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The MegaUpload Shutdown Hampers Innovation

megauploadOver the weekend there have been numerous reports on the fallout of the MegaUpload raids, many addressing the issue what it means for tech startups who just thought they were a bit safer when PIPA and SOPA got delayed.

Needless to say there are worries all over.

“For months we have been arguing that SOPA & PIPA would criminalize and cripple startup innovation in America — and our opponents have called our claims hysterical,” Demand Progress‘ David Moon told TorrentFreak commenting on the issue.

“But as we speak, website operators around the world are quickly discovering that the United States didn’t just shutdown Megaupload, they hopped across the globe to actually imprison the site operators, too.”

“It is worth noting that Megaupload’s technical details are substantially similar to those used by YouTube, Amazon, and Dropbox. If we don’t fight these overreactions now, we will have set a dangerously low threshold for when an entire website of 150 million users can be deleted from the Internet.”

Like many others, Demand Progress is convinced that the actions against MegaUpload will have a hampering effect on innovation.

“The fact that this was done without a real policy dialogue is disturbing — especially given the obvious surge of populist interest in these issues at the time of the shutdown. It is hard to see how this will not be a factor in chilling innovation in the cloud arena,” Moon told TorrentFreak.

While the observation above come too late for MegaUpload, it is a topic that needs to be addressed at the highest political levels.

This post is from the News Bits section of TorrentFreak where we present stories from around the web in a concise summary format. Full TorrentFreak articles can be found here. If you have a tip please let us know. News Bits have their very own RSS feed
  • http://torrentfreak.com/ Rob8urcakes

    We petition the Obama administration to:
    End ACTA and Protect our right to privacy on the Internet

    Petition to sign is here (whether or not you’re in the USA) -
    https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/end-acta-and-protect-our-right-privacy-internet/MwfSVNBK

    • http://tinyurl.com/ANoiXioNA-personal-info ANoiXioNA

      +
      we petition the obama administration to:
      Investigate Chris Dodd and the MPAA for bribery after he publicly admited to bribing politicans to pass legislation.
      https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/investigate-chris-dodd-and-mpaa-bribery-after-he-publicly-admited-bribing-politicans-pass/DffX0YQv

      Signatures needed by February 20, 2012 to reach goal of 25,000
      2,947

      • Guest

        794 now. 01.14 GMT

        • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IZ5BM5GNLA54OADSWGSXAMA7SY Jay

          Damn… That was quick…

        • http://gene-poole.tumblr.com Gene Poole

          614…

          every time I look it’s lower.

        • Guest

          I know. I saw the ACTA protest yesterday evening when it was about 1800. It stayed the same, more or less, all day. After I posted the link (on the article about Robert Bennett withdrawing his services as Megaupload’s defence lawyer) the total has shot up to just under 13000!

          It’s all happening rather fast.

      • Guest

        16 !!!!

      • Guest

        Target achieved….25103…and rising.

        • http://tinyurl.com/ANoiXioNA-personal-info ANoiXioNA

          Signatures needed : O
          : )

          @ Rob8′s link : End ACTA and Protect our right to privacy on the Internet

          Signatures needed : 6,392

      • http://torrentfreak.com/ Rob8urcakes

        Cool :)

        Just shows how sneaky those behind ACTA have been, coz that Treaty is utterly evil and despicable to the extent of being genuinely fascist in it’s proposals to similarly destroy innovation and freedom.

    • Anonymous

      Good Rob!

      • Guest

        I hope TF is going to mention the outcome of these petitions with a tagline along the lines of ‘Well, Washington, what is your response? The World is watching.’

      • Guest

        Here is another one to keep an eye on:

        https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/reduce-term-copyrights-maximum-56-years/MnXrd3xG

        Reduce the term of copyrights to a maximum of 56 years

        Until 1976, copyrights lasted only 56 years. Since then, they have been repeatedly extended, and many now last over a century. This was done solely to protect the profits of media companies, so they can charge for classic works created before most people alive today were even born. It does nothing to encourage the creation of new works. It hurts artists and scholars by restricting their ability to use most cultural works of the 20th century. It also hurts ordinary citizens by making them pay for works that rightfully should have entered the public domain decades ago.

        We ask that copyrights be restored to what they were in 1976: 28 years, renewable for another 28 years. This is far more consistent with what the framers of the Constitution intended when they wrote the Copyright Clause.

        Nearly 700 already

        • Noone

          I have also heard that the US government is attempting to bring public domain works back under copyright, have to admit I’m not a US citizen & have not seen any articles about it, not even sure where I heard it but must admit it did raise some concern that as well as extending copyright they are now after the Public Domain, a very worrying state of affairs I think you’ll agree.

          On a side note one of the petitions above says “in the US or not” can you explain how coz when I looked the site itself says US & Sign Up says US citizens so how do I go about this being in the UK? Sorry if I’m being dumb :D

        • Guest
        • Guest

          Fight ACTA in the UK. JUST SAY NO! :)

          http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/20685

    • Guest

      Don’t forget the equivalent EU campaign:

      http://edri.org/stopacta

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  • http://www.twitter.com/echoman74 echoman

    i recently joined a site called “vote them all out” and now i’m considering it. They are all corrupt and for a little reassurance i tried contacting congressman darrel issa on twitter he deleted my tweet or blocked me.
    Right their that raises my eyebrows don’t get me wrong maybe I’m exaggerating or overreacting but if you think about it all i really asked was if he was aware of “acta”. I also sent the same message to Ron Wyden, yet.

    But he hasn’t responded. in my mind I’m asking myself “OPEN” seems all nice and sweet til you think about “ACTA” international etc. So is open act acta in disguise trying to trick people into thinking open is good when really it’s a blanket for “ACTA”.
    Just a thought but it’s a scary thought the world is doing fine with the Dmca but then again. This is all one big mess.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/NRM3MZJY27GRYFOKCTBZFKITAY res0r9lm

    Go USA

    • TelezarZ

      Fuck USA

    • Guest

      Fail

      • http://twitter.com/icanhazsake Ninja

        I’m guessing he’s cheering for the reaction of the Americans, not their Govt. I mean, the petition to investigate Dodd took less than a week to reach the goal. That’s the America we wanna see. So I’ll repeat: Go America! And FUCK US GOVT.

        • Anonymous

          Yup. The American people aren’t the issue. The US government is the problem.

  • TelezarZ

    It hampers innovation, and it will lead to an exodus of the cloud industry out of the US.
    Even China, Russia and Ukraine are better for these industries now.

  • Gpicasso

    Why is it that everyone says this will hamper innovation. Do you honestly believe that Mega and all the others would have the same subscriber numbers and advertising rev with out the all the copyright infringement. Show me a cyberlocker that has done big number with out it. Google has innovated to remove child porn based on the skin tones of pictures that people might upload to the net. If yo really want me to be on your side then innovative and do large numbers with 0 stolen works. That would be a true accomplishment but all these guys know there would be no interest in their product without the stolen content!

    • ForAnOpenInternet

      So, you’re suggesting that YouTube is (was) not innovative? Do you really think that it would be so popular if it wasn’t for the mass of copyright-infringing material (particularly music) on there? Look at how many of the songs you and millions of others listen to on YouTube that ARE NOT uploaded by the copyright holders. You’re argument is absolutely sidestepping the issue. Innovation is not simply negated because users breach intellectual property rights. This article (and the overall debate) is about the future of the internet and whether or not user-uploaded content will continue to push the medium in new and exciting ways.

      • Gpicasso

        You tube is the one in a million, it basically was the first to catch one and no is a staple of society. Google money helped as well. No one else has come close or even tried to copy the you tube model. The future of the internet will be just fine this genie will not go back in the bottle. You and everyone else know that these cyber lockers just make 99% of their money ripping off artists plain and simple, just admit it and let them go away. If you want music go buy it if you want movies then go to the movies or rent it. Truly what is the big deal about paying for something. If you invest in making content what is the harm of profiting from your work. I produce content for 10 websites and each week we have to send out notices to all these cyberlockers and other guys to take our shit down. The so called innovators get money off of my back for just ripping me off!

    • http://tinyurl.com/ANoiXioNA-personal-info ANoiXioNA

      Can’t tell if trolling

      • http://twitter.com/icanhazsake Ninja

        A bit of everything. He’s just out of touch with reality.

  • Realist

    The only thing it did is hamper the illegal downloading of copyrighted material by thieves and hamper pirates from making affiliate $. It is hilarious that you think stealing is not only innovation, but should be made legal. Your educational system has failed you miserably!

    • ForAnOpenInternet

      Wow! Let’s start with a basic, contextually relevant lesson on argumentative logic (with triple-brackets to highlight the step in the process that your assertion is skipping).

      Company creates (see: innovate) infrastructure (ie. website) –> (((USERS share material they do not own))) –> Infrastructure (ie. website) gets shut down –> Someone says that it hampers innovation –> you say that person “think[s] that stealing is not only innovation, but should be made legal”

      No… no one said that stealing and innovation are synonymous. The argument is that the infrastructure is innovative and deserves the opportunity to thrive legally. The US government did not arrest the “theives” (ie. users who were sharing the intellectual property of others), they shut down the medium by which the crime was comitted. Do you remove the roads around a bank after it’s been robbed?

      The reason it hampers innovation is because user-generated content is quite obviously the direction that the internet is moving. Whether it is YouTube, , Grooveshark, or P2P protocols; all of those are simply mediums by which users share information. I’ll ask again: does YouTube get shut down because of the massive amount of music/television clips on the website that are not uploaded by the copyright holders? Would YouTube exist if these types of actions by governments (pressured by lobbyists) were taking place before it’s launch?

      • Guest

        Too deep for many here. Simplify and expand.

      • Mwhahaha

        “. The argument is that the infrastructure is innovative and deserves the opportunity to thrive legally”

        I concur it is a great concept, but to survive legally as things stand they have to be proactive in terms of banning users uploading copyrighted works and take DMCA requests seriously.
        I’d love the entire output of the media to be delivered this way, it’s the most realistic system I’ve seen of real rewards for the creative people.

        As it is you should be pissed at the people (non caring pirates) ruining this system of distribution as they’re the ones giving it a bad name and getting it shut down, whilst earning money from things they don’t own.

        Sharing should be free or we should pay something to those who made what we like.

        Also – youtube would def not exist as things are, and it will be v. interesting to see what happens with it this year. Google Vs. MPAA will be a great throwdown. Despite their somewhat evil machinations, Google might be the best friend we here ever have. They more than any other media dist. service understand something of the new paradigm.

        • Viking

          Mwhahaha creates website for whatever reason he/ she needs. It also involves user created content, just a forum. I don’t like Mwhahaha, maybe for personal reasons, maybe we are competitors, maybe I am just jealous for his/her popularity. I will register on his/her forum and post a link to some copyrighted material, just a link. Lets make it 20 links. Then will complain about copyright infringement. Axe goes down boom! See you in 5 years, after you have done your time!
          And don’t tell me its just a fantasy!

        • 3digger

          As it is you should be pissed at the people (non caring pirates) ruining this system of distribution as they’re the ones giving it a bad name and getting it shut down, whilst earning money from things they don’t own.

          Sharing should be free or we should pay something to those who made what we like.

          Well said Mwhahaha!!

          Been saying this for years. I am a file sharer not a pirate. If you prosper from copyright material without permission then I don’t really care what happens to you.

    • http://twitter.com/icanhazsake Ninja

      Troll. Just research a bit and you’ll see many artists found benefit in the rewards program and many ppl used Mega as an online storage system.

      Oh and see the picture bellow, blatantly stolen (:rollseyes:) from Anoix up there. Might teach you the difference of theft and copyright infringement.

      http://mediacdn.disqus.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/202/326/original.jpg

  • Guest

    I find amusing how many people just dont see or refuse to understand that what megaupload did was brilliant.

    Now, before you go for a killing, let me explain you.

    If you uploaded AND shared any file, you would get paid for as many traffic this link generated.

    Therefore, if producers, musicians, writers and game developers used this SAME system, they would have received money, and at the same time people could enjoy that file for free (or as a premium member, paying for a service).

    To be honest, you could watch a movie or tv series whenever you wanted just by clicking once. Similar to netflix, but with a lot more content that IS generated by the ppl.

    Now, the only thing I believe should be made to make this work is to give a better payment to those sharers (which HAVE to be the original authors of the material) and let the same system recognize the file in question to actually give the money to the original author and NOT to some other person.

    Right now they sent the internet back to the beginnings of last decade (2004 or 2003).

    • Guest

      dear guest, i am thinking the same thing here.

      the next filesharing service that doest exactly that (and i cincerely hope that someone got that idea a month ago and has the project in the final stage) will turn all this sharing stuff and piracy talk upside down.

      You could pay monthly fee of 50$/€ for everything you can consume (and you can’t more than let’s say 30 movies, 5 games, 100mp3s monthly with a job and a few commitments), split 50$ fairly between all those authors and everyone’s happy when you get whole internet on board.

      poof! no more piracy. :)

      • BillyB

        what if you only 3 movies a month, no games and just want the top 40?

        • Mwhahaha

          The idea of these places is brilliant clearly, and as I’ve said above, for it to benefit people who create things directly it shouldn’t be abused by for-profit-pirates.

          This situation leaves us at something of an ideological cross roads.

          If we support MU type sites with no care for DMCA we’re saying we just want stuff for free cos we’re cheapskates.

          If we support MU type sites who are rigorous about CR material and exist only to help new artists earn money at a reasonable rate with no cash going to Media suits then we’re supporting a new distribution concept which rewards those who deserve it whilst poking Big Media in the eye with a sharp stick.

          So what are we? Cheapskates after all the free stuff we can get or politically unhappy people who are tired of being dictated to and ripped off over and over again by big media?

          I’m really hoping the %s of MU’s legal/illegal downloads come out in the trial. Will be very interesting to see just how feasible a legal version of a site like this would be.

        • Guest

          You would get it for free, just like now, by following a link on a forum or similiar link aggregator, waiting 60 seconds or watching a short commercial, because you don’t need premier membership and it won’t kill you waiting a bit..

      • http://twitter.com/icanhazsake Ninja

        I’d still download from TPB if it was easier. Or if the content is drm crippled and/or there are release windows/region restrictions =D

      • Guest

        also, mpaa riaa and authors would be busy instead of sending you takedown notices with checking forums and sending you “hey, this content is mine/i represent this author, send me some money when someone downloads it”.

        This concept would also stimulate people to create because they could get money for quality content and use viral marketing, but not fully dismissing large corporations because if i am too busy creating and don’t have time or skills to promote myself over the internet, let them handle the marketing and financial stuff. I already see different marketing packages that you could buy from them for promotion that are guaranteeing x downloads.

        the only difference between filesharing as we know it and this is that the filesharing company isn’t greedy as hell.
        Old farts wouldn’t get fired because their skills in marketing, events and similiar would still be needed, and young people would get a new channel in which to present their creativity to the world instead of transformating itself into full blown consumeristic society…

  • Joska

    Great, the MAFIAA trolls are back.

    • Mwhahaha

      Joska, I’m not even sure who you’re talking about there, but…

      It really irks me that only about 5% of these boards contributors are capable of anything like reasoned debate, rather than just abusing/dismissing people they don’t agree with.

      Challenge others with your view rather than just dismissing them. Not everyone has exactly the same opinion as you regarding all facets of this issue.

      I hate for-profit-piracy and think it gives us all a bad name. I’m not upset MU died really. But I largely support most issues this site looks at. Why is everything so black and white to most people here?

      Debating against a person of a differing view helps you shape and hone your own opinions and makes you question why you think such things.

      For instance a week ago I dismissed the entire MU type site as purely for piracy but I’ve been informed and learnt from comments here that an upload site might be a key part of a new media world and I love the idea.

      Just stop assuming and look and think for a bit.

      • http://tinyurl.com/ANoiXioNA-personal-info ANoiXioNA

        firstly remember this for later (TorrentFreak is a MAJOR player in online sources…….
        eg… BBC news(among many others) link to TF articles

        Agree 100% that you should try to reason… with logical arguments.
        And some people are genuinely aggrieved and angry…etc…

        BUT…………
        There are quite a few MAFIAA trolls that come here to waste our time and play damage limitation……. ( they are 80% possibly paid to troll )
        They do exist….. it’s not a myth. ( torrentfreak regulars know this )
        Usually you only see them when the MPAA has done something bad…. Or there is a story that paint’s them in a bad light…..

        Remember…….. TorrentFreak is a MAJOR player in online sources.
        also…..PR is a real industry

  • KiRE

    This is how I feel about the whole thing

  • will

    Intellectual property is not property as it does not fulfill the requirement of scarcity to be classified as property as it is infinitely reproducible unlike physical products:

    http://mises.org/journals/jls/15_2/15_2_1.pdf
    http://mises.org/daily/4848

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  • Oscaroreilly

    Mwhahaha it amuses me that you don’t like Studios and labels making money out of artists but don’t mind if Kim Dotcom gets outrageously rich of the back of their work. Hypocrisy……. Surely not!

  • Jason

    The truth is in the below link, thanks DoJ for illegally destroying our files on Thursday:

    http://pastebin.com/iquHfjBa

  • BTGuard - BitTorrent Anonymously

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