Evidence Shows That Megaupload Shutdown Had No Real Impact On Infringement
from the look,-a-mole!-wac!-wac! dept
The first big analysis of what happened to file sharing via cyberlockers following the shutdown of Megaupload shows that there was no slowdown in file sharing — it’s just that the traffic moved elsewhere. The analysis, by Deepfield Networks, concludes that there was no significant drop off in file sharing in the US… but that it has become “staggeringly less efficient” from a network standpoint, because much of it moved to offshore locations over “expensive transatlantic links.” This isn’t a huge surprise. We’ve been pointing out for ages, that you can shut down as many sites as you can, and new options will always pop up. Shutting down sites has never worked, but for whatever reason, ICE and the MPAA/RIAA never seem to learn from their past mistakes.
Filed Under: copyright, impact, infringement, whac-a-mole
Companies: megaupload
Comments on “Evidence Shows That Megaupload Shutdown Had No Real Impact On Infringement”
Sounds like this makes a case for the need for SOPA to address the flight to pirate sites beyond the reach of US law enforcement.
Learning is for nerds. The MPAA represents artists, and so learning from past mistakes would mean failing to represent their clients.
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Yeah and we could totally herd cats if we just gave the catherds megaphones.
Now you see why we need SOPA/PIPA
But if they take down ALL sites with such features… then there’s no where for pirates to obtain their free products.
They will be FORCED to purchase our products because let’s face it, people WANT our products! People NEED to buy our products.
And once we have that total control over anything created and shared with the public (you can create but you can’t share) we will follow our history. We will follow the likes of MPCC by producing films for the lowest cost possible, while charging the same price, providing consistent revenue streams that are easily predictable with our current business model.
Looks like the US drives more jobs/money overseas once again in other words, shutting down legitimate businesses and putting 4 innocent people in jail.
Can you really expect any better from a government that keeps on spending billions of dollars a year fighting an already long since lost war on drugs that only increases organized crime both here and over the border?
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“What will we do?!? The cats refuse to be herded! I know! We’ll threaten the cats with shitty laws! What could go wrong?!?”
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I believe the definition of insanity applies here. To keep doing the same thing over and over (in this case, keep blocking more and more sites regardless of location) and expect different results.
Clearly we should shut down those transoceanic links. That would stop the piracy.
Artists
(in tribute to Bob Ross, sorta)
Mistakes?
Don’t you mean “happy accidents”?
;-P
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We have a room for them here where I work. We would be pleased to take them because they are rich and have really good insurance plans. Would be a nice contrast to the usual poor and indignant client base we usually have.
Funny, CNN does see things quite the same way:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/08/tech/web/megaupload-file-hosting-sites/index.html
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Learning is work.
Agents and reps don’t work.
They live off others’ work.
Keep it straight.
So if Deepfield Networks can see this traffic of illegal downloads what stops the government from seeing this traffic and prosecuting the offenders?
I read this article the other day: MegaBox and MegaKey launch.
It has been suggested that this is the real reason MegaUpload was shut down. Paying artists directly without needing a middle man? But then, how will the middle men get paid?!
I think it’s an interesting argument.
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The CNN article is talking about a different issue, although it does reference the situation Mike is talking about in the article.
The CNN article is saying that some other services are modifying their services or going away entirely so that they don’t face the same fate as Megaupload. It doesn’t contradict the main point of Mike’s article which is that users are simply going elsewhere. From the CNN article:
Herding cats
I believe herding cats works something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7yqlTMvp8
(my favorite superbowl commercial from a few years ago)
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Yeah and we could totally herd cats if we just gave the catherds megaphones.
Sorry, you are shit out of luck. DOJ/ICE seized all the MegaPhones because they were part of the Mega Conspiracy. MegaPhones have been known to be used to amplify copyrighted music to the unwashed masses. Despite the fact that MegaPhones are only tools (and inanimate objects no less), DOJ/ICE was able to convince a grand jury that they were committing criminal copyright infringement and had all the MegaPhones in the US seized and destroyed, for the children.
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That is about the reactions from other online services. This study is about actually measuring pirate traffic at a much higher aggregate level.
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Sorry about the double post. The blockquote problem is fixed below:
The CNN article is talking about a different issue, although it does reference the situation Mike is talking about in the article.
The CNN article is saying that some other services are modifying their services or going away entirely so that they don’t face the same fate as Megaupload. It doesn’t contradict the main point of Mike’s article which is that users are simply going elsewhere. From the CNN article:
So ICE once again successfully chased US jobs overseas without reducing piracy or helping the bottom line of any of the *AA companies. Way to go, ICE!
Rapidshare’s comment is especially interesting because it implies that lots of legitimate users of Megaupload are being forced to seek off-shore services.
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They weren’t offered enough money to do that much work.
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It has been suggested that this is the real reason MegaUpload was shut down. Paying artists directly without needing a middle man? But then, how will the middle men get paid?!
I’ve heard that too. Honestly, I highly doubt that a group of shady execs met in a boardroom and said “What are we to do about MegaBox? Let’s put a stop to it, with an elaborate coverup of piracy investigations. Muahahahahaha.”
However, I think you’re right that the underlying source of panic in the industry is the loss of control and the empowerment of artists. But I think that’s more about broad trends and psychology, not about any specific conspiracy to deliberately hide their true motives such as the shady boardroom I describe.
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“The analysis, by Deepfield Networks, concludes that there was no significant drop off in file sharing in the US”
I missed the words “illegal downloads” in this sentence.
Definitions
According the the MAFIAA, all file-sharing & downloading of any kind is illegal. Thus, file-sharing==hate spewing home-grown terrorist.
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“I missed the words “illegal downloads” in this sentence.”
As in felt sorry not to see them or because you thought they should be there?
There is no way to identify illegal downloads except by identifying them individually and then checking that the people sharing have or have not got the rights.
But we have been told and many agencies believe thatthe majority of file sharing is unlawful, so if there is no drop off in file sharing then there has been no change in infringement.
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How will extending US powers even further do anything significant besides making the rest of the world dislike the US more? It certainly won’t stop sharing. People want to see & listen to content and at least some of them are smart enough to do it no matter what laws may stand in their way. Most people don’t want to break the law but if they can’t find the content through easy, legal means and they can through fairly simple, but not-much prosecuted illegal means they will.
What I don’t understand is how RIAA is still “losing” so much if they have iTunes & Amazon.
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After the SOPA and PIPA fiasco. It was probably a pushed forward by the administration and the DOJ to show they are doing something about piracy.
To be fair, the MegaUpload has given MPAA/RIAA a false positive to latch onto making them think their strategy has some merit.
As such, they have no need to change their business model.
Which will keep infringement at least at it’s present levels with no real hope of decreasing.
Technical, that’s an “impact.”
Considering Fogerty is an anti-SOPA type, I am not surprised by his conclusions.
However, he is probably right in the very short run. However, with the number of file lockers disappearing, the number of piracy forums filled with dead links, and key torrent sites like btjunkie dropping out, the effects are likely to be stronger over time.
They key here is that there are no longer 100 heads to replace the head of the snake cut off. Rather, the other snakes are looking to exist with their heads intact, rather than hanging around to see what is happening.
If all the file lockers end up in places like Russia and China, it just helps to justify things like SOPA even more.
In the long run, the momentum has changed, the pendulum swings the other direction. Those who claim to be paying attention to new business models would be wise to pay attenion, as their “new” models are about to become old and useless very quickly!
The shut down of Megaupload has cuased more harm to legitimate users than it has cuased to unauthorized reproductions. I use the term unauthorized reproductions, because it is accurate, it is not piracy or theft.
Now you see why we need SOPA/PIPA
People composed, sang, drew, painted, danced and acted before MAFIAA and they will long after MAFIAA dies. EVERYONE is creative doing something and I’m quite amazed by it – which is why YouTube has been so successful. I’ve heard excellent tracks made with just a laptop and garageband … That is what scares Hollywood. They no longer have an exclusive on “taent” (in fact, people are discovering that talent isn’t so talented).
There will always be a few that excel at what they do and they should rise to the top, which they will do – without production, without marketing, without all the BS. And some will undoubtably, rise to fame hiring the necessary army to make it so. There is room for everyone.
We all know that hollywood (and congress) doesn’t want to hear that.
I’m also not convinced that this is just about entertainment. I think that was the market for experimenting and proving grounds for other opportunists to hop on. I don’t think we have all the pieces to this puzzle yet.
What I do know is that the arab spring caught Washington DC off guard – they were making deals with some of the dictators that went down. They were doing one thing and trying to say something else to the public. Trust me. They don’t like not being in control, not being able to predict and control any part of the world. This is not new.
They saw Iran student uprising using twitter and from then on they were in the same camp with hollywood, trademarks and patents for “security” reasons.
If it was about foreign threats then why has all the resources been focused towards US soil? This is also one more “endless war” that some see an opportunity in.
But for now, waking the public up to TPP and these threats is key for anything to happen and the sooner it happens, the better. It’s worth the fight and the so-called internet generation or occupy movements have given me hope again. The grassroots are outside of political lines.
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However, with the number of file lockers disappearing, the number of piracy forums filled with dead links, and key torrent sites like btjunkie dropping out, the effects are likely to be stronger over time.
Over time they are likely to be replaced – probably by a newer version. So far we have only scraped the surface of technical options to create sharing mechanisms.
I have seen this kind of battle before – and I can tell you that it never ends with the victory of those who are trying to exercise control.
They key here is that there are no longer 100 heads to replace the head of the snake cut off. Rather, the other snakes are looking to exist with their heads intact, rather than hanging around to see what is happening.
A fw US based sites with similar structure decided to cut and run – but this has only strengthened the position of those that remain – and provided a spur for the next wave.
ll the file lockers end up in places like Russia and China, it just helps to justify things like SOPA even more.
Switzerland seems to be the location of choice. Don’t underestimate the ferocious independence of the country which stayed out of two world wars that were fought all around its borders.
Those who claim to be paying attention to new business models would be wise to pay attenion, as their “new” models are about to become old and useless very quickly!
You don’t understand that these business models work in spite of piracy not because of it.
They DO however really on free and open channels of communication combined with unfettered technology. I don’t see the public giving those up without a fight – and as SOPA has shown it is a fight they will win!
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While I don’t agree with the piracy witch hunt, MU was far from “innocent”
Shutting down Megaupload increased a profit margin for the owners of the transatlantic links. Mission accomplished.
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“Can you really expect any better from a government that keeps on spending billions of dollars a year fighting an already long since lost war on drugs that only increases organized crime both here and over the border?”
And gives them the guns to escalate the violence (Fast and Furious) – then blames it on another country.
They gave the Taliban the guns to fight Russia with, which turned on US troops. Is anyone surprised Afghanistan went from 10% to producing 90% of the world’s supply of opium during US occupation (not Russia’s)?
They gave guns to Iranians that were aimed at US soldiers in the Indian Ocean during the Iran/Conta affair (their hero Regean signed off on CIA drug running to finance the “shadow government”, er CIA which Bush Sr started)…
There hasn’t been an ‘honorable’ war since WWII. And then the US almost sided with GE and Ford to join the Nazi’s.
History is depressing.
This is all assuming that infringement was truthfully their main target, its not like there we’re other benifits to megauploads closure
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MU deserves a day in court. Why the SWAT teams and ammunition for FILE SHARING? There is not a single shred of evidence that anyone connected with MegaUpload was violent. It was computer crime – not drug running. Have they gone after anyone else accused of doing any white collar crime in such a manner?
The “evidence” and reasoning put forth by DOJ rationalizing their actions puts a shudder down the spine of every HONEST business person who can see that charges were overly broad and trumped up. Why was this a criminal case to begin with? There’s a lot of fiction and showmanship to this. Too much.
Why do they pretend this didn’t showcase exactly why SOPA / PIPA aren’t needed? Not a single spokesman has brought up the fact they can already take down foreign sites – so why do they need more?
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“So if Deepfield Networks can see this traffic of illegal downloads what stops the government from seeing this traffic and prosecuting the offenders?”
All file sharing is not illegal. I doubt if anyone will know how much is legal/illegal based on the way the MegaUpload case appears to be handled. The DOJ/FBI seem interested in making a case for ONE “client”and letting everyone else – legitimate or otherwise, sink with the ship.
If 5% were illegal, and they can only catch 1% – do you sink the other 95%? (per CNN’s Rapidshare statement). That is the question that SHOULD be asked ….
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I don’t think that the execs even knew the name MegaBox or Megaupload in general.
I do think they have underlings for that sort of thing. And underlings like being productive and making sure things happen that will make their bosses happy.
I’m not saying conspiracy, but I do find the timing interesting. *shrugs*
I could see Megaupload being on the short list of sites that they are unhappy about. And I could also see news like that moving them to the top of the ‘sites we don’t like’ list. Then, when the ‘we need to prove we are doing SOMETHING!’ movement started after SOPA/PIPA got shelved, I could see the fact that Megaupload being at the top of the list meaning it was the one something was done about.
The post you link to is a pretty poor study – or at least, a pretty poor summary of a study.
1. They use proportionate traffic. Putlocker’s percentage share may have increased but what about the actual amount of content flowing to and from it? They can’t say that file sharing has or hasn’t decreased if we aren’t told the data levels flowing back and forth.
+ how are they measuring this? How many nodes are they measuring from and where are they located? Over what period did they run the measurements? How much actual data was actually captured?
+ where’s FileServe? They’ve got Videozer (owned by FileServe) but not FileServe nor VideoBB, both more popular in terms of unique users than Videozer, FileServe hugely so.
Jan 18th data adds up to 85.7%
Jan 19th data adds up to 89.1%
What makes up the rest?
IN the words of braveheart
“they may take our lives but they never take our freedom !”
so what if megaupload was shut down ? there will always be another taking its place as the big cheese. whatever one or two of government body trying to do. it never work unless they shut down the whole internet which is NOW impossible to do
either that or the net become obsolete replace by some new innovation for the world to interact in /with in which case the future generation would definitively figure out how that system work and do ill-lawful things on it
Think of the economy!
This is interesting. A large part of the online traffic is file-sharing, both lawful & infringing, and the Mega raid of course does not stop that demand.
They have however struck fear into many DMCA safe-harbour companies from having anything to do with US hosting or even domain names.
So now only the other countries in Europe and Asia provide the files people want but that now means importing vast amounts of expensive data.
Final Score: Piracy 0 US Economy -1
“This is all assuming that infringement was truthfully their main target, its not like there we’re other benifits to megauploads closure.”
“The shut down of Megaupload has caused more harm to legitimate users than it has caused to unauthorized reproductions.”
Yes there were other benefits. Independent music has grown over 50% in the last decade. Dotcom was no longer CEO and had been replaced with a music industry insider that had enough influence to threaten the “A” list of RIAA super-hereo’s (remember their model of business is that a handful of super stars fund their entire business).
AND Mega “conspiracy” publicized it, sorta like giving the finger to the neighborhood bully/tattle-tale as they walked down the street on the other side of the road.
What would you expect the bully/tattle-tale to do? n
That’s exactly what they did. The honest folks with their own legitimate music paid the highest price trying to find a replacement. Mega was fast and dependable enough to use as even another form of back-up service. Many of those other transalantic links are not.
One complaint listed in MAFIAA’s complaint was that Mega did not remove the actual file – why would they? Don’t people have a right to file a counter claim?
Blogger removed a link on my site due to DCMA request. It was ridiculous. I started reading what it would take to file a counter claim and that was a joke – a lawyer? It wasn’t worth it to me – but to someone who makes a living at it, they would have to go through that.
But Blogger didnt REMOVE the file. It wasn’t hosted there. but under SOPA/PIPA they would have had to block my site – figure out a way to remove the file …? This is the problem. I loose the right to counter claim or be innocent.
There are several sites that track DCMA requests, (Chilling Effects and another just for YouTube) I suspect that a HIGH percentage are illegal requests – much, much more than 5% piracy (that Rapidshare claims).
There are proven cases where DCMA has been used to attack competition – Veogh? including gaming and software. Just sue startups out of business … sorta like the new Mega.
I haven’t seen anything that looks shady about Mega’s new business model and it appears they had everything in place to make a big splash when they did get rolling.
What would have happened to the cloud industry in 2 or 5 years if it had been allowed to develop? I think they might have evoled into something very different – IF the industry was given a chance. BT could have evolved too, IF only …
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“They key here is that there are no longer 100 heads to replace the head of the snake cut off.”
No, because they’re in the process of transforming into newts.
This is part of the reason these efforts are doomed to fail. If you waved a magic wand and eliminated all filelockers and torrents, piracy would not be impacted except, maybe, in the very short term. New technologies and methods will be developed to replace the functionality.
That’s how it has always been, and how it will always be. The only way to stop it is to stop people from communicating altogether.
Response to: Anonymous Coward on Feb 8th, 2012 @ 1:40pm
Good maybe when the “new” models are “old and useless” we can start writing laws to destroy any company that gets in the way of them profiting like they did in their prime.
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You guys really have no idea how “hard-core” pirates work, do you? File lockers were never the main source of material. Ever.
Between chat programs and torrent sites (which really only find material that is already available), file lockers were good for two things: legitimate users, and extremely casual infringers.
The file lockers, Megaupload included, were very generous about takedowns. See, it was against their terms of service to post unauthorized material. Therefore, you didn’t have to be a copyright holder to get files taken down. You only had to report a file, any file, as a “suspected terms-of-service violation,” and it would be down in minutes.
I kept my mouth shut about this before, but seeing as all the relatively virus-free file lockers are out of your reach (having blocked US users, or limited them to personal access only), there’s nothing you can do about it now.
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I agree with the ac. It seems to be a Mega Conspiracy. On numerous occasions, Universal had shown that they will utilize every trick at their disposal to crush their competition. You also have to factor in how quickly MU was seized. It hasn’t been that long since Kim announced the Mega Box. Now think about how all innovative services have to be made outside of the US. Remember iMeem? How about how quickly Universal goes after other innovative services? I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Universal put a request for immediate seizure of Kim after freaking out about his plans.
Had No Real Impact On Infringement
Yea right, of course it did, especially if you are megaupload !!
It has also impacted Masnick a great deal,it is clear he is just as scared as the rest of the criminals.
Masnick, the more you whine about these things, the more it confirms to the people incharge, that what they are doing is
1) effective
2) REALLY hurts the thiefs
So keep crying about it Masnick, and confirm what they are doing is on the right track…
If you could just keep your mouth shut, there would be less people making efforts to supress the criminals !!!
“Masnick says we are not effective, so we just have to DO MORE, to be more effective”.
You Masnick, are PROMOPTING them to take more and more extreme action….
But who cares Masnick, you make money from it, so you dont give a fuck…
D
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and did you watch braveheart as an illegal download..
Do you understand IT IS A MOVIE
Do you understand IT IS NOT REAL
Do you understand they can and DO take your lives, AND your freedom, and your money, and anything ELSE they want off you..
Movies are not real, trying going out one day.
Or is thinking for yourself beyond you ?
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I’m not sure the timing is as interesting as it seems as first. The DOJ investigation was almost certainly underway long before MegaBox was in development.
No REAL impact ??
but that it has become “staggeringly less efficient” from a network standpoint
WOW, and you do not consider that an ‘impact’ ???
because much of it moved to offshore locations over “expensive transatlantic links
So having to move offshore and pay more money is NOT a REAL IMPACT !!!!!!!..
That would appear to most people (who have a brain) to be a massive impact..
What happens when they run out of offshore places to go ?
What happens if they cannot affort the price for the offshore hosting ?
Why is it if there is no real impact, is there so many people including Masnick trying to convince us there isno real impact ?
Why are you crying so long and loud about something you claim has no effect ? why are you SO scared ? oh thats right, we allready know !!!!
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MU deserves a day in court. Why the SWAT teams and ammunition for FILE SHARING?
The fat fuck had a gun!
There is not a single shred of evidence that anyone connected with MegaUpload was violent. It was computer crime – not drug running. Have they gone after anyone else accused of doing any white collar crime in such a manner?
Let’s see, a 6’6 350lb career criminal with multiple living in a house with multiple electronic barriers and a safe room? I suspect they knew he had guns. They certainly knew he had bodyguards who may have had guns themselves.
The “evidence” and reasoning put forth by DOJ rationalizing their actions puts a shudder down the spine of every HONEST business person who can see that charges were overly broad and trumped up. Why was this a criminal case to begin with? There’s a lot of fiction and showmanship to this. Too much.
Read the statutes related to money laundering and conspiracy. Even the Lord High Apologist Masnick acknowledged this guy was dirty. He was no “honest businessman”.
Why do they pretend this didn’t showcase exactly why SOPA / PIPA aren’t needed? Not a single spokesman has brought up the fact they can already take down foreign sites – so why do they need more?
If this fat dope hadn’t leased servers in Virginia, US law enforcement could have done nothing. I doubt other, similarly situated, criminal infringing enterprises will make the same mistake.
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actually, US law enforcment would probably have pulled the same stunt they pulled on the Kiwi who managed to build a cruise missile for under 5000 NZD using off the shelf parts.*
lean on the NZ government until they came up with SOMETHING to cripple his ability to act.
* (which, it should be noted, he was planning to sell to the NZ and US military and they Only Found Out about when he made enquiries as to why on earth there was nothing legally stopping him selling to Iran when some Iranians found out about it from his online posts about how it was possible and asked him to sell them to them. did i mention he was also setting up to sell unmanned recon planes to the US and this entire round of idiocy actually DID cost NZ a couple of thousand(?) jobs when their way of dealing with it drove him to bankruptcy? so the NZ government missed out on two significant tech developments, NZ jobs, and the tax take, while the US missed out on the tech… because they freaked out when he pointed out a gap in the law that he thought needed fixing. at no point did he actually enter negotiations to sell the missiles or anything.)
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the outcome of that would be interesting, actually.
short term chaotic mess, (and highly annoying) long term i think it’d actually be to everyone else’s advantage 😀
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as in responding to someone who read it as though they were there when they were not, so far as i can tell.
Had No Real Impact On Infringement
Nice try, darryl. You live in Australia; why do you give a shit why America passes SOPA or not?
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Seriously, does every single point you try to make have to include personal attacks? We might be better able to take you seriously if you would just leave them out.
Think of the economy!
I wouldn’t be so sure about that either. Domains ending in .com, .org, .net, .xxx and so on are generic TLD’s not belonging to, as in signifying the United States. There is one of those and that’s “.us”.
Nor are all those domains running on servers in the United States or even registered by an American registrar.
Personally I don’t see the link between the busting of Megaupload and DCMA safe harbour provisions. Megaupload wasn’t the least bit interested in DCMA safe harbours.
I do agree with those who smell a “we gotta do something” motivation after the outcry over SOPA/PIPA and with those who suspect that there’s a link between musicians and other artists directly uploading their works to that site and bypassing RIAA member companies thereby changing the supply chain and how it operates.
I do agree that there’s a net downside to the seizure to the United States, though I’d make the score piracy 2 US Economy -2.
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I go outside almost every day. I honestly don’t see what the big deal is. There’s grass, dirt, clouds, streets and trees, none of which really do anything interesting most of the time, and cars and buses, which are only interesting when they’re about to run you over. And if you stay outside long enough the Sun starts to kill you and your skin peels off, unless it’s raining which can admittedly be nice under the right circumstances. Maybe if you thought for yourself for once instead of just blindly accepting the line that going outside is good then you’d realize that going outside kinda sucks.
Besides, Braveheart’s more historically accurate than that history textbook you read that said the Civil War was about states’ rights. So in that sense movies can be real.
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What you don’t seem to understand is that nobody gives a true crap about the hardcore pirates, they are unfixable and unchangeable, and are willing to spend hundreds of hours of effort to get a single piece of free pr0n. They aren’t important in the overall scheme of things.
Most users are casual pirates, that is to say they are pirates because it’s easy, it’s fun, and it’s simple to do. Join any one of the thousands of forums out there, get a bunch of links to file locker sites, and download all you want – and hopefully buy a membership so the uploader can get paid.
Those casual downloaders are currently screwed. Almost every pirate forum board out there suffered greatly in the fallout of the Mega deal, with so many sites dropping files, cutting links, disabling sharing, and most importantly NO LONGER PAYING UPLOADERS, they whole thing has fallen into disarray. Trying to find content through this method has a very high failure rate now, enough to piss most people off and get them to stop.
Shifting the casual users away from piracy has always been the point, the one Mike rarely wants to talk about.
As for “there is nothing you can do about it”, I would say only that this is the attitude that Kim Dotcom had up until a few weeks ago. Now he is desperately trying not to drop the soap. See what a snarky attitude will get you?
Benefits Megauploads Competitors
To expand on what Mike was saying, the reason why it didn’t have any effect on file sharing is because there are countless competitors to megaupload waiting in the wings for megaupload to fall. These competitors would love if megaupload disappeared, since it means more traffic for them. The irony of the whole thing is that it benefits other filesharing services like rapidshare, yousendit, hotfile, filesonic, wupload, depositfiles, upload.to, letitbit, etc, etc, etc.
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Those forums were really only necessary to find obscure things like specific examples of the aforementioned pr0n. For things the movie industry has made and is trying to sell, Vuze has a search function, as does The Pirate Bay and any other self-respecting torrent-related website. I doubt this’ll impact things much.
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FWIW I’ve never seen an anti-piracy advocate taken seriously here.
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You misunderstand, probably intentionally. The run-of-the-mill casual infringer is still not affected in any way they will notice by these actions, even if every file locker in the world died tomorrow. Barely anyone used file lockers for infringment anyways. At best, they’ll see the site is down, and be disappointed for a few seconds. All it takes to completely invalidate all of this time and labor is for a casual infringer to say to a friend, “Hey, my usual site for movies has gone down. How are you still getting yours?” That’s assuming, for no good reason, that they can’t just google it, or ask for directions on a forum. Like they did when they first started sharing.
“I found an awesome song two days ago. How can I get it to as many people as possible?”
Like I said before, only EXTREMELY casual infringers are affected. Not regular infringers, or even casual infringers.
Just the ones who didn’t really do it anyways. Basically, the guy who tried to smoke a cigarette in high school, but got freaked out, and never hung around with those guys ever again.
Think of the economy!
Actually, ALL internet traffic is file sharing. That is the only thing the internet or any other network can do. Bits organized into blocks, that’s what a file is. I ask you for a block of bits, you can send it to me or not as you please.
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What’s really funny, though, is how you completely missed my point. The file lockers made it extremely easy to report infringement, even checking accusations by third parties. Rightsholders didn’t even have to get off their duff and do anything. Their fans were more than happy to look for and report any questionable files, since the file lockers made it so easy. All in an effort to do anything technically possible to not piss off the MAFIAA groups.
Oh well. Like I’ve been saying. No great loss to the pirates, but the MAFIAA groups are having a great time patting each other on the back.
It’s like tee-ball. Everyone gets a trophy. Too bad you only think you know which team lost…
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If you present your viewpoints respectfully, we (at least most of us) will respond with respect. Will we agree? Not necessarily, but that’s not the same as not taking you seriously. When half of your post is ad hominem attacks, it doesn’t sound like you’re interested in civilized discussion.
No REAL impact ??
We do?
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“The MPAA re—sents artists.”
Ah, that’s where things started going wrong!
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“What I don’t understand is how RIAA is still “losing” so much if they have iTunes & Amazon.”
Because they won’t licence music to the places that are setting up the “pirate” sites to service the demand they don’t? Because they try to restrict availability even within those services, and charge extortionate prices in many iTunes locations?
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You’re the prime example of why we don’t take you seriously, as detailed above.
Think about what you’ve done, and return with cited facts, reasoning and a mind open enough to accept the actual positions of those you’re talking to instead of fantasy strawmen. Be willing to discuss instead of attack. Leave out the swearing, temper tantrums and ad hominems. Maybe even create a login so we can refer to your previous points without getting you mixed up with other ACs.
If just one of you people could do that, you’d be surprised at how seriously we’d take you. It’s not our fault that lies and personal attacks seem to be your forte instead.
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Yep, if you make faulty assumptions based on data that’s been prove to be misleading, you can conclude all sorts of things. That doesn’t make them true, nor a basis for legislation.
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“To be fair, the MegaUpload has given MPAA/RIAA a false positive to latch onto making them think their strategy has some merit. “
Yep, just the latest in their string of “successes” – Napster, Morpheus, Kazaa, Limewire, Suprnova, etc. All “major victories” which were trumpeted about to the heavens… and did absolutely sod all to stop piracy in any way. I’ll just yawn and await the next “victory” on their race to failure.
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“However, with the number of file lockers disappearing, the number of piracy forums filled with dead links, and key torrent sites like btjunkie dropping out, the effects are likely to be stronger over time.”
Assuming that torrents and lockers are the way people pirate, of course. One of your industry’s many failures is assuming that if they just shut down a certain type of service, piracy will end. False. The pirates will just switch to new methods, as they have in the past. Piracy existed a long time before the internet, it will continue to exist long after the last file locker and torrent sites have been shut down despite their many legal uses.
Once again, the only way to defeat piracy is to attack the DEMAND side of the equation (the side you ignore because you think it’s less profitable) rather than attacking the supply. Stop giving people reasons to pirate, and they’re less likely to do so. If you continue to do what you’re doing, you’re in a battle as unwinnable and stupid as the “wars” on drugs and terror.
“If all the file lockers end up in places like Russia and China, it just helps to justify things like SOPA even more.”
Only because morons like you can’t service the markets instead of attacking services that have hundreds of legitimate uses, and which spring up in places where you refuse to sell legal product.
“Those who claim to be paying attention to new business models would be wise to pay attenion, as their “new” models are about to become old and useless very quickly!”
You still haven’t worked out what any of those terms actually mean, have you?
Had No Real Impact On Infringement
I’m not agreeing with that idiot, but everybody in the world should be concerned by SOPA. Not only would it directly impact companies who are not located in the US, some governments have a disturbing tendency to think that “the US did it” is enough to justify passing shitty laws.
No REAL impact ??
“WOW, and you do not consider that an ‘impact’ ??? “
Yes, but it’s an impact on network traffic, not on the level of file sharing.
“So having to move offshore and pay more money is NOT a REAL IMPACT !!!!!!!.. “
sigh…
It’s more expensive for ISPs, you moron, not the offshore sites. All other costs are probably lower for the sites themselves.
“That would appear to most people (who have a brain) to be a massive impact.”
In your world, perhaps. Here in reality, things are as different as ever to your fantasy.
Had No Real Impact On Infringement
I dont give a shit about your you ‘yanks’ do or not do, But like most other Australian’s we can see a bull shit artist a mile off.
What is amusing (for me) is that there are so many here on this web site that believe the word of Masnick is the ultimate truth, and they believe that Masnick has no hidden agender to push.
Ever heard the story about the boy who called wolf ? after awile no one believed him, that happened to Masnick years ago, he’s lost all real credability, and it is only the small group of morons who hang off Masnicks every word (WITHOUT QUESTION) and believe he is some demi-god who cannot ever be wrong, or to lie, or to say things that are clearly untrue if he believes it will help his bias..
Most places in the world, including Australia value truth and honesty, and detest lying and fraud.
We dont generally think that highly of thiefs either.
Masnick is trying to “import” his warped value system through the world, (via TD). Therefore the rest of the world has every right to question his (and your) motives.
Qui Bono !!!!
Do you not think, that someone saying that there is “no real impact” then going on the set out in detail REAL FUCKING IMPACT, has to be lying somewhere !!!
And if no one is willing to question these blatent lies that idiots like yourself, who believe that word of masnick over and about your OWN mind. we’ll you need a good kick in the head, knock some sense into you…
Had No Real Impact On Infringement
“But like most other Australian’s we can see a bull shit artist a mile off.”
Well, you are the bullshit expert, after all.
“so many here on this web site that believe the word of Masnick is the ultimate truth”
I enjoy a good fiction as much as anybody else, but it’s also nice to delve into the realm of fact every so often.
You have yet to actually refute anything he says with fact. You lie, distort, build strawmen and make personal attacks. But, you don’t refute with facts. Try it, if you can. Otherwise, you’re just another moron who thinks that politics and opinion have to be a team game and nobody can have anything other than a black and white view of the world, and your type has already destroyed intelligent discussion in too many forums.
“Do you not think, that someone saying that there is “no real impact” then going on the set out in detail REAL FUCKING IMPACT, has to be lying somewhere !!!”
When did that happen? Not in this article. Unless you’re the same moron below who completely misunderstood every point that was being made and thinks that creating more expense for domestic ISPs somehow affects websites in other countries, which would not surprise me.
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Those casual downloaders are currently screwed.
Keep telling yourself that. The rest keeps downloading from boards linked to from .me domains e.g. It’s actually funny how clueless you guys are.
Had No Real Impact On Infringement
Well, we actually believe “Masnick” every day about a clueless moron like you. Go figure.
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> Once again, the only way to defeat piracy is to attack
> the DEMAND side of the equation
This! Piracy is democratic: it only exists because people _want_ it to exist. The ratio of downloaders to uploaders is massive. It only takes one uploader, and you will never eliminate them all. The only way to combat piracy is reduce the number of downloaders.
No REAL impact ??
“Why is it if there is no real impact, is there so many people including Masnick trying to convince us there isno real impact ?”
Please reread the title of the post, particularly the last two words. Then ask someone to smack you on the back of the head for making a complete fool of yourself.
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The fat fuck had a gun!
A legally owned gun that was locked up in a storage locker. Further, you can look at how they raided the place.
Let’s see, a 6’6 350lb career criminal with multiple living in a house with multiple electronic barriers and a safe room? I suspect they knew he had guns. They certainly knew he had bodyguards who may have had guns themselves.
Yeah, they came in the first day with just a squad car and two officers. They came in the second day with seventy police officers and the elite crime unit. He had one bodyguard and all weapons were locked securely.
He was no “honest businessman”.
He had a bad past. He was making a business with the cyberlockers where he worked from home. He may not have the best past in the world, but the guy made a service that people enjoyed.
If this fat dope hadn’t leased servers in Virginia, US law enforcement could have done nothing. I doubt other, similarly situated, criminal infringing enterprises will make the same mistake.
And this kind of reasoning is why no one takes you seriously.
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“The fat fuck had a gun!”
Oh noes! A gun! Just like the ones found in nearly half of US homes! Your point?
“I suspect they knew he had guns.”
Probably, since an occupant of the house was a licensed gun owner. That doesn’t even come close to justifying a paramilitary raid on people with absolutely no history to indicate violence was a possibility.
Has anyone considered the possibility (perhaps even high probability) that the response to the closure (for now) of Megaupload and its family of companies can be used as evidence to show that illegal uploads and downloads are the major component of activities associated with online file lockers, a central theme presented by the major labels and studios?
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UPDATE:
The US Department of Transportation (US DOT) has now reported a huge uptick in missing traffic cones across the country since the seizure of the MegaPhones.
Civil liberty experts believe that this is direct response from the public to having their tools of free speech taken from them. There have been sketchy reports of marauding groups of suspected traffic cone thieves dressed as cheerleaders, but those reports have not been substantiated.
At the insistent urging of some trade groups, DOJ/ICE is now contemplating seizing all the traffic cones in the US, for our safety.
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I know a guy who’s got over 100 million dollars in his bank account as the result of being very successful in his completely legitimate career.
Multiple people live in his house, he’s got multiple electronic barriers and he has a safe room. He also has several guns.
I really don’t get your point. That’s actually pretty standard in that income bracket.
MPAA
Actually, the MPAA represents STUDIOS, not ARTISTS. The studios are raking in increased amounts of money from overseas distribution and international cable network sales. I have not seen any evidence for a decline in actual moviemaking. The ARTISTS have not suffered any decline in earnings overall and have not lost any jobs.
Conspiracy
I think you’re on to something!
MPAA
Saying “the MPAA would like everyone to think that they represent artists” would ruin the flow of the joke, though.
What causes the people to go outside of current legal rules?
Banning/restricting the peoples access to what they want or desire. Volstead Act,alcohol prohibition helped create MAFIA groups. Why? They provided what the people wanted. Banning or restricting certain drugs helped to create drug lords and gangs. Being too restrictive with music, movies and books will lead to somebody, even if not legal, to supply it. Now it is file sharing. If file sharing pirates are eliminated there be somebody to figure out a way to do it for money, creating another set illegal organization. If people want something bad enough somebody will provide it.
Jury has final word
If the American jury thinks Mr Dotcom’s likely sentence is excessive, it can acquit him regardless of the “law” and the facts, and the acquittal is binding. It’s called “jury nullification”. But the jurors won’t be told this in court. They’ll need to hear about it from elsewhere. Spread the word!
Now you see why we need SOPA/PIPA
To use a quote I found in my travels online, sadly dunno who to attribute it to.
People will always listen to music, just as they have since some caveman banged stones together in a way that pleased the tribe. It’s the second caveman that we have to watch out for, the one who walked up and told the tribe that only the stones he licensed would be permitted
Had No Real Impact On Infringement
yes, I know, and you dont think that is a MASSIVE problem ?
That is why you are where you are HAHAHA, you actually BELIEVE “THE masnick”..
What is REALLY FUNNY about that is ‘You actually BELIEVE Masnick’ LOL
It’s so easy, right !!! no reason to EVER think for yourself, or use your own sense of morals, or logic, or reason..
No screw that, that requires work right, why work when you have the master programmer ‘the masnick’ telling you what to think, how to feel, how to act, and what to say !!!
You can just shut down, and continue to dribble, got a problem ?? what does ‘the masnick’ say you should think !!.
Ahh thats better, you nealy had to form a thought !!!!
No REAL impact ??
It’s more expensive for ISPs, you moron
Oh, right, and ISP’s NEVER pass on expenses to their clients ?
You moron !!!!
So there is no relationship to ‘network traffic’ and ‘moving files’ ???? wow,
Sigh
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what causes the people to go outside of current regal rules ?
Greed…
sorry, a person is sentenced AFTER the jury has made their decision. They do not get to ‘take back’ their decision, the judge gets to determine punishment AFTER the jury has reached it’s decision ?
Been to school much Gavin ?
Had No Real Impact On Infringement
>I dont give a shit about your you ‘yanks’ do or not do, But like most other Australian’s we can see a bull shit artist a mile off.
Incidentally I’m not American, but thanks for trying to paint me as a troll. And I’m inclined to agree on the Australians seeing a bullshit artist a mile off; that’s why the case against iiNet got kicked out.
>Ever heard the story about the boy who called wolf ? after awile no one believed him, that happened to Masnick years ago, he’s lost all real credability
You want to point out when this happened, darryl? Are you some individual privileged with Mike’s past dealings and his present standings in public, all the way on the other side of the Pacific?
>Most places in the world, including Australia value truth and honesty, and detest lying and fraud.
Which is why after the MPAA cried about piracy statistics that they later admitted was overblown by 300%, fewer people became inclined to believe them.
>Do you not think, that someone saying that there is “no real impact” then going on the set out in detail REAL FUCKING IMPACT, has to be lying somewhere !!!
What is the real fucking impact? You point out there is, in fact, impact – but don’t show it?
>And if no one is willing to question these blatent lies that idiots like yourself, who believe that word of masnick over and about your OWN mind. we’ll you need a good kick in the head, knock some sense into you…
“We’ll you need a good kick in the head”? No, darryl, you’re the one who needs his head kicked in good. Keep trolling the threads on Fridays, screaming that everything is a lie, thinking that no one will see you. Continue demonstrating your real credibility.
Had No Real Impact On Infringement
>yes, I know, and you dont think that is a MASSIVE problem ?
So what’s the alternative? Believing you? Based on the claims that “MASNICK IS LYING” and nothing more?
>It’s so easy, right !!! no reason to EVER think for yourself, or use your own sense of morals, or logic, or reason..
Oh, right, we should be listening to you instead; the bastion of morals, logic and reason.
>No screw that, that requires work right, why work when you have the master programmer ‘the masnick’ telling you what to think, how to feel, how to act, and what to say !!!
You can just shut down, and continue to dribble, got a problem ?? what does ‘the masnick’ say you should think !!.
Yeah, I guess continuing to add nothing to the discussion aside from “MASNICK IS LYING” counts as work. Congratulations. You rejected dribble for your own brand of inane salivation.
Commentators, this story isn’t that old… the filelockers have already been replaced with other ones. Keep up
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It’s no conspiracy should one suggest that record labels indeed HAVE reviewed ‘options’ regarding MegaBox, it’s realistic to think this is precisely what they did. It is not possible to rip off consumers, and more importantly the artists themselves if they have competition.
And then MegaBox (read: Competition) pops-up (we all know which features it would’ve had) with its’ millions of visitors every day, well hold on a minute… Uncle Sam has a thing or two to say about that. I’ll only mention the arrest of people related to this case that aren’t US citizens, that were on foreign soil where US laws are invalid, and without any protest from such and such countries. Conspiracy? They don’t stress their brains going so deep into the subject, but bluntly pay-off whoever it is they need to pay-off to have their way… that is far more cheaper than actually competing in the long run. This way they can stay (question is how long) a middleman who rips off the artists, a middleman who rips off the customers.
i started using tawkle . its amazing its faster and easier to use