Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

Re:Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy by rplnt on Thursday January 19, 2012 @03:33PM (#3486542)

I too am glad that someone finally went for the big guys. Rapidshare should be next in my opinion. They only make money on piracy and they know it. On the other hand, I hate when p2p networks are targeted (thepiratebay for example). Sure, they too make some money but nowhere close to paid sites like the megaupload and they don't even host the pirated content.

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Re:Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy by Karunamon on Thursday January 19, 2012 @04:06PM (#3486704)

Rapidshare just fought (and won) an antipiracy case not too long ago.

*EDIT

More like a series of cases, actually. German courts seem much more level headed than their US couterparts. Details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RapidShare#Legal_issues

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Re:Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy by Zirro on Thursday January 19, 2012 @03:43PM (#3486597)

Indeed, when a site built around (partially) illegal content being shared, it's OK with me if they earn just enough not to lose money on operating the site. However, I do not believe you should profit off the content of others.

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Re:Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy by cgmorton on Thursday January 19, 2012 @04:19PM (#3486777)

"I do not believe you should profit off the content of others."

This is the problem. Distribution is a perfectly legitimate business model, as is hosting. Think, I dunno, Youtube? They don't generate any content; should they not be allowed to make a profit?

Your stance is just strange. Megaupload can have revenue from piracy, just not too much? Once revenue from their illegal content passes operating expenses, they should stop making money off it? I don't understand what you want such a business to actually -do-.

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Re:Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy by Drbble on Saturday January 21, 2012 @01:15PM (#3494165)

There is a notion that "at some scale, significant quantitative differences are qualitative differences". This drives a lot of legislation around misdemeanors vs felonies and regulations that only apply to businesses/operations of a certain size.

Personal sharing vs mass piracy is a major example. Usually the boundary is drawn at money changing hands, but other boundary lines could be debated.

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Re:Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy by Zirro on Thursday January 19, 2012 @04:44PM (#3486920)

You might want to see my post below (or above, if the votes move it around). I don't have any issues with distribution as a business model, but essentially due to ideological reasons, I don't believe it should be primarily focused on illegal content, if profit is to be made.

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Re:Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy by Zirro on Thursday January 19, 2012 @03:51PM (#3486636)

Am I being downvoted because people think you should be able to earn money on pirated content, or because you think they should operate such sites at a loss (if at all)?

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Re:Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy by MortenK on Thursday January 19, 2012 @04:30PM (#3486841)

I'd think it might be the line "However, I do not believe you should profit off the content of others.". That's a blanket statement which probably has been misinterpreted as you being against any form of distributor or reseller business model.

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Re:Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy by Zirro on Thursday January 19, 2012 @04:40PM (#3486893)

Oh, I see. Thank you for pointing that out to me. My intention was to say that I do not believe that you should create a business-model around earning money on only pirated content. Helping artists getting their name and songs out there is a good thing, but without their approval I don't think you should profit off it.

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Re:Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy by rorrr on Thursday January 19, 2012 @03:47PM (#3486619)

Rapidshare is Swiss based, and it responds to DMCA claims. I doubt it will go down any time soon.

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Re:Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy by surement on Thursday January 19, 2012 @03:52PM (#3486639)

Megaupload is Swizz based, and it went down.

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Re:Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy by muuh-gnu on Thursday January 19, 2012 @04:02PM (#3486679)

> Megaupload is Swizz based

No, they were Hong Kong based. Rapidshare (Switzerland/Germany) has already been sued there, and won, so their (current) business model, for the time being, is not accessible for american "shock and awe" justice.

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Re:Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy by iamandrus on Thursday January 19, 2012 @04:16PM (#3486756)

No, I think he was joking because Swizz Beats is/was the CEO of MU.

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Re:Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy by squarecat on Thursday January 19, 2012 @05:33PM (#3487184)

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DontExplainTheJok...

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Re:Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy by e1ven on Thursday January 19, 2012 @03:59PM (#3486667)

Elsewhere in the thread, people are saying MU was from Hong Kong.

Where do you see it as Swiss?

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Re:Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy by Wilduck on Thursday January 19, 2012 @04:07PM (#3486708)

It was a bad joke on the fact that a purported owner of Megaupload is the artist "Swizz Beatz".

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Re:Megaupload down, FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy by johncoltrane on Thursday January 19, 2012 @04:08PM (#3486711)

Good one.

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