Megaupload, one of the largest file-sharing Internet sites, and seen by many as a haven for piracy, has been shut down by officials in the U.S., and its founder, Kim Dotcom, was arrested in New Zealand.
"Seven people and two companies have been indicted in the United States by running organized international criminal enterprise allegedly responsible for the massive online piracy around the world various types of creative works, through Megaupload.com and other related sites, generating more than $ 175 million criminal results and led to more than half a billion dollars in losses to the copyright owner, the U.S. Justice Department and FBI today announced "The U.S. Justice Department said in a statement on Thursday.
"The people and two companies - Megaupload Limited Limited and investors - who was convicted by a jury in the Eastern District of Virginia on January 5, 2012, and charged with engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, conspiring to commit copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of substantive criminal copyright infringement.
"The individuals each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit extortion, five years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, 20 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and five years in prison on charges of violation of any rights Copyright substantive crime. "
But if you think the DOJ that will be the end of it, they will be corrected.
Within a few hours after going offline Megaupload, Anonymous members from around the world have been systematically attacked the big media companies with a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack brought a lot of them down, or a grinding halt.
So far the members of Anonymous claimed they had taken down the Recording Industry Association of America site, Universal Music Group, MPAA.org, U.S. Copyright Office, BMI, Warner Music Group's website, FBI.gov, and sonymusic.com, the list is still growing.
Detailing the attack, which is being dubbed as the largest undertaken by a group of very, through various Twitter feed, @ YourAnonNews said:
"You can not censor the internet you can not subpoena a hashtag .. you can not catch the idea. You CAN expect our # OpMegaupload"
Independent tracking service, Akamai, which offers real-time tracking service is free of DDoS attacks is now reporting 218 attacks in the last 24 hours, many based in the United States. According to the company, which is 24 percent above average.
Move by the Justice Department and Anonymous came just a day after protests by large companies such as Google, Facebook, and Wikipedia on the government's plans to introduce a new bill in the U.S. that are designed to stop piracy.
Sopa is called, stand to Stop Piracy Law Online, it will allow media companies or the U.S. government to close the site was thought violate copyright laws without the traditional court.
Some commentators have since questioned that if U.S. officials could shut down the site Megaupload and capture of its founder in New Zealand, current law is good enough.
SOURCE
2:28 PM
dannu
