CYBER WAR: Feds SHUT DOWN file-sharing website; No trial, no due process...I repeat, I am sympathetic to intellectual property protection. I am not however sympathetic to action by government without due process.
We are beyond violations of the Constitution. The government is now bordering on ignoring the Magna Carta.
I don't necessarily like the idea of shutting down Megaupload, but I don't think that there's really room to complain that it was shut down without a trial.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that there will be a trial, presumably a "speedy trial," but that the owners were arrested and the site was shut down pending trial. To the extent that there was probable cause to believe that the site was violating a criminal law, and there are criminal laws against intentional copyright violations, I don't see how you can allow the site to continue operating while awaiting trial.
Imagine for a moment that Megaupload, instead of being a company violating copyrights, it was an individual shooting someone or robbing someone's house. Should the police show up, advise Megaupload that it needs to appear for trial to determine if it was committing a crime, but but it can carry on with what it was doing for now, or do they arrest it and stop it from committing the crime?
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ReplyDeleteI've never used megaupload, I get my stuff from the bittorrent network. That being said, this is a travesty of justice.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, file sharing is not going away, it's just not. The media companies need to adjust to that. I remember when they were afraid that people would record music off the radio and they would lose millions.
And why should they be able to preemptively be able to seize his cars and cash?
The government is totally out of control
Somehow wenzel missed the Anon DDoS attack immediately following the megaupload seizure on the fbi, copyright office, justice dept, whitehouse.gov, riaa, etc etc etc etc..
ReplyDeletei also think this is a real loss for the legitmate users paying to use megaupload as data storage who lost all their personal data..also, megaupload was complying with all removal requests per copyrighted material...
Being sympathetic to "intellectual property protection," how can Wenzel be against this federal harassment and extortion in exchange for "stealing" something that was copied and then subsequently lost?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/technology/us-charges-programmer-with-stealing-code.html?_r=4&smid=tw-nytimesbusiness&seid=auto
Federal prosecutors have charged a computer programmer with stealing software code valued at nearly $10 million from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, according to a criminal complaint.
"I am sympathetic to intellectual property protection"
ReplyDeleteTranslation: you are sympathetic to government-enforced monopolism and Marxist labor theory of value. Because that is what "intellectual property" is.
"How can Wenzel be against this federal harassment and extortion in exchange for "stealing" something that was copied and then subsequently lost?"
ReplyDeleteListen you freakin' tool.... this is NOT about IP or anything remotely connected to it. It is about control---total and without limitation-- of information provided to the public. Information that does not just inform, but actually illustrates the lengths of illegality and willful manipulation of the federal government in it's quest to keep the sheep calm. Wake up dude!
This is the best comment I have seen: "A terrifying precedent,” adds the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “If the United States can seize a Dutch citizen in New Zealand over a copyright claim, what is next?”
ReplyDeleteIt did also occur to me that Mr. Wenzel points out the danger of powerful control centers(or something like that) in the economic sector. If you give them the power, they will use it for what they want, not what is just.