The company were sued for having many pirated files uploaded by users.

Source: http://consequenceofsound.net/2012/01/me...osecutors/

Wow, if this continues, all file upload site will be gone!

So I guess 2012 really is the end of the world. A BIG ass change was made that is equivalent to the end of the world.

Quote:According to the indictment, MegaUpload is responsible for at least $500 million in losses for the owners of the copyrights in question.
The indictment calls the company "a worldwide criminal organization whose members engaged in criminal copyright infringement and money laundering on a massive scale.''
Investigators estimate that MegaUpload's piracy business has earned them more than $175 million, according to the indictment.

Source

Money laundering? I know they pulled the "estimated damages" numbers out of their ass (because that's how these things are done) but what is this about money laundering?

Sad day when I read it yesterday ;_;

you kinda forgot to mention the part where anonymous pounded everybody's asses for taking down megaupload

Yeah!

Filesonic just followed suite and pulled sharing from their services, feds scared their asses apparently. I sense they are already adjusting NDAA for their will for this crap.

Not only Filesonic. A lot of the file uploading sites are doing the same thing.

SOPA PASSED AND WE'VE ALL BEEN HAD

(01-23-2012 10:41 PM)RueGorE Wrote:  SOPA PASSED AND WE'VE ALL BEEN HAD

Source?

From a certain website...

"This is the current filehost status according to Anona, so yes, the feds have moved against a bunch of them:
MegaUpload – Closed.
FileServe – Closing does not sell premium.
FileJungle – Deleting files. Locked in the U.S..
UploadStation – Locked in the U.S..
FileSonic – the news is arbitrary (under FBI investigation).
… VideoBB – Closed! would disappear soon.
Uploaded – Banned U.S. and the FBI went after the owners who are gone.
FilePost – Deleting all material (so will leave executables, pdfs, txts)
Videoz – closed and locked in the countries affiliated with the USA.
4shared – Deleting files with copyright and waits in line at the FBI.
MediaFire – Called to testify in the next 90 days and it will open doors for FBI
Org torrent – could vanish with everything within 30 days “he is under criminal investigation”
Network Share mIRC – awaiting the decision of the case to continue or terminate Torrente everything.
Koshiki – operating 100% Japan will not join the SOUP / PIPA
Shienko Box – 100% working china / korea will not join the SOUP / PIPA
ShareX BR – group UOL / BOL / iG say they will join the SOUP / PIPA'

I guess the Mayans were right.

One has to wonder how all these file sharing sites are being removed now when they were all thriving just a little while ago? What changed between then and now?

MediaFire too? Damn...that's the only place I have a bunch of my college work stored. Well, better get downloading and back-up-ing.

A possible reason:

Quote:Why was MegaUpload really shut down?

In December of 2011, just weeks before the takedown, Digital Music News reported on something new that the creators of #Megaupload were about to unroll. Something that would rock the music industry to its core. (http://goo.gl/A7wUZ)

I present to you... MegaBox. MegaBox was going to be an alternative music store that was entirely cloud-based and offered artists a better money-making opportunity than they would get with any record label.

"UMG knows that we are going to compete with them via our own music venture called Megabox.com, a site that will soon allow artists to sell their creations directly to consumers while allowing artists to keep 90 percent of earnings," MegaUpload founder Kim 'Dotcom' Schmitz told Torrentfreak

Not only did they plan on allowing artists to keep 90% of their earnings on songs that they sold, they wanted to pay them for songs they let users download for free.

"We have a solution called the Megakey that will allow artists to earn income from users who download music for free," Dotcom outlined. "Yes that's right, we will pay artists even for free downloads. The Megakey business model has been tested with over a million users and it works."

Artists getting paid from users downloading their music for free? Say it isn't so!

The music industry would have you believe it's impossible

The world of music just jelly of MegaBox

(01-24-2012 05:51 AM)Gohan Wrote:  MediaFire too? Damn...that's the only place I have a bunch of my college work stored. Well, better get downloading and back-up-ing.

That's where I uploaded 99% of the anime I converted! Oh no! Honestly, I don't care about those files, but I do feel a little bad that put all that time into those files.

If you know French, check out this video, it's pretty funny:

Sigh, the anonymous should just attack the government and redeem our freedom!!

@Garyuu v3.1
o.O You haven't show up in ages and you finally decide to show yourself.

TechDirt.com Wrote:There's a key point in all of this that we missed in our earlier analysis about paid accounts at Megaupload. In the indictment, the government seems to assume that paid accounts are clearly all about illegal infringing works. But that's not always the case. In fact, plenty of big name artists -- especially in the hip hop world -- use the paid accounts to make themselves money. This is how they release tracks. You sign up for a paid account from services like Megaupload, which pay you if you get a ton of downloads. For big name artists, that's easy: of course you get a ton of downloads. So it's a great business model for artists: they get paid and their fans get music for free. Everyone wins. Oh... except for the old gatekeeper labels.

In fact, this is part of the ecosystem, especially in the hip hop world. It's why the artists also support those hip hop blogs that the RIAA insists are dens of pure thievery. The artists release their tracks to those blogs, knowing they'll get tons of downloads -- and actually get money. If they do deals with labels, they know they'll never see a dime. Putting music on Megaupload is a way to get paid. Working with a gatekeeper is not.

And yet... Megaupload is the criminal operation? Seems like the actual artists know otherwise.

What Busta is pointing out is that services like Megaupload -- while it may be run by some sketchy individuals and probably crossed the legal line in some cases -- are actually a great new business model for artists, while also being the future of distribution. It's a great way to distribute, make money, and let fans get the works for free. And that's why the major labels are so freaked out by cyberlockers. It's not because there's so much infringement on there, but because it's a system whereby artists can get paid and can better distribute their own works to fans... without signing an indentured servitude contract with a label, which never pays any royalties.

Source: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/2012012...nals.shtml


So then what do the gatekeepers do if they can't compete with these new services? They get the government to shut them down. Makes perfect sense to me.
What a fine example of legislation versus innovation.