:07:41Z")
Wow, looks like they took down Megavideo as well (but that makes sense as they were sort of hand-in-hand sites).
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/11 "2012-01-19T22:16:38Z")
And I’m hearing reports that the Justice Department is apparently already under DDOS attacks in retaliation. The same goes for the RIAA and Universal Music Group, which some people blame for Megaupload being taken down because the UMG had a recent legal dispute with Megaupload.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2012, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/12 "2012-01-19T22:26:00Z")
The [FBI’s official press release](http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/justice-department-charges-leaders-of-megaupload-with-widespread-online-copyright-infringement).
“International organized criminal enterprise” sounds more dramatic than “file sharing service”, I guess.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/13 "2012-01-19T23:20:29Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> And I’m hearing reports that the Justice Department is apparently already under DDOS attacks in retaliation. The same goes for the RIAA and Universal Music Group, which some people blame for Megaupload being taken down because the UMG had a recent legal dispute with Megaupload.
So the tweet I read wasn’t merely being sarcastic? Wow. Did it really only take 15 minutes, though?
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/14 "2012-01-19T23:34:22Z")
I don’t know.
On another forum I see cynical types speculating that the whole reason to pick this moment to take down Megaupload was to provoke just such DDOS attacks and make the anti-SOPA/PIPA people look bad.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/15 "2012-01-20T00:43:45Z")
Feh, that seems a little conspiracy-ish to me.
On the other hand Anonymous is moving into the big leagues. Fucking around with some large corporations site is one thing. Taking a shot at DoJ means you had better damn well cover your ass.
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### Author:  [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/16 "2012-01-20T00:46:22Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> I don’t know.
>
> On another forum I see cynical types speculating that the whole reason to pick this moment to take down Megaupload was to provoke just such DDOS attacks and make the anti-SOPA/PIPA people look bad.
In any case, taking down websites seems like a very weak tactic if you are against SOPA.
Big corporations want to brutalize the internet… so you respond by taking down sites yourself? Why would they care? If they can take down everyone else’s sites, corporations don’t have much need for their own anyway. Scorched earth is exactly what they want.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2012, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/17 "2012-01-20T01:15:56Z")
Oh, this is precious; they are apparently actually [referred to in the indictment](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/documents/megaupload_indictment.pdf?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost) as “The Mega Conspiracy” (warning, PDF).
> [@](#):
>
> 1. KIM DOTCOM, MEGAUPLOAD LIMITED, VESTOR LIMITED, FINN
> BATATO, JULIUS BENCKO, SVEN ECHTERNACH, MATHIAS ORTMANN, ANDRUS
> NOMM, and BRAM VAN DER KOLK, the defendants, and others known and unknown to the
> Grand Jury, were members of the “Mega Conspiracy,” a worldwide criminal organization whose
> members engaged in criminal copyright infringement and money laundering on a massive scale
> with estimated harm to copyright holders well in excess of $500,000,000 and reported income in
> excess of $175,000,000.
To earn a name like that, they really need masked uniformed minions and a volcano lair.
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### Author:  [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/18 "2012-01-20T01:17:45Z")
I was sitting here wondering why my downloads stopped around noon locally, checked and yes my conn is fine just can’t ping [megaupload.com](http://megaupload.com)…huh…then I see this :eek:
MU was the best site to use with automated downloaders, the others suck.
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/19 "2012-01-20T01:41:27Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> The [FBI’s official press release](http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/justice-department-charges-leaders-of-megaupload-with-widespread-online-copyright-infringement).
>
> “International organized criminal enterprise” sounds more dramatic than “file sharing service”, I guess.
Good luck reading that right now. Anonymous has taken down the FBI web site, the Department of Justice web site, and quite a few large media sites in retaliation.
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### Author:  [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2012, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megaupload-com-shut-down-by-feds/610064/20 "2012-01-20T03:00:35Z")
Y’know, must agree, even if it was not a deliberate reverse-psych provocation (more likely, ironically, an attempt to show that with existing laws they are already vigorously tackling piracy issues), the nuclear response from Anon is only going to re-embolden the Congresscritters - _“See? We NEED to put some law 'n order into the intertubes!”_. Congratulations, Anon, Megaupload really worth that?
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