
The Megaupload legal case concerns a number of related criminal indictments and enforcement actions taken against
Megaupload
Megaupload Ltd was a Hong Kong-based online company established in 2005 that operated from 2005 to 2012 providing online services related to file storage and viewing.
On 19 January 2012, the United States Department of Justice seized the do ...
owner
Kim Dotcom
Kim Dotcom (born Kim Schmitz; 21 January 1974), also known as Kimble and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, is a German- Finnish Internet entrepreneur and political activist who resides in Glenorchy, New Zealand.
He first rose to fame in Germany in the 1990 ...
in various jurisdictions. On 19 January 2012 the
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and a ...
seized and shut down the file-hosting site Megaupload.com and commenced
criminal case
Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law ...
s against its owners and others. On 20 January 2012
Hong Kong Customs froze more than 300 million Hong Kong dollars (US$39 million) in assets belonging to the company.
Arrests in New Zealand
Acting upon a US Federal prosecutor's request, the
New Zealand Police arrested Dotcom and three other Megaupload executives in a leased $30 million mansion at
Coatesville near
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...
on Friday, 20 January 2012 (
NZDT
Time in New Zealand is divided by law into two standard time zones. The main islands use New Zealand Standard Time (NZST), 12 hours in advance of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) / military M (Mike), while the outlying Chatham Islands use Cha ...
, UTC+13). This was pursuant to a request from the U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
that the four be extradited for racketeering and money laundering. The raid was timed for the birthday celebration of Dotcom. Assets worth $17 million including art works and cars were seized. The four men arrested were
Kim Dotcom
Kim Dotcom (born Kim Schmitz; 21 January 1974), also known as Kimble and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, is a German- Finnish Internet entrepreneur and political activist who resides in Glenorchy, New Zealand.
He first rose to fame in Germany in the 1990 ...
(founder; 38 years old, from Germany), Finn Batato (
Chief marketing officer
A chief marketing officer (CMO), also called a global marketing officer or marketing director, or chief brand officer, is a corporate executive responsible for managing marketing activities in an organization. Whilst historically these titles may ...
(CMO); 38, from Germany), Mathias Ortmann (
Chief technology officer (CTO) and co-founder; 40, from Germany) and Bram van der Kolk (29, from the Netherlands). The number of police officers involved in this operation was about 80 according to Dotcom or 20 to 30 according to the New Zealand police.
On 23 January, Dotcom appeared in Auckland's North Shore
District Court for a bail hearing. The crown argued against bail on the basis that he was a flight risk with a helicopter on his front lawn, while defence lawyers argued that the helicopter could not fly far enough to reach another country. They also said that Dotcom denied any criminal wrongdoing. Judge David McNaughton expressed concern at the discovery of two shotguns at Dotcom's mansion during the police raid, and deferred a decision on whether to grant bail, saying that he needed more time to review the submissions. The request for bail was turned down, with Judge McNaughton saying that "he was denied due to the risk
hat
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mech ...
Mr. Dotcom would flee jurisdiction and the possibility that if he reached Germany he wouldn't be extradited to face the charges". On 3 February 2012, an appeal to the
High Court of New Zealand
The High Court of New Zealand ( mi, Te Kōti Matua o Aotearoa) is the superior court of New Zealand. It has general jurisdiction and responsibility, under the Senior Courts Act 2016, as well as the High Court Rules 2016, for the administration ...
upheld the decision to deny bail.
On 22 February 2012, North Shore District Court Judge Nevin Dawson overturned the previous rulings and granted bail to Kim Dotcom, saying that the risk of flight had diminished after his assets had been seized.
On 5 March 2012, a formal request for the
extradition
Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisd ...
to the United States of Kim Dotcom and three other senior Megaupload staff was filed in a New Zealand court.
On 30 April 2012, the New Zealand High Court ruled that around $750,000 of Kim Dotcom's assets could be returned, including a
Mercedes-Benz G55 AMG and
Toyota Vellfire that had been seized during the raid on his home. The assets in 63 bank accounts and around thirty other vehicles remained in custody. A paperwork error by the New Zealand authorities meant that Kim Dotcom's property had been seized in January 2012 without giving proper notice. The restraining order on his property was granted in April 2012. During April 2012, US district court judge
Liam O'Grady
Liam O'Grady (born 1950) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and a Judge of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court.
Early life and education
Born in Newark, New Jerse ...
stated "I frankly don't know that we are ever going to have a trial in this matter," as he found out that the company had never been formally served with criminal papers by the US.
On 28 June 2012,
New Zealand High Court
The High Court of New Zealand ( mi, Te Kōti Matua o Aotearoa) is the superior court of New Zealand. It has general jurisdiction and responsibility, under the Senior Courts Act 2016, as well as the High Court Rules 2016, for the administration ...
justice
Helen Winkelmann
Dame Helen Diana Winkelmann (born 1962) is the 13th and current Chief Justice of New Zealand, having been sworn in on 14 March 2019. She is the second woman to hold the position, following her immediate predecessor, Sian Elias.
Early life and ...
ruled that the
search warrant
A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to confiscate any evidence they find. In most countr ...
s used to raid the home of Kim Dotcom were invalid, saying "The warrants did not adequately describe the offences to which they related. They were general warrants, and as such, are invalid."
On 10 July 2012, a decision on whether Kim Dotcom and other Megaupload employees should be extradited to the United States was delayed until March 2013, in order to allow further time for legal arguments to be heard. In December 2012, it was delayed until August 2013.
In March 2013, Dotcom won a Court of Appeal ruling allowing him to sue the
Government Communications Security Bureau
The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) ( mi, Te Tira Tiaki) is the public-service department of New Zealand charged with promoting New Zealand's national security by collecting and analysing information of an intelligence nature. ...
(GCSB), rejecting the attorney-general's appeal against a ruling in December, 2012.
On 19 February 2014, a New Zealand appeals court overruled the 28 June 2012 decision, declaring the search warrants against Kim Dotcom to be valid. Dotcom's extradition hearing was set for July 2014.
On 8 September 2014, the Court of Appeal ruled that the New Zealand Police is to return seized electronic devices unencrypted back to Dotcom and those involved.
Basis of indictment

The indictment
alleged that Megaupload differed from other online
file storage businesses.
Media reports covering the case highlighted a number of points from the indictment used to support claims of illegal activity. The indictment provided a number of instances alleged to show criminal behaviour, as well as indicating design points of Megaupload's
operating model
An operating model is both an abstract and visual representation (model) of how an organization delivers value to its customers or beneficiaries as well as how an organization actually runs itself.
Definition
There are different ways of defining t ...
as being evidence of
criminal intent:
# In practice, the "vast majority" of users do not have any significant long term private storage capability. Continued storage is dependent upon regular downloads of the file occurring. Files not downloaded are rapidly removed in most cases, whereas popular downloaded files are retained. (items 7 – 8)
# Because only a small portion of users pay for storage, the business is dependent upon advertising. Adverts are primarily viewed when files are downloaded and the business model is therefore not based upon storage but upon maximising downloads. (items 7 – 8)
# Persons indicted have "instructed individual users how to locate links to infringing content on the Mega Sites ...
nd... have also shared with each other comments from Mega Site users demonstrating that they have used or are attempting to use the Mega Sites to get infringing copies of copyrighted content." (item 13)
# Persons indicted, unlike the public, are not reliant upon links to stored files, but can search the internal database directly. It is claimed they have "searched the internal database for their associates and themselves so that they may directly access copyright-infringing content". (item 14)
# A comprehensive takedown method is in use to identify
child pornography
Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...
, but not deployed to remove infringing content. (item 24)
# Infringing users did not have their accounts terminated, and the defendants "made no significant effort to identify users who were using the Mega Sites or services to infringe copyrights, to prevent the uploading of infringing copies of copyrighted materials, or to identify infringing copies of copyrighted works" (item 55–56)
# An incentivising program was adopted encouraging the upload of "popular" files in return for payments to successful uploaders. (item 69e ''et al.'')
# Defendants explicitly discussed evasion and infringement issues, including an attempt to copy and upload the entire content of YouTube. (items 69i-l. YouTube: items 69 i,j,l,s)
Counter arguments advanced
Schmitz hired the services of Ira Rothken, an attorney who defended several copyright infringement cases. Rothken claims that the raid was unjustly swift and did not give his client the opportunity to defend himself, quoting a similar case involving YouTube as an example of a completely different turnout.
Legal commentators point out that while the indictment may be correct and Megaupload might have acted as a criminal conspiracy as claimed, a number of points in the indictment are based upon selective interpretations and legal concepts (described in one article as "novel theories" of the law
) and could be challenged in court. An
L.A. Times analysis stated that the author was "struck by how far the indictment goes to find something nefarious";
likewise a
TechDirt
Techdirt is an American Internet blog that reports on technology's legal challenges and related business and economic policy issues, in context of the digital revolution. It focuses on intellectual property, patent, information privacy and copyr ...
analysis concluded that while the
founder of Megaupload had a significant history of "flaunting the law", evidence has potentially been taken out of context or misrepresented and could "come back to haunt other online services who are providing perfectly legitimate services".
Both analyses concur that other evidence could show criminality; the concerns were not irrefutable. The legal concerns included:
:* Indictment cites lack of a site search as evidence supporting criminality, but in other copyright cases having a site search has been described as evidence in support of criminality and in ''
Atari v. RapidShare''
not having a site search was agreed by the court as evidence of responsible activity given that some infringing content might exist and be searched for if one existed.
In the case of ''Isohunt'', the ''presence'' of a search feature was interpreted as evidence of inducement.
TechDirt
Techdirt is an American Internet blog that reports on technology's legal challenges and related business and economic policy issues, in context of the digital revolution. It focuses on intellectual property, patent, information privacy and copyr ...
commented that "To use the lack of a feature, that previously was shown to be a problem, as evidence of a conspiracy is crazy. Damned if you do, damned if you don't."
:* The "top 100" list excluded copyrighted titles, but the indictment claims this was evidence of concealing, rather than avoiding downloads of, infringing materials.
:* The indictment asserts as evidence that no effort was made to identify infringing files or users, in other words by acts of omission. But federal court rulings repeatedly agree that no duty exists to search these out.
In particular, in ''
MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.
''MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.'', 545 U.S. 913 (2005), is a United States Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled unanimously that the defendants, peer-to-peer file sharing companies Grokster and Streamcast (maker of Morpheus), cou ...
'' the Supreme Court looked at "substantial noninfringing uses"; mere lack of monitoring was not by itself sufficient to show wrongdoing or inducement.
It may not be possible (or reasonable to require) the host to know and identify what activity is legitimate or not, as file sharing may be used by many content creators.
:* Deletion after a limited period of non-download is suggested as evidence of a motive. But many legitimate sites such as
Imgur
Imgur ( , stylized as imgur) is an American online image sharing and image hosting service with a focus on social gossip that was founded by Alan Schaaf in 2009. The service has hosted viral images and meme, particularly those posted on Reddi ...
remove unused content after a while to free up server space. If files were routinely deleted after a short period it could equally suggest legitimate use - because it serves users who share legitimately for a short while, and enforces removal afterwards.
:* Much of the indictment, in the words of one analysis, "seems to be based on the simple assumption that encouraging more usage means they must be encouraging infringement", in other words there should be evidence of actual wrongdoing, not merely evidence of popular use. Many legitimate files are popular and popularly shared, and an assumption that paid use largely equates to infringing use would need evidence.
:* Failure to remove all links following a takedown request is often legitimate. For example the same content may be uploaded by legitimate and illegitimate users. Removing the infringing ''link'' does not affect legitimate uploaders. Removing the infringing ''file'' would wrongfully cause it to be deleted for legitimate users too.
Similarly, once child pornography is identified, it is ''always'' illegal for ''all'' users. But other material may be legal for some users and not for others. So the fact one case requires ''file'' removal and the other only requires ''link'' removal may well be correct conduct.
:* The indictment includes
money laundering
Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdiction ...
charges. But these include "basic payments" for web hosting, suggesting "lumping in" — adding matters that are in no way illegal to make a case look bad.
:* Megaupload had indicated willingness to attend court in the U.S. already, and answer civil cases.
Safe harbor provisions
The US
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or ...
provides
safe harbor
A safe harbor or harbour is literally a "place of shelter and safety, esp. for ships". It is used in many contexts:
Film and television
* Safe harbor (broadcasting), established in 1978 in the US, the time period in a television schedule during wh ...
for sites that promptly take down infringing content. Safe harbor does not exist if the site has
actual knowledge In law, knowledge is one of the degrees of ''mens rea'' that constitute part of a crime. For example, in English law, the offense of knowingly being a passenger in a vehicle taken without consent (TWOC) requires that the prosecution prove not only ...
and does nothing about it.
In Megaupload's case, the indictment alleges DMCA provisions were used for the appearance of legitimacy – the actual material was not removed, only some links to it were, takedowns agreement was approved based on business growth rather than infringement, and the parties themselves openly discussed their infringing activities. The indictment claims that Megaupload executives:
... are willfully infringing copyrights themselves on these systems; have actual knowledge that the materials on their systems are infringing (or alternatively know facts or circumstances that would make infringing material apparent); receive a financial benefit directly attributable to copyright-infringing activity where the provider can control that activity; and have not removed, or disabled access to, known copyright infringing material from servers they control.
Prosecutors claimed in the indictment that Megaupload was not DMCA compliant, and cited the example of an alleged infringer on the site known as "VV." Over six years, VV had allegedly uploaded nearly 17,000 files to Megavideo.com, resulting in more than 334 million views. According to prosecutors, although numerous takedown e-mails had been sent, none of the files had been deleted.
In a television interview with
3 News
''Newshub'' (stylised as ''Newshub.'') is a New Zealand news service that airs on the television channels Three and Eden, as well as on digital platforms. It formerly operated across radio stations run by MediaWorks Radio until December 2021 ...
, Kim Dotcom denied being a "piracy king", and claimed that Megaupload had applied the provisions of the DMCA and went beyond it, by giving copyright holders direct rights to delete links. He also claimed that the indictment relied on a malicious interpretation of technical issues to construe its claim of criminal intent, and that there was significant legal use of Megaupload.
Criminal defense action
Kim Dotcom denied the charges filed against him, and retained the services of
Ira P. Rothken, an attorney who has defended several copyright infringement cases. Ira Rothken stated that there is no criminal liability for secondary copyright infringement under US law, quoting a similar case involving YouTube as an example of similar accusations which were dealt with as a civil case.
Dotcom initially hired Washington, D.C. attorney
Robert Bennett, who had confirmed that he was going to represent Megaupload in the piracy case. On 22 January 2012, Bennett withdrew from the case due to a conflict of interest with another client. As of 23 January, barrister Paul Davison QC was quoted as representing Megaupload's founder, Kim Dotcom, in New Zealand. At the end of April 2012, a controversy emerged over legal representation. The law firm
Quinn Emanuel
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP is a global white shoe law firm headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The firm employs approximately 800 attorneys throughout 23 offices around the world.
History
The firm was established in 1986 by ...
, retained by Megaupload to argue for the retention of Megaupload's data, claimed in a motion filed to the court that there was a concerted effort by the
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and a ...
to deny Megaupload fair legal representation. In the brief, Quinn Emanuel alleged that several law firms had dropped out of the case after the DoJ wrote to them over potential conflicts of interest, arguing that they wanted to call clients of the firms as witnesses. Given the size of the Megaupload, Quinn Emanuel claimed that this "conflict of interest" argument could be applied to any law firm with experience in intellectual property rights, denying Megaupload experienced representation in a case where both law and technical issues are involved. Quinn Emanuel received such a letter but rejected the DoJ's arguments.
Techdirt
Techdirt is an American Internet blog that reports on technology's legal challenges and related business and economic policy issues, in context of the digital revolution. It focuses on intellectual property, patent, information privacy and copyr ...
argued that while the
founder of Megaupload had a significant history of "flouting the law", evidence had potentially been taken out of context or misrepresented and could "come back to haunt other online services who are providing perfectly legitimate services".
Eric Goldman
Eric Goldman (born April 15, 1968) is a law professor at Santa Clara University School of Law. He also co-directs the law school's High Tech Law Institute. and co-supervises the law school's Privacy Law Certificate.
Career overview
Goldman is a ...
, a professor of law at
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic M ...
, described the Megaupload case as "a depressing display of abuse of government authority". He pointed out that criminal copyright infringement requires that willful infringement has taken place, and that taking Megaupload offline had produced the "deeply unconstitutional effect" of denying legitimate users of the site access to their data.
Other legal commentators have disagreed with Goldman's assessment of the copyright charges, concluding that the allegations in the indictment, if proven, would support a guilty finding on charges of aiding and abetting copyright infringement.
Professor James Grimmelmann, for example, commented, "If proven at trial, there's easily enough in the indictment to prove criminal copyright infringement many times over."
The defense has drawn on procedural errors by the prosecution to challenge the case. In a judgement in the end of May, NZ Judge David Harvey granted the defendants the right to the disclosure of evidence against them held by the FBI in preparation for the extradition trial. In his 81-page decision, he came to the assessment that the DoJ is attempting to use concepts of civil law, in particular secondary copyright infringement, in a criminal case, which creates legal issues. He also confirmed that the charges in the indictment relating to money laundering, racketeering and wire fraud are not separate criminal acts but dependent on the claim of criminal secondary copyright infringement. In a separate development in the United States, the defense has challenged the case against Megaupload as a whole, claiming that the US has no jurisdiction over a foreign company and that the seizure of Megaupload's assets was unlawful.
A second brief points out numerous legal errors in the indictment, declaring it "an experiment in stretching U.S. criminal law well past the breaking point."
[ p. 2]
On May 9 2022 Two Megaupload officers Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk accused by US authorities with racketeering and other crimes in connection announced that they had reached an agreement to avoid extradition to the US in return for facing charges in New Zealand,This means that only Megaupload's founder
Kim Dotcom
Kim Dotcom (born Kim Schmitz; 21 January 1974), also known as Kimble and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, is a German- Finnish Internet entrepreneur and political activist who resides in Glenorchy, New Zealand.
He first rose to fame in Germany in the 1990 ...
is still facing extradition to the United States in the long-running case.
Data retention
Following the seizure of Megaupload, concerns were raised as to what would happen to the files that had been uploaded by its users.
On 20 January 2012, the Justice Department stated that "It is important to note that Mega clearly warned users to keep copies of any files they uploaded" adding that "Megaupload.com expressly informed users through its Frequently Asked Questions ('FAQs') and its Terms of Service that users have no proprietary interest in any of the files on Megaupload's servers, they assume the full risk of complete loss or unavailability of their data, and that Megaupload can terminate site operations without prior notice."
On 27 January 2012, U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride wrote:
The Mega Servers are not in the actual or constructive custody or control of the United States, but remain at the premises controlled by, and currently under the control of, Carpathia and Cogent. Should the defendants wish to obtain independent access to the Mega Servers, or coordinate third-party access to data housed on Mega Servers, the issue must be resolved directly with Cogent or Carpathia.
In response, on 30 January 2012, Carpathia Hosting denied having access to MegaUpload files and issued a press release stating
Carpathia Hosting does not have, and has never had, access to the content on MegaUpload servers and has no mechanism for returning any content residing on such servers to MegaUpload's customers. The reference to the 2 February 2012 date in the Department of Justice letter for the deletion of content is not based on any information provided by Carpathia to the U.S. Government. We would recommend that anyone who believes that they have content on MegaUpload servers contact MegaUpload. Please do not contact Carpathia Hosting.
The
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ...
has started a campaign to allow legitimate users of Megaupload in the US access to their data and wants the data preserved for that reason. It has chosen to represent one such legitimate user in court and thus has sided with Megaupload and Carpathia in asking the court to retain the data.
On 26 April 2012, Megaupload data negotiations began. Carpathia reported that maintaining the data costs over US$9,000 a day, and wanted to seek a formal resolution on whether to delete the data or release it to interested parties. United States district court Judge Liam O'Grady ordered all parties to return to the negotiating table. The U.S. Department of Justice noted that US$35 million had been paid by Megaupload to Carpathia, and alleged that Carpathia had knowingly profited from copyright infringement.
Retaliatory attacks by Anonymous
Following the shutdown of the Megaupload website, the website of the
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and a ...
and a number of other websites were taken offline following concerted
denial of service
In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host conn ...
attacks attributed to
Anonymous
Anonymous may refer to:
* Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown
** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author
* Anonym ...
.
Gizmodo
''Gizmodo'' ( ) is a design, technology, science and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the subsite '' io9'', w ...
concurred that it was "almost certainly the result of a quickly assembled
DDoS
In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host connect ...
istributed Denial of Serviceattack—and easily the widest in scope and ferocity we've seen in some time", commenting that "if you had any doubts Anonymous is still a hacker wrecking ball, doubt no more".
Links posted in chatrooms and on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
, when clicked on by unsuspecting Internet users, ran a web version of the application known as the
Low Orbit Ion Cannon
Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC) is an open-source network stress testing and denial-of-service attack application written in C#. LOIC was initially developed by Praetox Technologies, however it was later released into the public domain and is cur ...
.
On 19 January 2012, Anonymous released a statement on Pastebin.com accepting responsibility of the mass attacks on websites including those of RIAA, MPAA, BMI, FBI, and others. According to the Russian state-run
RT network, Anonymous described the attacks as "the single largest Internet attack in its history".
Other reactions
Former French president
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012.
Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Sei ...
said he was satisfied with the shutdown of the website. He found the site's operators were reaping "criminal profits from the illegal distribution of copyrighted works". "The time has come for increased judicial and police co-operation between states" in the fight against online piracy, he said in a statement.
Web organisations have raised concerns about possible effects of the Megaupload case on the future of
file sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include r ...
,
cloud storage
Cloud storage is a model of computer data storage in which the digital data is stored in logical pools, said to be on "the cloud". The physical storage spans multiple servers (sometimes in multiple locations), and the physical environment is ty ...
, and
Internet commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain mana ...
. Various commentators including
John C. Dvorak
John C. Dvorak (; born 1952) is an Americans, American columnist and broadcaster in the areas of technology and computer, computing. His writing extends back to the 1980s, when he was a regular columnist in a variety of magazines. He was vice p ...
,
Glenn Greenwald
Glenn Edward Greenwald (born March 6, 1967) is an American journalist, author and lawyer. In 2014, he cofounded ''The Intercept'', of which he was an editor until he resigned in October 2020. Greenwald subsequently started publishing on Substa ...
, and
Julian Sanchez have written on the topic as well, particularly as it relates US government powers to take down a web site without a trial, even without new laws like
SOPA
Sopa or SOPA may refer to:
* Sopa (tribe), an Albanian tribe of the Sharr Mountains
* Lake Sopa, Albania
* School of Performing Arts Seoul, an arts high school in Seoul, South Korea
* Senior Officer Present Afloat, a term used in the U.S. Navy
...
. In fact, the
U.S. Dept of Justice was able to rely on
PRO-IP The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008 (PRO-IP Act of 2008, , , ) is a United States law that increases both civil and criminal penalties for trademark, patent and copyright infringement. The law also esta ...
, a law passed back in 2008, in order to shut down Megaupload.
People who used Megaupload for personal and business storage, such as large audio and video files for family and work, have also voiced their complaints about the fact that they no longer had access to their files on the service.
Examples cited in the media included staff at public interest group ''
Public Knowledge
Public Knowledge is a non-profit Washington, D.C.-based public interest group. Founded in 2001 by David Bollier and Gigi Sohn, Public Knowledge is primarily involved in the fields of intellectual property law, competition and choice in the digi ...
'' who used it for large files, and
Android cellphone software writers who described it as "one of the best ways to distribute
oftware... There are a number of similar sites for this use, but Megaupload was always the fastest".
In response to the shutdown, a number of other file hosting websites changed the functionality of their services. FileSonic.com, one of the top ten
file hosting service
A file-hosting service, cloud-storage service, online file-storage provider, or cyberlocker is an internet hosting service specifically designed to host user files. It allows users to upload files that could be accessed over the internet afte ...
s, withdrew the ability to share links to files. The site's main page added a banner stating "All sharing functionality on FileSonic is now disabled. Our service can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally." Other file hosting websites followed suit, including FileServe.com, FileJungle.com, Uploadstation.com, x7.to and 4shared.com, by shutting down, cancelling affiliate programs or allowing users to only download what they themselves uploaded. Another large file-sharing website, Uploaded.to, ceased services for users accessing from United States-based IP addresses.
BTJunkie, a website indexing
torrent file
In the BitTorrent file distribution system, a torrent file or meta-info file is a computer file that contains metadata about files and folders to be distributed, and usually also a list of the network locations of trackers, which are compute ...
s, shut down voluntarily on 6 February 2012. The file hosting site Turbobit.net blocked access to U.S. visitors, and QuickSilverScreen, a site offering
streaming video
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...
links, closed on 7 February 2012.
However, other file hosting companies felt no need to change, with
MediaFire
MediaFire is a file hosting, file synchronization, and cloud storage service based in Shenandoah, Texas, United States. Founded in June 2006 by Derek Labian and Tom Langridge, the company provides client software for Microsoft Windows, macOS, ...
's CEO Derek Labian saying that he and his file hosting company are not concerned by the Megaupload incident because "Megaupload was making a ridiculous amount of money with a ridiculously bad service... We don't have a business built on copyright infringement." A spokesperson for
RapidShare
RapidShare was an online file hosting service that opened in 2002. In 2009, it was among the Internet's 20 most visited websites and claimed to have 10 petabytes of files uploaded by users with the ability to handle up to three million users sim ...
similarly expressed a lack of concern, saying that "file hosting itself is a legitimate business", pointing out that Microsoft's
OneDrive
Microsoft OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) is a file hosting service operated by Microsoft. First launched in August 2007, it enables registered users to share and synchronize their files. OneDrive also works as the storage backend of the web ver ...
operates on a similar basis.
[20 January 2012]
RapidShare "not concerned" about Megaupload takedown
Ars Technica
References
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2012 in law
2012 in New Zealand
Kim Dotcom
New Zealand case law
Law enforcement in New Zealand
2012 in New Zealand law
New Zealand–United States relations