This might make for an interesting topic

[Herr Professor Doktor Doom]

all the online activism is paying off...supporters of these bills are jumping ship left and right.

I  think people vastly overstate the importance of "online activism."   It's pretty hard to believe that Wikipedia going dark and a bunch of people tweeting had any effect on this whatsoever.    More likely, what this represents is the victory of certain 21st century corporate titans (Google and friends) over 20th century corporate titans (the entertainment industry).

[Jaguar]

I think that you are both right. This was only a temporary victory as you damned well know that they will continue to regroup and come after us with full guns. It was the numbers and some of the bigger power players that stalled them for a few minutes. Some, are probably disguised infiltrators as always happens. They get in to 'know thy enemy' and then get control and lead them on to self-destruction. Happens all the time.


Disclaimer: Before anyone twists up this issue, by no means am I, or most of the opposers of these acts, condoning any kind of pirating. It's all the draconian nastiness involved. The piracy issue is nothing but the glitter to sell dangerous legislation and kill the freedom of the internet as we know it.

[Jaguar]

And Doomie, you are also right about it being a corporate power play by some. All you have to do is look at the ongoing battles between such companies as Comcrap, Netflix and the Hollywood mega-studios. Shame that all of the artists and consumers; legitimate ones at that; are usually the ones who end up paying in the end for those battles and even losing livelihoods. We just don't have the power, money and comparable representation.

[azaghal1981]

Go Anonymous go!


Disabling a useful tool such as Megaupload and arresting its founders in 2012 is akin to banning the VCR and arresting its inventor in 1980.


These fuckers deserve everything they have coming.

No, I do not use Megaupload for anything but as Jaguar stated, most of its use is likely for perfectly legal purposes.

[azaghal1981]

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/news/anonymous-gets-revenge-takedown-megaupload-takes-down-riaa-universal-music-justice-department-b

[hutch]

most use megaupload for legit purposes? is there any evidence supporting such an assertion?

[James Ford]

Can you explain this one? Thanks.

Disabling a useful tool such as Megaupload and arresting its founders in 2012 is akin to banning the VCR and arresting its inventor in 1980.

[azaghal1981]

No, I don't have stats or anything. But I do see it, Mediafire, Sendspace, etc. used for legit purposes regularly.

[Jaguar]

^ Let's look at it another way. A couple guys go out and rob a bank. They make their getaway in a Toyota Camry. With the logic of these bills, Toyota would be charged as well as the robbers. It doesn't matter that the car maker's intent was not meant for their cars to be used to rob banks, but they were. Same logic.

For those who still don't get the importance of stopping such legislation, please watch this video... and pay very close attention to the message...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFnqa8Gk3as

... otherwise, we may all meet up at this board's biggest forum party ever. Seth will be there too but he won't be hosting the thing.

That would include:

Rhett/James - for all of the copy and paste posts he's lifted and used in here as his own... and all of the good beer photos and articles

Walkie - for all of his cool cat pictures

Hutch - for his music links

Kosmo - for his many DJ sets he's created and linked in here

Smackie - for his ladies and techie links

Sweets - for the many news articles he's pasted or linked us up with

Wml - for his cool concert videos. So you say it's his? Too bad, you can see a bottle of beer or the name of the venue, etc....

ALL OF US - for the many videos, photos, new articles, names we've mentioned, and on and on and on and on.

YES, it has the potential to be that bad!

[hutch]

There is a difference between being against SOPA and what is  going on with shutting down Megaupload....


Azaghal himself says he really doesn't know what people use Megaupload for.. he knows anecdotally that some people use it legit... thats about all he knows..

[nkotb]

I will vouch that I've only used it for legit purposes for work, etc....but let's not kid ourselves; it's a great way to share ANY content, legal or otherwise.

Definitely think Jag's point is spot on, though.  So any mechanism/tool that COULD be used to commit a crime should be outlawed?  That's insanity.

There is a difference between being against SOPA and what is  going on with shutting down Megaupload....


Azaghal himself says he really doesn't know what people use Megaupload for.. he knows anecdotally that some people use it legit... thats about all he knows..

[azaghal1981]

I never said I didn't know that people don't use it illegally. Of course they do. People use many things for illegal purposes but those things are not outlawed. Look at Jaguar's excellent analogy above for instance.


By shutting MU down when they did, the government/entertainment industry are trying to send the message that they need no such legislation. SOPA or no SOPA, they apparently plan to go after and dismantle whatever sites they please. And the need for an Anonymous to counter this is essential.

[James Ford]

So you guys who seem to acquire hundreds of new albums a year are doing it legally? How much do you spend annually on recorded music?

[Vas Deferens]

hope they are not after mediafire next....

[hutch]

I will vouch that I've only used it for legit purposes for work, etc....but let's not kid ourselves; it's a great way to share ANY content, legal or otherwise.

Definitely think Jag's point is spot on, though.  So any mechanism/tool that COULD be used to commit a crime should be outlawed?  That's insanity.

There is a difference between being against SOPA and what is  going on with shutting down Megaupload....


Azaghal himself says he really doesn't know what people use Megaupload for.. he knows anecdotally that some people use it legit... thats about all he knows..

we know megaupload is used to share movies, music, books...  the point isn't that it should be outlawed because it could be used to break the law but because the people who run it don't care at all that it is as far as the DOJ or FBI or whoever determined..


personally my feeling- and its as valid as Azaghals anecdotal evidence- is that most people are using megaupload to illegally download music and movies.... I have no problem ,if this is the case, with it being shut down...

If 90% of people are using Megaupload to break the law and Megaupload doesn't do anything to discourage it then why should it not be shutdown? Because 10% use it to share their pictures or papers?

In the end it doesn't even matter what the percentages are.. if the FBI determines Megaupload is breaking the law then it should be shut down and I'm not sure why people immediately assume - without any facts- that Megaupload is doing nothing wrong (I suspect because its very convenient)


Moreover, there is nothing cool about taking down websites such as the DOJ.