RSSFEDS Close Down File-Sharing Site Megaupload … FBI & DOJ Arrest 7 Charged with Copyright Infringement and Conspiracy … So Who Needs SOPA and PIPA?
In what is being deemed the largest criminal copyright case, the US Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have shut down and seized the Web site Megaupload. They have charged seven people for running an international enterprise based on Internet piracy. Four individuals, including the site’s founder, Kim Dotcom have been arrested in New Zealand, three others remain at large. They have been charged with five counts of copyright infringement and conspiracy. Megaupload Ltd. isbased in Hong Kong, and its collection of websites generated more than $175 million in criminal proceeds and caused more than half a billion dollars in harm to copyright owners.
In what the federal authorities on Thursday called one of the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought, the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation seized the Web site Megaupload and charged seven people connected with it with running an international enterprise based on Internet piracy.
Coming just a day after civil protests in the United States over proposed antipiracy bills, the arrests were greeted almost immediately with digital Molotov cocktails. The hacker collective that calls itself Anonymous attacked the Web sites of the Justice Department and several major entertainment companies and trade groups in retaliation for Mega-upload’s seizure. The Justice Department’s site and several others remained inaccessible for much of Thursday afternoon.
Megaupload, one of the most popular so-called locker services on the Internet, allowed users to anonymously transfer large files like movies and music. Media companies have long accused it of abetting copyright infringement on a vast scale. In a grand jury indictment, Megaupload is accused of causing $500 million in damages to copyright owners and of making $175 million through selling ads and premium subscriptions.
The indictment can be read HERE.
Just curious, if the Feds could take down an uber web site like Megaupload, what do they need SOPA and PIPA for? So what is the need for SOPA and PIPA. Let me rephrase the question to the US Congress, what is the real reason for SOPA and PIPA?As stated at Gizmodo, it would appear that you did fine with the laws that are presently in place.
Let’s also think about the timing of this bust. It’s a pretty spectacular coincidence that the Department of Justice Task Force on Intellectual Property was able to destroy a copyright villain without any help from SOPA or PIPA the day after the internet’s giant SOPA protest. Do you hear that, lawmakers? The law, as it stands right now was able to kill Megaupload.com, no draconian censorship powers required. The power you have now—with due process—is achieving the things you say you want to do
UPDATE I: REVENGE OF ANONYMOUS … Anonymous Goes on Megaupload Revenge Spree: DoJ, RIAA, MPAA, and Universal Music All Offline. Yikes, knocked off line it the websites of the FBI, U.S. Department of Justice.
WOW, talk about carnage and laying waste to everything in Anonymous’ path. Statement from Anonymous.
TANGO DOWN
UPDATE II: What a terrifying precedent …
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which defends free speech and digital rights online, said in a statement that, “This kind of application of international criminal procedures to Internet policy issues sets a terrifying precedent. If the United States can seize a Dutch citizen in New Zealand over a copyright claim, what is next?”
Posted January 19, 2012 by Scared Monkeys Arrest, Conspiracy, Crime, Facebook, Government, Internet, SOPA - PIPA, World | 4 comments |
Newt’s Ex, Marianne Gingrich, Says He Wanted an ‘Open Marriage’
And the big bombshell is … Newt Gingrich’s ex wife Marianne Gingrich says that he wanted an “open marriage”. Hmm, with as bitter a divorce as this one was, one might have thought this would have come out in the wash when they split.
Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich in 1999 asked his second wife for an “open marriage” or a divorce at the same time he was giving speeches around the country on family and religious values, his former wife, Marianne, said Thursday.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Marianne Gingrich said her former husband called her on May 10, 1999, as she was having dinner with her 84-year-old mother and said, “I want a divorce.”
Newt denies.
Posted January 19, 2012 by Scared Monkeys Bizarre, Newt Gingrich, Presidential Contenders, WTF | no comments |
Vice President Joe Biden’s Giant Gaffe … Tells Donors, “Giants on their way to Super Bowl” … What About the 49′ers?
Biden goes of script once again and decided to ad lib …
Vice President Joe Biden has stepped in it again. In yet just another example of why politicians should never go off script and not talk about sports. At a political fundraiser in San Francisco, VP Joe Biden told those in attendance that, “the Giants are on their way to the Super Bowl.” Obviously, the often confused Biden mixed up the MLB San Francisco Giants with the NFL San Francisco 49′ers. Oops … just one minor problem, the San Francisco 49′ers are playing the NY Giants in the NFC Championship game this weekend, the winner gets a ticket to the Super Bowl.
Vice President Joe Biden had his “oops” moment Wednesday speaking in a 49er-crazed San Francisco when he told a crowd at a city political fundraiser that “the Giants are on their way to the Super Bowl.”
Biden spoke at a closed event in the city’s financial District at the Bently Reserve when he made the gaffe, according to a White House pool report released today.
The comment by Biden drew immediate “good-natured” boos from the crowd, according to the report by Josh Richman of the Oakland Tribune, who was the only local print reporter allowed to cover the event.
After suggesting that the Giants were heading to the Super Bowl, Biden quickly recognized the gaffe and and explained he was accustomed to thinking in terms of the San Francisco Giants and their baseball wins. His next reference was to the “49ers on their way” to the Big Game.
I can’t wait for the gaffe prone VP to call the 2012 election for the GOP.
“Newt”ron Bomb … Newt Gingrich’s Ex-Wife Gives ABC News “Explosive” Interview … Could End Her Ex-husband’s Career … Will It be Aired Before or After SC Primary
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned … Newt’s ex-wife Marianne Gingrich about to drop a “Newt”ron bomb.
According to all polls, Newt Gingrich is gaining on GOP Presidential primary challenger Mitt Romney; however, Newt may have met his biggest challenge in the primaries and it isn’t any of the other contenders. As per the Drudge Report, Newt’s second ex-wife Marianne Gingrich met earlier this week with ABC News, that could end her ex-husband’s career with a single interview. Who did not think that this bombshell was going to drop? Newt has been his own worst enemy. However, its better this comes out sooner than later.
Marianne Gingrich has said she could end her ex-husband’s career with a single interview.
Earlier this week, she sat before ABCNEWS cameras, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
She spoke to ABCNEWS reporter Brian Ross for two hours, and her explosive revelations are set to rock the trail.
But now a “civil war” has erupted inside of the network, an insider claims, on exactly when the confession will air!
So when will the interview air? Before, on the day of or after the South Carolina primaries? The debate rages, however, does it matter? AP is reporting that it could air Friday night on Dateline, one day before the SC primary.
Gingrich’s daughters send letter to ABC defending their father.
UPDATE I: Interview to air Thursday night on Date Line.
An ABC News executive tells The Associated Press that the network has interviewed Newt Gingrich’s second wife and is likely to air the segment Thursday on “Nightline.”
That’s two days before the South Carolina primary, where the Republican presidential candidate is trying to topple GOP front-runner Mitt Romney.
The ABC News executive did not indicate what the ex-wife, Marianne, said in the interview and spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plans for airing the interview were tentative.
GOP Presidential Primary: Rick Santorum Now Appears to Have Won Iowa Caucuses Over Romney by 34 Votes
Who won the Republican Iowa Caucus, first it was Romney by 8 votes, now it appears to be Santorum by 34.
According to the Des Moines Register, there has been a reversal of fortune. Rick Santorum is now considered the winner of the Iowa Caucuses by 34 votes. Hmm, for a state that goes first in the primary/caucus nomination process of Presidents, one would think they could get their act together. If a state can’t handle a voting count, maybe you do not need to be first anymore.
THE RESULTS: Santorum finished ahead by 34 votes
MISSING DATA: 8 precincts’ numbers will never be certified
PARTY VERDICT: GOP official says, ‘It’s a split decision’Rick Santorum – Final total: 29,839 Change: -168
Mitt Romney – Final total: 29,805 Change: -210It’s a tie for the ages.
There are too many holes in the certified totals from the Iowa caucuses to know for certain who won, but Rick Santorum wound up with a 34-vote advantage.
Results from eight precincts are missing — any of which could hold an advantage for Mitt Romney — and will never be recovered and certified, Republican Party of Iowa officials told The Des Moines Register on Wednesday.
However, it appears that the Caucus has turned into a game of T-ball. The GOP party decision in Iowa might be one of the most lame things ever. As reported at The Hill, the Iowa Republican party will release the certified vote totals from this year’s Iowa caucuses showing Rick Santorum defeating Mitt Romney with a 34 votes, but results from eight precincts are missing and one official called the result a “split decision.” A split decision? Seriously, what a joke. What is this, a boxing match looking for a rematch? This decision probably will not change Santorum’s position in the South Carolina primary; however, it certainly is embarrassing for the Iowa GOP caucuses.
Posted January 19, 2012 by Scared Monkeys 2012 Elections, Mitt Romney, Presidential Contenders, Primaries, Republican, Rick Santorum, WTF | 4 comments |
