Megaupload down, 7 charged with online piracy
Discussion
The more info that comes out the more this whole things stinks
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/07/dotcom-...
An internal report by the international recording industry group IFPI vindicates Megaupload's claim that it made a good-faith effort to remove infringing material from its site. At least that's the view of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom, who spoke with Ars Technica via instant message on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, a copy of the report was discovered on an IFPI website. The report was quickly taken down, but not before TorrentFreak grabbed a copy and wrote a thorough summary.
The report, written by IFPI's Head of Internet Anti-piracy Operations, covers a wide variety of piracy-related topics. For example, some people are reportedly using phishing techniques to try to trick artists or label employees into sending them pre-release music tracks. And IFPI is tracking dozens of sites in the former Soviet Union that illegally sell MP3s downloads.
But one of the most interesting findings was a graph showing which locker sites were responsible for the most infringing material:
The graph suggests that filesonic.com hosted the most infringing URLs in 2011, following by wupload.com, fileserve.com, 4shared.com, and rapidshare.com. Megaupload lagged behind at number seven.
Dotcom told Ars that Megaupload's relatively modest share of infringing URLs was significant because his site was the world's largest locker site in 2011. "All the other file hosters in this list were significantly smaller than Megaupload," he told us. Megaupload had "1.5 terabits of bandwidth utilization" before it was shut down. The next largest, RapidShare, had only about 800 gigabits, he claimed.
"If the largest file hoster in the world does not represent a significant percentage of infringing URL's found by IFPI, this can only lead to one conclusion," Dotcom told us. "Megaupload was very effective in taking infringing links down."
"What this statistic clearly shows is that we were a good corporate citizen and had a solid takedown policy," he said. "We had an average takedown time of 3 hours based on all takedown requests in the history of Megaupload. We also had 180 takedown partners with direct delete access and they have removed links instantly, millions of them."
It's important to note that the indictment against Megaupload claimed that the company limited the rate at which major copyright holders could take down content through its "direct delete access" tool. As we described it in January:
Content owners had a specific number of takedown requests they could make each day; in 2009, for instance, Time Warner was allowed to use the abuse tool to remove 2,500 links per day. When the company requested an increase, one employee suggested that "we can afford to be cooperative at current growth levels"—implying that if growth had not been so robust, takedowns should be limited. Kim Dotcom approved an increase to 5,000 takedowns a day.
IFPI did not respond to our e-mail seeking comment. The RIAA and Rapidshare also declined to comment.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/07/dotcom-...
An internal report by the international recording industry group IFPI vindicates Megaupload's claim that it made a good-faith effort to remove infringing material from its site. At least that's the view of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom, who spoke with Ars Technica via instant message on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, a copy of the report was discovered on an IFPI website. The report was quickly taken down, but not before TorrentFreak grabbed a copy and wrote a thorough summary.
The report, written by IFPI's Head of Internet Anti-piracy Operations, covers a wide variety of piracy-related topics. For example, some people are reportedly using phishing techniques to try to trick artists or label employees into sending them pre-release music tracks. And IFPI is tracking dozens of sites in the former Soviet Union that illegally sell MP3s downloads.
But one of the most interesting findings was a graph showing which locker sites were responsible for the most infringing material:
The graph suggests that filesonic.com hosted the most infringing URLs in 2011, following by wupload.com, fileserve.com, 4shared.com, and rapidshare.com. Megaupload lagged behind at number seven.
Dotcom told Ars that Megaupload's relatively modest share of infringing URLs was significant because his site was the world's largest locker site in 2011. "All the other file hosters in this list were significantly smaller than Megaupload," he told us. Megaupload had "1.5 terabits of bandwidth utilization" before it was shut down. The next largest, RapidShare, had only about 800 gigabits, he claimed.
"If the largest file hoster in the world does not represent a significant percentage of infringing URL's found by IFPI, this can only lead to one conclusion," Dotcom told us. "Megaupload was very effective in taking infringing links down."
"What this statistic clearly shows is that we were a good corporate citizen and had a solid takedown policy," he said. "We had an average takedown time of 3 hours based on all takedown requests in the history of Megaupload. We also had 180 takedown partners with direct delete access and they have removed links instantly, millions of them."
It's important to note that the indictment against Megaupload claimed that the company limited the rate at which major copyright holders could take down content through its "direct delete access" tool. As we described it in January:
Content owners had a specific number of takedown requests they could make each day; in 2009, for instance, Time Warner was allowed to use the abuse tool to remove 2,500 links per day. When the company requested an increase, one employee suggested that "we can afford to be cooperative at current growth levels"—implying that if growth had not been so robust, takedowns should be limited. Kim Dotcom approved an increase to 5,000 takedowns a day.
IFPI did not respond to our e-mail seeking comment. The RIAA and Rapidshare also declined to comment.
Edited by Marf on Friday 27th July 09:50
t.KB_S1 said:
Do you really believe it will help with new bands emerging though?
How are you defining "emerge" and to what level of success? I've discovered a tonne of bands through YouTube, Jamendo, Bandcamp and Soundcloud, many of whom are giving away their content for free or for donation. They aren't mainstream, but then the bulk of them are in niche metal genres, so they're never going to be. They are getting ears on their music and building fanbases though. There's also a whole ecosphere of listener supported podcasts out there. By virtue of being non-mainstream, they're never going to be huge, but they have emerged and they have established themselves on the terms [i]they[/url] want, so they are a success. On a more mainstream level, Ginger Wildheart has had massive success with his pledge project, and didn't Artic Monkeys get their breakthrough whilst unsigned via social media coverage?Search warrants were invalid and even if they were valid, the police exceeded their power:
http://www.internationallawoffice.com/newsletters/...
http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/the-internaut...
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2012/6/28/51322/6934
http://www.internationallawoffice.com/newsletters/...
http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/the-internaut...
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2012/6/28/51322/6934
Edited by davethebunny on Tuesday 7th August 19:31
davethebunny said:
Marf said:
So basically as suspected. A nonsense from start to finish.
So far us policy seems to be1 don't let the defence see any of the prosecution files
2 don't let him have any money from his frozen funds to pay for defence councel
3 let time do the rest
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/08/new-zea...
New Zealand judge: FBI must release more evidence to Kim Dotcom
New Zealand judge: FBI must release more evidence to Kim Dotcom
article said:
the judge ordered the FBI hand over:
- All records obtained or created in connection with the covert operations undertaken by agents involved in the investigations related to these proceedings in transacting and uploading/downloading data and files on the Megaupload site.
- All records or information and/or material provided to or obtained by the investigation and/or prosecuting agencies by the investigating and/or prosecuting agencies in this case from holders and/or owners of copyright interests evidencing alleged infringement of their copyright and/or complaining of such infringement.
- All records and materials related to communications between relevant copyright holders and Megaupload and/or its employees regarding their copyright interest, the direct delete access provided by Megaupload to any such copyright holders, and any communications between the copyright holders and Megaupload and/or its staff regarding take-down notices.
http://www.techspot.com/news/49967-dotcom-given-ac...
A New Zealand court has granted MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom access to an additional NZ$6 million ($4.84 million) in addition to the NZ$750,000 he was granted previously in order to pay legal fees, living costs and rent for his estate just outside Auckland. His legal fees total NZ$2.6 million thus far and will no doubt balloon over the course of his trial.
A New Zealand court has granted MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom access to an additional NZ$6 million ($4.84 million) in addition to the NZ$750,000 he was granted previously in order to pay legal fees, living costs and rent for his estate just outside Auckland. His legal fees total NZ$2.6 million thus far and will no doubt balloon over the course of his trial.
More screw ups from NZGov
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/new-zea...
New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key announced on September 24 that he has requested an inquiry into illegal spying on Kim Dotcom and other employees of Megaupload by New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau, the country's counterpart to the US National Security Agency. The revelation is just the latest in a series of exposed missteps by New Zealand authorities in their eagerness to assist the US government in apprehending Dotcom and his colleagues, and throws even more uncertainty on the ongoing efforts by the New Zealand and US governments to extradite Dotcom to the US for prosecution.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/new-zea...
New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key announced on September 24 that he has requested an inquiry into illegal spying on Kim Dotcom and other employees of Megaupload by New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau, the country's counterpart to the US National Security Agency. The revelation is just the latest in a series of exposed missteps by New Zealand authorities in their eagerness to assist the US government in apprehending Dotcom and his colleagues, and throws even more uncertainty on the ongoing efforts by the New Zealand and US governments to extradite Dotcom to the US for prosecution.
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