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EVENTS
Megaupload Shut Down
Other | Tuesday 24th January 2012 | Osh
Megaupload, one of the largest file-sharing sites on the internet has been closed down and accused of breaking copyright laws by US officials.
Founders of the site, Kim Dotcom (formally known as Kim Schmitz) and Mathias Ortmann, were arrested in Auckland, New Zealand, at the request of US officials. A further two employees of Megaupload were also arrested.
The site has been accused of costing copyright holders more than $500m (£320m) in lost revenue through piracy.
The US Department of Justice issued a statement saying, “This action is among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States and directly targets the misuse of a public content storage and distribution site to commit and facilitate an intellectual property crime.” As a result of the site being closed down, the international “hacktivist” group Anonymous has targeted attacks at both the FBI and the US Department of Justice.
Further charges against Megaupload include conspiracies to commit racketeering, copyright infringement and money laundering. All servers hosted in the USA, Canada and the Netherlands, along with 18 domain names that were associated with the site have been seized, but Megaupload may not be the last file-sharing site to be targeted.
Founders of the site, Kim Dotcom (formally known as Kim Schmitz) and Mathias Ortmann, were arrested in Auckland, New Zealand, at the request of US officials. A further two employees of Megaupload were also arrested.
The site has been accused of costing copyright holders more than $500m (£320m) in lost revenue through piracy.
The US Department of Justice issued a statement saying, “This action is among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States and directly targets the misuse of a public content storage and distribution site to commit and facilitate an intellectual property crime.” As a result of the site being closed down, the international “hacktivist” group Anonymous has targeted attacks at both the FBI and the US Department of Justice.
Further charges against Megaupload include conspiracies to commit racketeering, copyright infringement and money laundering. All servers hosted in the USA, Canada and the Netherlands, along with 18 domain names that were associated with the site have been seized, but Megaupload may not be the last file-sharing site to be targeted.
The closure comes at a particularly tumultuous time in deciding internet law, as the debate over SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) continue to rage on.
