Megaupload sharing site shut down

[xxMATTGxx]

Megaupload, one of the internet's largest file-sharing sites, has been shut down by officials in the US.

The site's founder and others have been charged with violating piracy laws.

Federal prosecutors have accused it of costing copyright holders more than $500m (£320m) in lost revenue. The firm says it was diligent in responding to complaints about pirated material.

Investigators denied a link to recent protests against proposed piracy laws, according to the Wall Street Journal.

On Wednesday, thousands of websites took part in a "blackout" to protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (Pipa).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16642369

R.I.P Megaupload then!

[buttons]

if mediafire goes i'm gonna quit life

[Nemo]

Absolutely ridiculous.



I do find it a bit funny it happened a day after the SOPA blackouts though

[Stephen!]

They won't lose in court.

[GoldenMerc]

Won't even load, boring :(

[efq]

rapidshare/mediafire nexxtt betcha

this world has turned to stupidity.

[Chris]

Uh ohhh, not good :(

[xxMATTGxx]

More information on the matter:


The complaint alleges that MegaUpload, founder Kim Dotcom, and his team are responsible for $175 million in "criminal proceeds" and "more than half a billion dollars in harm to copyright owners." Specifically, Kim Dotcom and six of his executives are charged with running "the Mega conspiracy websites" under a business model expressly designed to promote uploading of the most popular copyrighted works." The complaint charges both the MegaUpload Limited company and a second company called Vestor Limited which Dotcom used to shield his personal assets. Specifically, the charges are:


engaging in a racketeering conspiracy
conspiring to commit copyright infringement
conspiring to commit money laundering
two substantive counts of criminal copyright infringement



The DOJ has also issued more than 20 search warrants in the US and eight other countries, seized more than $50m in assets in the US, Netherlands, and Canada, and seized more than 18 domain names associated with MegaUpload.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/19/2719223/megaupload-criminal-copyright-justice-department-conspiracy

[Red]

waaaa :( not good

[Futz]

I can only hope that other major file-sharing sites do not share the same fate.

[efq]

It's stupid. Everyone has pirated before. Whether it's in a huge amount or the tiniest. Most companies have most likely committed to kind of piracy but it's just this SOPA thing thats igniting all this non-sense. Do you really think it's going to solve it?

It only stirs everything up, people will rebel, hacking into places and what not will start occurring more soon in a protest against it.

[GommeInc]

All this talk of site closures seems to be bringing to light the "usefulness" of the problem. They're not really doing themselves any favours, the SOPA supporters, by bring mediafire and other file sharing sites to light :P

[StefanWolves]

Gutted. Just started using Icefilms on my AppleTV too, now it's dead.

[Hiro]

I just lost a load of backups. I still have my primary files, and have them uploaded to other file sharing sites, but it still sucks ass. Cloud storage is just going to go down the drain, now.

[AgnesIO]

This is ridiculous.

I tended to use the website for Android ROM's :S

[Luke]

Megaupload was the only site I could get decent speeds on D: Rapidshare is useless now, everything get's deleted straight away =[
Sigh.

[Nemo]

Looks like anonymous are in the action
https://twitter.com/#!/YourAnonNews/status/160114848917757952

[ben]

RIP icefilms

http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/1964068_700b.jpg

[J0SH]

There's always zshare and Dropbox and stuff so I'm not that worried, however if Megavideo closes then I'll feel the blow :(

[Chris]

There's always zshare and Dropbox and stuff so I'm not that worried, however if Megavideo closes then I'll feel the blow :(

Megavideo and megapix are gone too, but I hope they're not gone permanently. :(

[xxMATTGxx]

There's always zshare and Dropbox and stuff so I'm not that worried, however if Megavideo closes then I'll feel the blow :(

Wasn't megavideo owned by megaupload? If so then that's gone as well.


"and seized more than 18 domain names associated with MegaUpload. "

[J0SH]

Wasn't megavideo owned by megaupload? If so then that's gone as well.

That's a shame, the world really is ending this year /slit

[Jack!]

The government takes down Megaupload? 15 minutes later Anonymous takes down government (justice.gov) and record label sites (universalmusic.com). I love these guys.

[Rixion]

Mediafire and Hulkshare best not go anywhere!

[Oleh]

Several sites have gone down in retaliation.

RIAA (www.riaa (http://www.<strong>riaa</strong>).com), UMG (www.universalmusic.com (http://www.universalmusic.com)), MPAA (MPAA.org), US Copyright Office (copyright.gov), BMI (BMI.com), HADOPI (HADOPI.fr), FBI (FBI.gov), Department of justice (Justice.gov), Warner Music group (WMG.com)


EDIT: added 2 more sites
EDIT: added another
EDIT: & another

[efq]

What did I say about people rebelling? Anonymous are taking sites down like flies. Good thing though.

[Oleh]

downforeveryoneorjustme.com has also taken a hit.

[Oleh]

FBI (FBI.com) has been downed.

This isexhilarating.

[StefanWolves]

RIP icefilms

http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/1964068_700b.jpg

Icefilms have confirmed they're going nowhere. They're just going to use a different provider

[Richie]

not sure if ppl heard about this but a tone of artists got together to make this song to support megaupload and sopa apparently contacted youtube telling them they must take it down because it violated copyright and the scary thing is it actually didn't.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzUuO151jLk


this video explains a lot


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhwuXNv8fJM

[Neversoft]

Nooooooooooooooo! One of my uploads on Megaupload was nearing 2,000 downloads. I was going to have a party. :(

[Recursion]

not sure if ppl heard about this but a tone of artists got together to make this song to support megaupload and sopa apparently contacted youtube telling them they must take it down because it violated copyright and the scary thing is it actually didn't.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzUuO151jLk


this video explains a lot


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhwuXNv8fJM

Universal have a contract with YouTube effectively saying they can pull videos down without even owning the copyright :/

[GommeInc]

I remember the days when YouTube was an amazing website. The last 4 years have seen it drop in amazing material, most of which contained copyrighted material but was re-edited to have a different meaning altogether - most of the videos even gave credit to the owners of the copyright, trademark or material which was very noble :/

[J0SH]

I remember the days when YouTube was an amazing website. The last 4 years have seen it drop in amazing material, most of which contained copyrighted material but was re-edited to have a different meaning altogether - most of the videos even gave credit to the owners of the copyright, trademark or material which was very noble :/

I know right, I had some amazing ripped content with 14k subscribers then they closed my account :(

[ben]

Icefilms have confirmed they're going nowhere. They're just going to use a different provider

And how many films/tv shows have no sources now as they were hosted on megaupload

[Jahova]

Court case will be interesting.

[Chippiewill]

I just lost a load of backups. I still have my primary files, and have them uploaded to other file sharing sites, but it still sucks ass. Cloud storage is just going to go down the drain, now.
Apparently a lot of people are planning to take the RIAA to small claims court over this as it forces them to use an employee not a lawyer.

[Andii]

dont really use it anyway lol but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO if they start shutting down other sites :O

[efq]

I hope all users against it join in the DDoS attacks.

They'd stand no chance.

[FiftyCal]

Welcome to America people.

[Jack!]

Welcome to America people.

Butttttttt, I'm still in the UK as far as I know? :(

"America, [Attempting to] Control the world since 2011!"

[Chippiewill]

.com is run by a US owned company and megaupload was violating US copyright which gives the US jurisdiction when coordinating with New Zealand where MU was based.

[brandon]

.com is run by a US owned company and megaupload was violating US copyright which gives the US jurisdiction when coordinating with New Zealand where MU was based.
I thought MU was based in Hong Kong, and then if that's so then where does that leave Rapidshare and the likes?

[xxMATTGxx]

I thought MU was based in Hong Kong, and then if that's so then where does that leave Rapidshare and the likes?

I'm pretty sure the CEO is American or something. Anyway in regards of RapidShare they aren't worried.


Earlier this week, the popular file sharing site Megaupload got shut down by US government officials who claim the site was a den of online piracy. The move has shaken up the Internet has a whole and many wonder if the US will be making similar raids on other file sharing web sites.

Ars Technica got a comment from Daniel Raimer, a spokesperson for RapidShare, yet another well known and popular file sharing and locker site. The spokesperson claims that the company isn't worried about something happening to their site in the wake of the Megaupload raid. Raimer said, "We're not concerned or scared about the raid. File hosting itself is a legitimate business."

RapidShare's CEO Alexandra Zwingli points out that their company has tried to be more open about their business than the executives of Megaupload. She states:


RapidShare AG was founded in Switzerland and in fact, it was always located at the address given in the company details and was always run under real names without any anonymous intermediate businesses. The radical measures against Megaupload were apparently required since the situation there had been totally different.

Zwingli says that RapidShare acts "rigidly against copyright infringement" and adds that they don't offer any kind of reward system for people who upload content that is downloaded frequently by other users like Megaupload did.

Source: http://www.neowin.net/news/rapidshare-team-not-worried-about-megaupload-shutdown

[Oleh]

I believe that one of the servers was located in the US (virginia) so that's how they had the power to do what they did.

[Chippiewill]

I thought MU was based in Hong Kong, and then if that's so then where does that leave Rapidshare and the likes?
The actual guys running the show were in New Zealand.

[xxMATTGxx]

This isn't megaupload but I can see it being linked, filesonic have just recently disabled file sharing across their website. They have a notice at the top that says:

"All sharing functionality on filesonic is now disabled. Our service can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally."

http://www.filesonic.com/

[GoldenMerc]

This isn't megaupload but I can see it being linked, filesonic have just recently disabled file sharing across their website. They have a notice at the top that says:

"All sharing functionality on filesonic is now disabled. Our service can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally."

http://www.filesonic.com/

Do you think they will re-enable it later in the year?

[xxMATTGxx]

Do you think they will re-enable it later in the year?

I don't see what the difference would do in a year unless they brought changes to how it worked for them.

---------- Post added 22-01-2012 at 09:53 PM ----------

It's also being said that uploaded.to have blocked the US from using their website.

[Oleh]

Fileserve is on the brink of going.

[Shar]

nooooooooo megavideo, that's the third site I used to go on a lot that has been shut down :'(
This is absolutely ridiculous

[Eric]

Megaupload has been banned from my country last year. I was so pissed and now it's shut down. So R.I.P

[xxMATTGxx]

Fileserve is on the brink of going.


Fileserve closes reward program, terminates accounts

http://www.neowin.net/news/fileserve-closes-reward-program-terminates-accounts

[HotelUser]

Filesonic suspended uploads. In my opinion Rapidshare is safe though and that's the one I use from time to time when I'm given an account by a frield.

Megaupload's CEO was someone called Swizz Beatz, and to make it worse the founder had been in a lot of legal trouble in the past. It's not surprising to see them stumble first. Shocking though, at one point they were the 13th most visited website.

[xxMATTGxx]

Filesonic suspended uploads. In my opinion Rapidshare is safe though and that's the one I use from time to time when I'm given an account by a frield.

Megaupload's CEO was someone called Swizz Beatz, and to make it worse the founder had been in a lot of legal trouble in the past. It's not surprising to see them stumble first. Shocking though, at one point they were the 13th most visited website.

They didn't suspend uploads, they suspended filesharing. You can upload but you can't say give links out, you can only download files that you have personally uploaded and have access to the account I believe.

[HotelUser]

They didn't suspend uploads, they suspended filesharing. You can upload but you can't say give links out, you can only download files that you have personally uploaded and have access to the account I believe.

Correct and doesn't this completely nullify any functionality of utilizing Filesonic in order to distribute copyrighted material?

[xxMATTGxx]

Correct and doesn't this completely nullify any functionality of utilizing Filesonic in order to distribute copyrighted material?

Probably unless people will trust each other in using an account they can access and download the files from but then there is a risk of them changing passwords, deleting files etc. They are saving themselves either way.

[HotelUser]

Probably unless people will trust each other in using an account they can access and download the files from but then there is a risk of them changing passwords, deleting files etc. They are saving themselves either way.

Indeed, torrents are looking good at the moment.

[Recursion]

Indeed, torrents are looking good at the moment.

USENET moreso.

[Jordy]

Why's Anonymous constantly weigh in like some sort of geek-police paramilitary? They seem to concern themselves with everything and although all computer nerds sit at home thinking they're heroes they're far from it. They temporarily bring down a website because they dislike it by overloading it with a botnet. It's neither skilful, interesting or useful.

[dirrty]

Why's Anonymous constantly weigh in like some sort of geek-police paramilitary? They seem to concern themselves with everything and although all computers nerds sit at home thinking they're heroes they're far from it. They temporarily bring down a website because they dislike it by overloading it with a botnet. It's neither skilful, interesting or useful.
it's better than nothing imo. i do agree with the bolded though, but hey at least they're keeping the companies IT department in business :P

what i REALLY REALLY hate (dunno if it's been mentioned, hey it probably has though), is the fact that the entertainment industry and co. assume that by taking down these sites, individuals will start buying their **** instead of illegally downloading. nope. others sites will pop up, and people will always find alternatives to actually legally acquiring things.

[Jordy]

it's better than nothing imo. i do agree with the bolded though, but hey at least they're keeping the companies IT department in business :P

what i REALLY REALLY hate (dunno if it's been mentioned, hey it probably has though), is the fact that the entertainment industry and co. assume that by taking down these sites, individuals will start buying their **** instead of illegally downloading. nope. others sites will pop up, and people will always find alternatives to actually legally acquiring things.Indeed it's just a bunch of nerds with nothing better to do who crave attention from what I can gather.

I have to agree with your second paragraph too, they talk about Megaupload causing a £300m loss to the entertainment industry? Not at all, that's assuming every single file on Megaupload would have been paid for if it wasn't illegally downloaded. £300m worth of music, films etc may well have been downloaded but chances are they had no intention of paying for it anyway so it isn't a loss to them at all. The entertainment industry has been shown to make larger profits every year and it's also been shown those who illegally download, generally buy more music, films etc too.

I'm not saying that illegal downloaders have the "right" to download what they want (Nothing annoys me more than someone who is clearly stealing taking the moral high ground) because they buy other stuff or because they have no intention of buying it anyway, because quite frankly what they're doing is wrong but the entertainment industry needs to stop feeding all this propaganda to the media and courts about losses when it couldn't be further from the case.

[GoldenMerc]

But the thing is, think if sites like this were never made, no one ever thought of them. I imagine i'd actually be buying music and dvds's...
But in the ideal world your correct, one goes down another one comes.

[xxMATTGxx]

But the thing is, think if sites like this were never made, no one ever thought of them. I imagine i'd actually be buying music and dvds's...
But in the ideal world your correct, one goes down another one comes.

Well I see where your coming from but that would mean FTP would of never been thought of, file sharing through applications such as WLM, Skype etc. Would be an interesting internet world! :P

[GoldenMerc]

I guess, But then again if those sites wern't made, would they even think of the idea of putting file sharing on WLM for example :P

[Jordy]

But the thing is, think if sites like this were never made, no one ever thought of them. I imagine i'd actually be buying music and dvds's...
But in the ideal world your correct, one goes down another one comes.That's not the case at all. I wouldn't pay for much of the stuff I download and I know that's the case for most.

Would I pay for hundreds of TV Boxsets and countless discography's from artists I don't even like that much? No, but I'm happy to download it if it's free (Therefore it's not a "loss" to the record companies).

[peteyt]

I guess, But then again if those sites wern't made, would they even think of the idea of putting file sharing on WLM for example :P

This brings up an intersting thing I was thinking about the other day. Shouldn't Windows Live Messenger be taken down because lots of people have used it in the past for sending music to and from other users which is basically illegal downloading.

My point is that WLM and Mega Upload are the same in a sense - its a service for uploading files. Anyone can upload files of both legal and illegal content e.g. copyrighted - does that make the service illegal, not really in my opinion.

Does anyone know if anything will have happened to the members of Mega Upload who where paying for a pro account, because I would be really annoyed if I was uploading legal stuff and paying for it only for the site to be closed.

Which brings me to another point, privacy. It is all about privacy these days. The problem is that I could upload a file called important documents.zip - it could be legal it might actually contain a copyrighted song and be simply hiding the fact - but the important question is how would anyone know - I could imagine the government trying to make it so that all files hosted had to be checked and that would be annoying if confidential information was in only aimed for certain people (some hosting services do allow you to password protect your uploads).

Like some have also mentioned I am not a fan of piracy but these laws are going at it the wrong way. If they want to try and prevent it they need to in my opinion tackle the people uploading it and not the services they use. Closing a website isn't going to really worry an illegal uploader as there are plenty of more services out there (some that even encourage illegal stuff, although it's often hidden). Taking the site down is only a minor issue to the uploader but it is a major issue to the company running it and its customers.

[Twista500]

I love how everyone is whining that megaupload shut down... If you know what SOPA is you should know what will be coming next If SOPA passes (most likely will) Then most very popular sites will be shutdown. Because of the radio on habbox sopa can cause something to habbox but most likely wont because not a big company or anything, Facebook Youtube etc Can Or Will be shut down because of this

[peteyt]

I love how everyone is whining that megaupload shut down... If you know what SOPA is you should know what will be coming next If SOPA passes (most likely will) Then most very popular sites will be shutdown. Because of the radio on habbox sopa can cause something to habbox but most likely wont because not a big company or anything, Facebook Youtube etc Can Or Will be shut down because of this

Lol I think SOPA which seems to be dying slightly someone told me, won't take Facebook or YouTube. It could try, but I think the government would probably aim at closing small sites, as the big ones like those 2 couldcertaintyafford the best lawyers to defend them.

[xxMATTGxx]

This brings up an intersting thing I was thinking about the other day. Shouldn't Windows Live Messenger be taken down because lots of people have used it in the past for sending music to and from other users which is basically illegal downloading.

My point is that WLM and Mega Upload are the same in a sense - its a service for uploading files. Anyone can upload files of both legal and illegal content e.g. copyrighted - does that make the service illegal, not really in my opinion.

Does anyone know if anything will have happened to the members of Mega Upload who where paying for a pro account, because I would be really annoyed if I was uploading legal stuff and paying for it only for the site to be closed.

Which brings me to another point, privacy. It is all about privacy these days. The problem is that I could upload a file called important documents.zip - it could be legal it might actually contain a copyrighted song and be simply hiding the fact - but the important question is how would anyone know - I could imagine the government trying to make it so that all files hosted had to be checked and that would be annoying if confidential information was in only aimed for certain people (some hosting services do allow you to password protect your uploads).

Like some have also mentioned I am not a fan of piracy but these laws are going at it the wrong way. If they want to try and prevent it they need to in my opinion tackle the people uploading it and not the services they use. Closing a website isn't going to really worry an illegal uploader as there are plenty of more services out there (some that even encourage illegal stuff, although it's often hidden). Taking the site down is only a minor issue to the uploader but it is a major issue to the company running it and its customers.

Well MegaUpload wasn't closed down on the fact that it was a file sharing service, other reasons was involved which also includes: Earning points or some type of an award system if you upload files and that has a certain amount of downloads. I believe this was making them money and they didn't deal with copyright files efficiently like other sites may do.

WLM - I can see what you mean and it's just a simple file transfer but I don't think anything will happen to it unless they were forced to. And if they were forced to then the world has gone crazy.


I love how everyone is whining that megaupload shut down... If you know what SOPA is you should know what will be coming next If SOPA passes (most likely will) Then most very popular sites will be shutdown. Because of the radio on habbox sopa can cause something to habbox but most likely wont because not a big company or anything, Facebook Youtube etc Can Or Will be shut down because of this

Yes we know what SOPA is and it's pretty much dead at the moment.

[Recursion]

I love how everyone is whining that megaupload shut down... If you know what SOPA is you should know what will be coming next If SOPA passes (most likely will) Then most very popular sites will be shutdown. Because of the radio on habbox sopa can cause something to habbox but most likely wont because not a big company or anything, Facebook Youtube etc Can Or Will be shut down because of this

SOPA isn't passing, PIPA and ACTA are more of a concern now.

[Nemo]

I thought this was pretty interesting
https://plus.google.com/u/0/111314089359991626869/posts/HQJxDRiwAWq

[Futz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Wvn-9BXVc

:(

[xxMATTGxx]

I thought this was pretty interesting
https://plus.google.com/u/0/111314089359991626869/posts/HQJxDRiwAWq

That's quote interesting if it was true.

[peteyt]

Well MegaUpload wasn't closed down on the fact that it was a file sharing service, other reasons was involved which also includes: Earning points or some type of an award system if you upload files and that has a certain amount of downloads. I believe this was making them money and they didn't deal with copyright files efficiently like other sites may do.

WLM - I can see what you mean and it's just a simple file transfer but I don't think anything will happen to it unless they were forced to. And if they were forced to then the world has gone crazy.



Yes we know what SOPA is and it's pretty much dead at the moment.

Although I thought the main reason was basically copyright - my worry is will they try it with one not offering this service.

I run a website and aim to bring my forum back soon, I always try to remove all dodgy stuff, butsurelyif I have the terms worded correctly and someone posts something without me realising legally I've done enough - If someone then said to remove it I would but obviously they'd have to inform me it was there and not just simply try to close us.

I think the interesting thing to me is how much the film/musicindustrieshave put so much money into digital thinking it will stop piracy. What they don't realise is most people aren't downloading it for ease of use, they are downloading it because they can, because they can get it for free and so these people are hardly going to pay for something they can get for nothing. I think part of the problem is that while ISP's have mentioned writing letters to culprits hardly anyone it seems has got this, I remember a year or so ago a lecturer at my university (did a degree in film and tv production) said that the paper even wrote no one in the uk had been prosecuted for downloading films.

I wonder if actually going ahead with this would make things better, actually making users know if they do download they will get caught. Most of us have done it at times but this would probably stop most people but some would probably find ways around it though as with most things. I try to refuse buying digital stuff, CD's filmsetc.because I don't see the point in buying a file, I'd rather have thephysicalitem, but most people don't care about that these days.

[Metric1]

IS MEGAVIDEO SHUT DOWN?!!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[Adam]

You're all pirating *******s.

[xxMATTGxx]

You're all pirating *******s.

No.

http://google.com

[Oleh]

I have to admit, with the recent withdrawal of filesharing by filesonic & the closure of Megaupload. It took me about 25 seconds longer to find links to download 2 movies.

It seems like a big problem but in the long term there are a boat load more filesharing sites popping up ready to take its place. I can see 5-6 hosts which are popular amongst filesharing linking sites & 2-3 are relatively new.

[Adam]

No.

http://google.com

Seriously.

[Recursion]

You're all pirating *******s.

How many trademark and copyright infringements are there currently on the website in your signature?

[Meowingtons]

It was going to happen at some point but there is always more to take it's place.

[Jack!]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Wvn-9BXVc

:(

Not like I just sat and listened to all of this..... eh, yeahhh.


Its catchy.

M-E-G-A Upload to me todaaay.


Anyhow, its a shame, it all depends on how piracy is viewed by different parties at the end of the day, I'm a part of "I Wouldn't of bought it anyway so its no loss" Some have different views to that and I can respect it, However, It often does no work that way with both parties, The closing of megaupload is proof of this, is it not?

[Adam]

How many trademark and copyright infringements are there currently on the website in your signature?

I didn't exclude myself, did I?

However, there aren't any that isn't covered by this (http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html) for the purpose of comment and news reporting.

[Recursion]

I didn't exclude myself, did I?

However, there aren't any that isn't covered by this (http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html) for the purpose of comment and news reporting.
You implied it, also your site is based in the UK and falls under UK copyright laws.

[Adam]

You implied it, also your site is based in the UK and falls under UK copyright laws.

... and the WWE is a US company.

I don't understand why you're trying to get one over.

[N!ck]

... and the WWE is a US company.

I don't understand why you're trying to get one over.

Your website is hosted in the UK, so you must also follow UK law.

[Adam]

Your website is hosted in the UK, so you must also follow UK law.

Who is going to sue me?

In any case, it's contradictory when you have a GT5 avatar and Recursion has a Stewie avatar which you both don't have permission to use.

[Recursion]

Who is going to sue me?

In any case, it's contradictory when you have a GT5 avatar and Recursion has a Stewie avatar which you both don't have permission to use.

Habbox's problem, not ours. They take ownership of all content on the forum when you sign up.

[HotelUser]

Who is going to sue me?

In any case, it's contradictory when you have a GT5 avatar and Recursion has a Stewie avatar which you both don't have permission to use.

This is a foolish argument to make because the only way that point would hold up in a legal proceeding was if both individuals refused the right holder's initial requests to remove the copyrighted material from their profiles.

Additionally it's like stating that every state would be entitled to ban contraceptives if they wished. It's true but that doesn't mean any state would ever do it in a million years. No corporation is going to file a law suit because consumers are advertising their products in a harmless manner.

[Adam]

Exactly the point HotelUser but some members like to be cynical.

I said you're all pirates, which about 95% of you are and somehow it got onto me breaking copyright with images.

Oh HxF, you entertain me so.

[Chippiewill]

In any case, it's contradictory when you have a GT5 avatar and Recursion has a Stewie avatar which you both don't have permission to use.
That constitutes fair-use and is not therefore a violation of copyright law.

The website in your signature probably would be in violation due to the Premium Membership and lack of original graphic content.

[AgnesIO]

At last there is solution - WORKING file hosting: *REMOVED*

I believe post referral links is looks down on.

It would be interesting to note there are loads of file upload services.

[Adam]

That constitutes fair-use and is not therefore a violation of copyright law.

The website in your signature probably would be in violation due to the Premium Membership and lack of original graphic content.

That constitutes fair use.

And no, it doesn't.

Do Habbo fansite get shut down? No, it's pretty much free advertising for them.
Do World of Warcraft fansites get shut down? No, it's pretty much free advertising for them.
Do any fansites get shut down? No, it's pretty much free advertising for them.

See a pattern? Yeah, nobodies going to shut down my site unless I besmirch the company it's pretty much advertising. Which isn't going to happen.

[HotelUser]

Back to an ontopic discussion, in the gestures of a great man:

http://i.imgur.com/xN2Ud.gif

[Chris]

Back to an ontopic discussion, in the gestures of a great man:

http://i.imgur.com/xN2Ud.gif

Haha thats pretty good.

I wonder who is next on the hit list? :(

[beth]

Haha thats pretty good.

I wonder who is next on the hit list? :(

hope it's not mediafire hahaha.

[xxMATTGxx]

There is no hit list, it took 6 years to take megaupload down!

[Recursion]

That constitutes fair use.

And no, it doesn't.

Do Habbo fansite get shut down? No, it's pretty much free advertising for them.
Do World of Warcraft fansites get shut down? No, it's pretty much free advertising for them.
Do any fansites get shut down? No, it's pretty much free advertising for them.

See a pattern? Yeah, nobodies going to shut down my site unless I besmirch the company it's pretty much advertising. Which isn't going to happen.

I think you'll find Habbo gives explicit permission to fansites to use images etc, not sure on the others.

[Tomm]

Same with WoW:

Blizzard Entertainment® hereby grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and non- assignable license to use and display, for home, noncommercial and personal use only, one copy of any material and/or software that you may download from this site, including, but not limited to, any files, codes, audio or images incorporated in or generated by the software (collectively the "Downloaded Content") provided, however, that you must include or maintain all copyright and other notices contained or associated with such Downloaded Content. You acknowledge and agree that you may not sublicense, assign or otherwise transfer this license or the Downloaded Content and that no title to the Downloaded Content has been or will be transferred to you from Blizzard Entertainment® or anyone else. You also agree that you will not alter, disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer or otherwise modify the Downloaded Content.


Also, we reserve the right to revoke this limited use license at any time, for any reason, and at the sole discretion of Blizzard Entertainment®. You may not use our materials on sites that feature defamatory pornographic, or inflammatory content, including, but not limited to, hacks and cheats for any of our games or any other content that Blizzard Entertainment® find objectionable or unlawful.


I think you'll find Habbo gives explicit permission to fansites to use images etc, not sure on the others.

[Adam]

I think you'll find that's the same with most companies, henceforth why my website will not get shut down because I am not besmirching their name, quite the opposite.

However, like that green power ranger said, back on topic.

[Chippiewill]

That constitutes fair use.
It's profiteering on intellectual property that is owned by others isn't fair use (Note, Habbo makes allowances for fansite donations and it is very restricted).


Do Habbo fansite get shut down? No, it's pretty much free advertising for them.
There is explicit permission which Habbo used to spell out very clearly in their Fansite Way, it's a bit hidden nowadays but it's still there.


See a pattern? Yeah, nobodies going to shut down my site unless I besmirch the company it's pretty much advertising. Which isn't going to happen.
Although putting up youtube videos of with no production value add really isn't very fair to the copyright holder.


I think you'll find that's the same with most companies, henceforth why my website will not get shut down because I am not besmirching their name, quite the opposite.
If you are causing people to spend less of official WWE stuff and more on say, "Premium Membership" due to the youtube videos and other stuff you provide they'll hand you a takedown notice.

I would expect the real reason for no takedown to be the fact you only have 200 members.


However, like that green power ranger said, back on topic.
I wouldn't call David a power ranger, maybe a mutant ninja turtle?

[Kasabian]

I liked Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but I think he's more of a teletubbie.

Either way, there will always be alternatives to Megaupload - I know of 2 that have been set up recently by people on another forum.

[Adam]

It's profiteering on intellectual property that is owned by others isn't fair use (Note, Habbo makes allowances for fansite donations and it is very restricted).


There is explicit permission which Habbo used to spell out very clearly in their Fansite Way, it's a bit hidden nowadays but it's still there.


Although putting up youtube videos of with no production value add really isn't very fair to the copyright holder.


If you are causing people to spend less of official WWE stuff and more on say, "Premium Membership" due to the youtube videos and other stuff you provide they'll hand you a takedown notice.

I would expect the real reason for no takedown to be the fact you only have 200 members.


I wouldn't call David a power ranger, maybe a mutant ninja turtle?

I ain't going to break down your post because there's no need, HOWEVER I'll make 2 points.

Numero, uno - YouTube videos with content claims have adverts on them which make the company (in this case, WWE) money. they make money from the videos I upload of their content. I'm giving them money. It's not profiteering.

In any case, the biggest wrestling forum on the internet (wrestlingforum.com) has a VIP membership scheme and has been going strong now for about 9 years, hell they even link to copyrighted material that DOESN'T earn the WWE money. And that forum has over 200,000 members.

Your logic is flawed. The website, the YouTube channel, whether it be directly or indirectly is making the WWE money. Pretty sure a company wouldn't shut down a forum that does that.

[Recursion]

I ain't going to break down your post because there's no need, HOWEVER I'll make 2 points.

Numero, uno - YouTube videos with content claims have adverts on them which make the company (in this case, WWE) money. they make money from the videos I upload of their content. I'm giving them money. It's not profiteering.

In any case, the biggest wrestling forum on the internet (wrestlingforum.com) has a VIP membership scheme and has been going strong now for about 9 years, hell they even link to copyrighted material that DOESN'T earn the WWE money. And that forum has over 200,000 members.

Your logic is flawed. The website, the YouTube channel, whether it be directly or indirectly is making the WWE money. Pretty sure a company wouldn't shut down a forum that does that.

That's the same as me running an upload website with free hollywood movies and crying out "FREE EXPOSURE!!!!"

[Chippiewill]

WWE makes far less money off the video than they lose from people who cancel cable subscriptions because they can watch a ten minute mash-up for free.

That wrestlingforum has a crucial difference in that it doesn't depend on content they do not own and the videos on there appear to have added production value which constitutes fair use.