Megaupload Goes Down

U.S. Justice department has shut down popular sharing website Megaupload and its founder, Kim Schmitz, has been arrested by the FBI in New Zealand, where he is been living.

As a way to fight back and revenge, hacker group Anonymous has been messing around with U.S. government and major record label websites such as those of the FBI, MPAA, RIAA, EMI and many more.

 

 

Anonymous Fight Back

Anonymous, however, quickly responded to this and has been hard at work shutting down various government and record label websites. Among the victims are the FBI, EMI, Universal Music Group, MPAA, Recording Industry Association of America and the US Copyright Office. All of them have been affected by Anonymous' vigorous DDoS attacks.

Earlier today, the Department of Justice also arrested three more company executives Megaupload CMO Fin Batato and CTO Mathias Ortmannand, both from Germany and Bram van der Kolk living in New Zealand. Furthermore, New Zealand police has seized Megaupload assets worth millions of dollars including luxury cars, cash and various property around the country.

The arrested Megaupload executives, dubbed the"Mega Conspiracy group" by prosecutors, will be charged for various crimes including copyright infringement, supporting piracy and more. It is been estimated by the U.S. Justice Department that Megaupload has done more than $500 million in economic harm to various copyright holders and with the advancement of the investigation this estimate could double or even triple.

Interestingly enough, this happens just two days after the major Internet websites went black as a form of protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act, which is in U.S. Congress waiting to be voted on.

Also, Here are some photos of the luxury cars of the Megaupload CEO that were seized by the New Zealand police being taken away.

 

SOPA is DEAD

Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of SOPA, said on Friday that he is pulling the bill "until there is wider agreement on a solution."

"I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy," Smith (R-Texas) told Reuters. "It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products."

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With MegaUpload facing irretrievable data loss later this week and rival services locking down their file sharing options, attention has turned to well-used but clandestine rival RapidShare AG and whether it will be next in line for the FBI attentions. Worlds apart from the showy Kim Dotcom, MegaUpload CEO, RapidShare founder Christian Schmid has focused his attentions on lobbying the US government, the WSJ reports, spending over $600,000 since 2010 to persuade them the site is a legitimate file repository and not a haven for copyright infringement.

"[Schmid] is shy and does not really like other people" RapidShare lawyer Daniel Raimer told the newspaper, after the founder declined to speak publicly on the MegaUpload saga. "He is not into chatting."

Nonetheless, plenty of copyright holders seem keen to talk to Schmid and his company. We have lawsuits coming in and being ended all the time" Raimer conceded, "this is an ongoing battle." Despite those suits dismissed, RapidShare ended up on the 2010 International Piracy Watch List, prompting the file sharing site to employ a lobbying firm to champion its cause among US lawmakers. In contrast, MegaUpload apparently spent its money on luxury cars and weapons.

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