Megaupload Shut Down By DOJ For Piracy

Megalupload, send me a file, as the song goes.  Well, no more as the United States Justice Department shut the site down and arrested several executives on various charges of criminal copyright infringement.  The indictment, as reported, claims the company cost intellectual property rights holders a half a billion dollars while generating $175 million for themselves.  That’s Powerball jackpot levels of cash without the bad odds of winning.  I note that I use the word “reported” as the United States Department of Justice web site is under cyber-attack making the actual documents hard to get for now.  The Anonymous hacking collective is miffed about the shut down and hyped up about the anti-SOPA web action from yesterday.

Ars Technica reports that other targets include the site for Universal Music Group (UMG), the White House, and several members of Congress who support SOPA and PIPA.  The MPAA issued an angry statement yesterday calling the web blackout of Wikipedia and other sites a “stunt,” if getting the attention of people who simply use the web can be called a stunt.  Maybe Barry Manilow could write a song about it:  At the Copa we decried SOPA.  The outpouring of anti-SOPA sentiment was visible enough to turn some congressional support for the bill into opposition.  I feel a bit sorry for Apple, who announced their K-12 textbook initiative for the iPad today.  Between the SOPA protest yesterday, and the Megaupload story and cyber-attacks today, the impact of the Apple announcement was quite diminished.  Steve Jobs probably would not have been amused if he were still alive.

For the fun of it, as it is close to Friday enough for a Friday Fun, here is Jon Stewart’s take on the SOPA protests.   

The Daily Show
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Doesn’t the action by the Justice Department suggest that the system works without SOPA?  That existing statutes address the issue?  I’m just asking.  [MG]