megaupload

week in review Some of the Internet's most popular destinations launched an experiment in political activism this week by urging their users to protest a pair of Hollywood-backed copyright bills in Congress.

Wikipedia's English-language pages went black at 9 p.m. PT Wednesday, with a splash page saying "the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet." The online encyclopedia's blackout, intended to precede a Senate floor vote on the legislation set for next week, was scheduled to last 24 hours.

Earlier today, Senate leaders announced they would … Read more

Megaupload users (the legal kind) are upset with the FBI's decision to shut the site down yesterday before anyone had a chance to back up their files.

In response to the lawsuit, Anonymous hit back with several denial-of-service (DOS) attacks that brought down several government-run Web sites including those for the Department of Justice and the FBI, as well as Universal Music and the Motion Picture Association of America.

Today we're chatting about yesterday's Apple iBookstore announcement and what it'll mean for schools and the future of education. We'll also spend some time looking at the Megaupload arrests, and run through the top 10 questions kids ask that puzzle parents, like "Why is the sky blue?" and "How do airplanes stay in the air?"… Read more

The FBI has begun extradition proceedings in New Zealand to bring Kim Dotcom, aka Kim Schmitz, to the United States to face charges of racketeering, money laundering, and Internet piracy.

DotCom and three associates are in custody and are being held without bail until Monday, when a new hearing is scheduled. Three other alleged accomplices are still at large. During a hearing yesterday, DotCom told the court he didn't object to allowing photographers in the courtroom. He said: "We have nothing to hide."

In an interview with CNET, Ira Rothken, an attorney well known in the tech … Read more

Are you surprised about the feds shutting down MegaUpload? One truly shocking nugget of information to emerge from the federal indictment is the unbelievable list of property and money subject to forfeiture from the defendants.

A conviction against Kim Schmitz (or one of the other listed MegaUpload associates) means that more than $175 million stashed away in 64 bank accounts around the world becomes U.S. government property. The other defendants in the indictment include several entities and individuals: MegaUpload Ltd., Vestor Ltd., Finn Batato, Julius Bencko, Sven Echternach, Mathias Ortmann, Andrus Nomm, and Bram Van Der Kolk.

The jaw-dropping … Read more

Web-site attacks ranged far and wide this afternoon, with online activists allegedly taking aim at more than a dozen Web sites of organizations with ties to controversial piracy legislation.

The attack, dubbed "Operation MegaUpload" comes on the heels of seven people being named in an indictment, and four taken into custody on online piracy charges. One of those was Kim DotCom, aka Kim Schmitz, the founder of file hosting and sharing site MegaUpload.

The effort, which Anonymous claims to be "the largest scale attack ever," did not manage to bring down a handful of its targets … Read more

Online activists angered over antipiracy legislation in Congress as well as today's indictment of operators of popular file-hosting site MegaUpload attacked the sites of the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, Universal Music, and the Motion Picture Association of America, shutting them down at least temporarily, and were targeting many others.

"The Largest Attack Ever by Anonymous - 5,635 People Confirmed Using #LOIC Bring Down Sites!" the AnonDaily Twitter account read, referring to the Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC) tool Anonymous supporters use to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks on sites.

Apparently Anonymous tried a … Read more

The FBI has busted the alleged operators of Internet locker service MegaUpload, which had become one of the most popular video destinations on the Web, according to a statement from the U.S. Justice Department and FBI.

Seven people have been named in an indictment and four suspects have been taken into custody, according to the statement today. They have been charged in Virginia with crimes related to online piracy, including racketeering conspiracy, conspiring to commit copyright infringement, and conspiring to commit money laundering.

The suspects face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, the government said.

According to … Read more

Legal sparring between hosting site Megaupload and Universal Music Group has taken an interesting, if confounding, turn.

To summarize: Megaupload posted a promo video on YouTube a week ago featuring a raft of hip-hop stars. It was quickly removed after Universal Music Group (UMG) complained. Megaupload sued UMG on Monday and asked the court to bar UMG from blocking the distribution or display of the video. The video was back up on YouTube last night, but Megaupload vowed to continue the court case. (For the longer replay read "In SOPA's shadow, Megaupload strikes back against Universal.")

The … Read more

While Congress debates the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a real-world copyright dispute has been unraveling with a major music conglomerate flexing its muscle against an online content hosting company based in Hong Kong.

Megaupload posted a promo video for its online hosting and file transfer service on YouTube on Friday, and Universal Music Group quickly had it removed for alleged copyright violation. The video features Kanye West, Puff Daddy, Snoop Dogg, Jamie Foxx, Mary J. Blige, and others voicing, and even singing, their praise for the service. UMG claimed some of the artists had not consented to appearing … Read more