dot-com

Kim DotCom and MegaUpload helped fill out the cyberlocker's video library in 2006 by snatching videos from the then-fledgling YouTube, the U.S. government alleges.

The U.S. Justice Department is trying to extradite DotCom and three other MegaUpload managers from New Zealand and have accused them of piracy, money laundering, and racketeering.

Buried in the January 5 indictment against MegaUpload, DotCom, and six other employees of the cyberlocker service, are e-mail communications between two managers, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk, from April 2006.

"Do we have a server available to continue downloading of the Youtube'… Read more

Days after police in New Zealand arrested Kim DotCom, the founder of cyberlocker service MegaUpload and accused pirate, journalists were chasing reports that a tank was parked on the front lawn of his Auckland home.

"National Radio (New Zealand) called me about a half hour ago because someone texted to say that there's an army tank on Kim's lawn that is aimed at the front gate," France Komoroske, an attorney and DotCom neighbor, wrote CNET. "They asked me to go take a look."

Now, before we go on, put yourself in the position of … Read more

A New Zealand judge today denied bail for MegaUpload founder Kim DotCom in a federal antipiracy case, and his lawyer there said he will appeal the decision immediately.

Judge David McNaughton ruled that DotCom, who operates the popular cyberlocker service MegaUpload, will remain in custody until February 22, when an extradition hearing is expected, according to New Zealand news service TVNZ.

The U.S. government alleges that MegaUpload was a criminal operation that made money by enabling millions of people across the globe to pirate films, TV shows, music, and other media. Federal agents accuse the "MegaUpload Conspiracy" … Read more

The U.S. official who has accused Kim DotCom of operating an online criminal empire has plenty of piracy-fighting experience.

Neil MacBride, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, is the former general counsel and antipiracy enforcer for the Business Software Alliance, a trade group representing software producers such as Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, and Intuit.

MacBride has accused DotCom and six others of operating MegaUpload, a cyberlocker service that has allegedly generated more than $170 million in criminal proceeds. The government asserts that MegaUpload enabled and encouraged users to upload pirated movies and other media to one … Read more

A lawyer representing MegaUpload founder Kim DotCom denied his client has engaged in piracy and told a New Zealand judge the U.S. completely misunderstands the nature of his business.

DotCom, along with three other men accused of helping him run MegaUpload, appeared in court to plead for bail after he was arrested Thursday at his mansion near Auckland. The group is charged with money laundering, racketeering, and online piracy.

In an indictment issued in Virginia, the U.S. contends that MegaUpload was a massive criminal enterprise designed to enable and encourage millions of people to store and distribute unauthorized … Read more

When Kozmo customers ordered snacks or movies from the Internet delivery service via their PCs, the goods weren't teleported, ala "Star Trek." But it almost felt as if they were.

In the late 1990s, an orange-clad Kozmo delivery person would appear at a customer's door typically within an hour after an order was keyed in. The Kozmo man or woman might have cradled a pint of rocky road ice cream, an Al Green CD, a box of Junior Mints, or some other convenience item. The Internet was still new then, and Kozmo's service helped to … Read more

A colleague recently asked if I knew why semiconductor stocks significantly underperformed the market over the past five years, even though chip sales have seen double-digit growth during the same period. Being a veteran of the industry, I surprised both of us by not knowing the answer. So I decided to find out.

First, the facts. The PHLX semiconductor sector index (SOX) declined at a rate of 2.9 percent per year over the past five years, while Merrill Lynch's semiconductor index exchange-traded fund (SMH) declined 1.0 percent per year.

The Nasdaq, on the other hand, experienced a 4.8 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during the same period. Likewise, the Dow and S&P 500 respectively grew 3.7 percent and 3.9 percent annually.

Indeed, the semiconductor sector has significantly underperformed the broad market. … Read more

In light of Friday's announcement that Microsoft has made a bid to buy Yahoo, it's a good opportunity to take a look at some of the pioneering tech companies that made the Web what it is today. Some of them continue to innovate and turn a profit, while others have either died off or been consumed by larger companies.

About.com. After being launched in 1997, Web guide service About.com was picked up by The New York Times company in 2005 for nearly $700 million. About's still kicking, and serving up a large variety of content, both written and video.

AltaVista was one of the first big search engines for the Web. After launching in late 1995, the service gained popularity before parent company Digital Equipment Corporation was sold to Compaq in 1998. It then changed hands three more times to fall under Yahoo's control, who still uses its technology in its Web search.

Amazon.com. Founder Jeff Bezos' 1995 e-marketplace baby survived the dot-com bust and quickly began to turn a profit selling a huge array of products. It's snatched up over a dozen other high-profile sites including the Internet Movie Database, Alexa Internet, and on Thursday Audible.com.

AOL started out as a video games-by-telephone modem service before nearly going under in the early 1980s. It turned into an ISP beginning in the 1990s, and continued to grow massively until competition made the company change its focus to content. It later merged with Time Warner in 2001. The company continues to be known for its instant-messaging service, portal news site, and as an Internet service provider.

Ask Jeeves has been around since 1996 and was formerly known for its cartoon mascot of a smarmy concierge-type who would answer search queries. Jeeves was nixed 10 years later when the company re-branded as Ask.com. Ask continues to compete in the search world, but trails behind the popularity of larger search behemoths like Google and Yahoo.

Buy.com was founded in 1997, and like Amazon.com it began with relatively few types of items for sale before expanding to cover nearly every product in every category. The company went public in 2000, but stock values tanked. Company founder Scott Blum bought back control of Buy.com and took it private, and it continues to sell goods online.… Read more

It's nowhere near Silicon Valley and it's likely that the residents who use "Google" as a verb are in the minority. But there's a town in Eastern Oregon that was once known as "America's First Dot-com City."

Halfway, Ore., a little town southwest of Hells Canyon, gained fame in 1999 when it agreed to publicly change its name for a year to Half.com in exchange for cold hard cash (said to be $100,000) and school computers. In an auction that ended Sunday on eBay, the town was able to squeeze … Read more