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McLean, Va. - Federal prosecutors have shut down one of the world's largest file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, on charges of violating piracy laws -- a day after a 24-hour blackout of popular websites such as Wikipedia drew national attention to the issue.

"This action is among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States," the Justice department said in a statement about the indictment.

The indictment accuses seven individuals and two corporations -- Megaupload Limited and Vestor Limited -- of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. It was unsealed on Thursday, and claims that at one point Megaupload was the 13th most popular website in the world.

Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.

The Hong Kong-based company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO. Beatz declined to comment through a representative.

The individuals in the criminal enterprise -- a worldwide ring led by colorful Australian Kim Dotcom, aka Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor. Each person involved faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on racketeering charges, five years for conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, 20 years on money laundering charges and five years on related charges.

Dotcom is a German who legally changed his last named to "Dotcom." He was once convicted of a felony but he has repeatedly denied engaging in piracy, , according to CNET.com.

The indictment comes the day after a 24-hour "blackout" of Wikipedia, a protest doodle on the homepage of Google, and numerous other protests across the Internet against proposed anti-piracy legislation that many leading websites -- including Reddit, Google, Facebook, Amazon and others -- contend will make it challenging if not impossible for them to operate.

The Protect Intellectual Property Act under consideration in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House are bills backed by the motion picture and recording industries intended to eliminate theft online once and for all. S. 968 and H.R. 3261 would require ISPs to block access to foreign websites that infringe on copyrights.

Online piracy from China and elsewhere is a massive problem for the media industry, one that costs as much as $250 billion per year and costs the industry 750,000 jobs, according to a 2008 statement by Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

But how exactly the bills would counter piracy has many up in arms.

Bowie

Jan 20 2012, 10:48 AM

Neo Metallix

Jan 20 2012, 10:32 AM

Maybe so but I don't see it as a bad thing anyway. Regulating the internet, yes, but shutting down sites that break our laws? No. If they were legitimately supporting a piracy ring that is. Just having celebrities support it doesn't mean much. Anyone who likes getting stuff for free will endorse it. It's like pot smokers endorsing pot, doesn't hold much weight.

Citizens who would trade freedom for security deserve neither.

One of the greatest lines in government ever spoken.

Neo, if Megaupload can host a "multi-national" piracy ring then what is stopping the federal government from going after Youtube, or their parent, Google... Maybe even a site like Deviantart... or hell even small time sites like us.. we host copyrighted characters.. link to Youtube videos which have copyrighted content.. e.t.c. By that definition, Sonic Blast could be seen in the loosest of terms as a "multi-national piracy ring" and by saying you're okay with Megaupload means you would be okay with the Fed coming in here and taking us out along with our parent site, Zetaboards "just because." Best part of all that is that you, I and Bliz could all be taken into prison for 20+ years just for being apart of the leadership here.. Mods too and even some high posting members... who knows.

Granted that's an extreme scenario but the gov has already proven what it can do WITHOUT SOPA/PIPA.. where does the buck stop?

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Seriously, $60+ upwards for a new game that's a rehash of the last one with extra HDR bloom? Lack of innovation, lack of competition and lack of consumer interest is what equals lost sales, not piracy.

Neo

 

I'm not talking copyrighted materials like characters. It's not taking anything down due to stuff you would find on Youtube, Google, or Deviantart. Megaupload's alleged piracy ring obviously hosted stuff more serious than that, stuff that you would otherwise have to pay for. You can't seriously think taking down Megaupload was for things even comparable to your scenario about this site.