Database Develop

ACTA: Lifetime ban from the Internet? It could happen ...

An interesting article that I came across today; bolded some points that struck me as dangerous grounds ...
Sound Check by Alan Cross
February 12, 2010 12:30 a.m.
Back in November, I wrote about ACTA, the secret anti-counterfeiting trademark agreement involving Canada, the U.S., Mexico, the EU and nine other countries. Representatives have been meeting behind closed doors for two years to hammer out a treaty that will inevitably affect every single person on the Internet.
Yet there has been almost zero transparency. None of the draft texts have been made public and those outside the inner circle are bound by tough non-disclosure agreements.
This doesn’t mean there haven’t been some leaks.
Aside from measures to fight counterfeiting, there have been discussions about a worldwide “three strikes” rule. Accused (not caught, proven or convicted) of file-sharing music three times by an aggrieved rights holder, and you’re banned from the Internet. For life.
Internet service providers and telecoms would be liable for copyright infringements by their users. To avoid prosecution, that means they’ll have to find some way of sniffing through all the data — YOUR data — that passes through their pipes. And even though you may have a legitimate right to, say, ship a music file from point A to point B, there’s the potential for red flags at the ISP. Accused three times (not caught, proven or convicted) and you’re done. Not just with your current ISP, either. They’ll be required by international law to publish your name to an Internet no-fly list that will prevent you from ever having an Internet account in your name ever again.
And it gets better. Within the document is a second called Border Measures. There’s the real possibility that some border guard will have the power to make you prove all those music files on that iPhone in your pocket are, in fact, not pirated. Can’t do it? Bye-bye, iPhone. Oh, and you could be charged and fined.
This is more than just file-sharing for stopping fake Louis Vuitton bags. It’s about privacy, civil liberties, and legitimate use of the Internet for commerce and innovation.
The seventh round of negotiations is underway in Mexico — secretly, of course, partly because U.S. President Barack Obama has declared this an issue of national security. Same thing for the next round in April in New Zealand.
And because this is an international treaty, it’ll just be rubber-stamped into law. No public debate.
Be informed. Read what the Electronic Frontier Foundations says at eff.org/issues/acta.
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Sources:
http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/com...ifetime-ban-from-the-internet-it-could-happen
http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/comment/article/509570--the-orwellian-plan-to-track-your-music
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/06/02/copyright-bill-clement-montreal.html?ref=rss
http://www.eff.org/issues/acta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement
Updates:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqE8SuLOQxo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2XPiqhN_Ns&annotation_id=annotation_910879&feature=iv
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=210429284986#!/group.php?gid=210429284986&ref=nf
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10467337-38.html
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/03/your-life-will-some-day-end-acta-will-live-on.ars
http://news.google.com/news/more?um=1&cf=all&ned=us&cf=all&ncl=d7q9CZNjAmTXtvMz0xI_8sjNmJ6cM
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6275575&postcount=40
* EDIT *
FYI; the EFF is a good starting point for those who decide they want to do something - they may also be able to recommend an equivalent organization in your country.

thats pretty messed up. if it happens in the us, im sure itll end up in the supreme court and declared unconstitutional. this is way above what the powers the constitution granted to the government. after all, the government needs consent of the people or else its not a democracy anymore.

Unfortunately, since ACTA is considered to be an International treaty, it can be passed into law without public debate.
... and that's just the "tip of the iceberg". All one has to do is imagine the scenarios and since most of the treaty is being kept confidential, we don't know how far the reach and impact of the treaty will be. Here's a few other ongoings that most folks aren't aware of:
Rein In ACTA: Tell Congress to Open the Secret IP Pact
https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=420
In The News: Cellular User Privacy at Risk
http://www.eff.org/press/mentions

Control is arriving to internet...
Wow,
It is amazing about this article.
I really hope this won't succeed, as this trespasses the limits of control and privacy.
As next meeting will be here in México, I´ll try to fond out more locally...

Wow, definately hope this is a No Go

If this has any truth to it, yet another reason why i hate obammer

I get the feeling though that for every ISP that followed the no-fly list, another ISP like Google's new high speed internet would let someone on that list connect.

It reminds me of "Home Taping Is Killing Music. And It's Illegal" campaign.
And a opposing campaigns called,
"copyright is killing music - and it's legal"
"Home Taping is Skill in Music"
"Home Taping Is Killing the Music Industry: Killing Ain't Wrong"
Hope this doesn't become a law. If so, we may have to migrate to Iran (where there is no copyright law).

zizou417 said:
I get the feeling though that for every ISP that followed the no-fly list, another ISP like Google's new high speed internet would let someone on that list connect.
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Let's say for the sake of argument that this treaty is passed ...
As the majority of services are paid via credit card or pre-authorized bank debit, it would seem to me that the person would never be able to get another Internet service under their true identity. Speculating further, the "no-fly" list would likely contain name, address, location, financial, and possibly other government information that establishes a person's unique identity - passport, birth certificate, etc. Some questions that come to mind:
Would this mean that the person would be banned from using cellular or other dial-up means to connect to the Internet?
Should the person use someone else's identify, would they be exposed to criminal prosecution and would the person who's identity was used be banned as well?
Taking it one step further; let's say some disgruntled person or company decides they want to shutdown a competitor, website, or other person, all they need to do is report the key stakeholder anonymously to the authorities (or governing body) a sufficient number of times so as to exceed the threshold ... and voila, banned! In a matter of a few calls, a person such as the owner of a website could be banned from accessing the Internet therefore taking down their website in the process.
Furthermore, countries could be "strong-armed" into adopting the treaty if they wish to conduct commerce over the Internet with countries that are part of the treaty.

I think, it is less likely that some thing like this treaty coming into existence.
I do not know about other developed countries. But, in developing and underdeveloped countries, virtually everyone uses the internet to share the music,movie,software.... So, if you ban all the people form the internet what business these ISPs and e-commerce people are going to do?
And you know, the major market are these countries due to their population. So, developed countries doesn't want to jeopardize their market.
May be, a stricter law to curb such copyright infringement can be applied. But, I hardly see effectiveness of these laws in developing and underdeveloped countries.
(May be China is more happier to apply such law and ban everyone form the internet. Which it is already doing with different means ).

What a "Brave New World" we live in..

hmmmmm, interesting read. Don't agree with this to be honest, but not much I can really do....... I wonder if this could be applied to spammers

raghu13uk said:
I think, it is less likely that some thing like this treaty coming into existence.
I do not know about other developed countries. But, in developing and underdeveloped countries, virtually everyone uses the internet to share the music,movie,software.... So, if you ban all the people form the internet what business these ISPs and e-commerce people are going to do?
And you know, the major market are these countries due to their population. So, developed countries doesn't want to jeopardize their market.
May be, a stricter law to curb such copyright infringement can be applied. But, I hardly see effectiveness of these laws in developing and underdeveloped countries.
(May be China is more happier to apply such law and ban everyone form the internet. Which it is already doing with different means ).
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Agreed; but how does one determine a true copyright violator? And obviously, it won't stop at audio and/or video. And what is the purpose of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) then? Was that act not supposed to be for this purpose? And how many companies/people are aware that the ACTA treaty is in the process of being finalised behind "closed doors"?
Of additional interest is the provision to empower border security such that they can search any/all electronic equipment. As the article points out, this means that no information is confidential. So if one happens to encounter a border security person having a "bad day", one could be faced with confiscation of their cellular phone or laptop as a result of not being able to prove that the information found on the device was legitimately paid for (ex: audio, video, application). Attempting to retrieve a wrongly confiscated item is costly both legally and personally.
Additionally, there are numerous articles on the Internet that already highlight the fact that most authorities have the means to bypass most encryption algorithms so as to extract the contents of hard drives and cellular devices. In some countries, it is even a federal offense to use certain depths of encryption - for the longest time, France only permitted 40-bit encryption.
Imagine this scenario;
You're browsing the Internet while waiting for your flight. You happen to connect to a compromised website which redirects you to several pornographic websites. An announcement over the PA system announces that your flight has been moved to a different gate and you realize that the gate is at the opposite end of the airport.
You close your laptop, stuff it in the bag and rush to the new gate just in time to see that people are boarding the plane. You board the plane, stow you laptop and later during the flight, you turn it on to do some work and then stow it away again forgetting to clear your history and browser cache.
When you arrive at your destination, border security instructs you to provide your electronic devices for scanning. During the scan, they discover the browser cache full of pornographic images.
Now what?
Imagine this other scenario;
What happens if this treaty provides large corporations with the power they require to close down websites that are considered hostile to their revenue or websites that provide information on how circumvent mechanisms that are in their products? And what happens if the treaty empowers the authorities to obtain all of the trace-back information of all of the people who frequented such a website so as to ban/prosecute them?

If they do this, i'm gonna sue someone important!!!

I would NOT want to see this thing passed. It's our internet, and they don't have the right to kick us off of it. Watch this video on the topic here, this one is more likely to happen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqE8SuLOQxo

What happened to that law that stated we could use any type of music/media as long as we don't make a profit on it?! this is so wrong imo. Sorry saw this thread and had to join.

I would much rather see tax dollars going to matters of national security, and helping the job market right now, then pay for big expensive servers that dedicate their time to crawling through everyone's internet, filtering out everything that's deemed "bad." What if you have say, a niece or nephew, that comes over to your house frequently and gets on the computer. They in turn download music, or go a a forbidden website, or something stupid like that, more than a few times. Bam! Your banned for life because of your brother or sister's child's mistake? I would be furious.
I can not see this going into effect without a HUGE public uproar. From us, as consumers, but also from the ISP companies. They will start taking HUGE revenue losses because of this.
Oh, and the border filtering... you've GOT to be freakin kidding me, right? Before I say any of this, let me make it perfectly clear that I am no racist. I either love, or hate people based on their personalities and actions. Okay, not a racist? Understood. Okay. Why not, instead of filtering electronic devices through the borders, they protect the borders a little better? I'm all of immigration, let them all come over, if they want, but make them do it the legal way. That's all. If that technology filter is applied at our borders, then I can see a huge uproar from a lot of racists, and non-racists, in the Texas, California areas.
There are way too many holes in this. It'd be like trying to hold water in a mesh container. In it's current state, there's no way this will be effective.

2012: The Year The Internet Ends
This will happen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2XPiqhN_Ns&annotation_id=annotation_910879&feature=iv

Badwolve1 said:
If they do this, i'm gonna sue someone important!!!
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You won't be alone, let's make it a Class Action lawsuit!

I'm sure there will be plenty of constitutional lawyers ready to pounce on this one...

"Operation Payback"

Good move or bad move?
http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/19/riaa-attack/
In an offense called “Operation Payback,” members of the Internet collective Anonymous have organized what seems to be anti anti-piracy movement. Dubbed by Torrent Freak as the ”protest of the future” the group has been pretty busy over the past 36 hours launching DDoS attacks on the MPAA, Indian anti-piracy site AiPlex Software and today both RIAA.com and RIAA.org. The attacks are apparently in retaliation for comments the CEO of Aiplex software made about his firm being hired by the film industry to take down The Pirate Bay.
The original call to arms below:
How fast you are in such a short time! Aiplex, the bastard hired gun that DDoS’d TPB (The Pirate Bay), is already down! Rejoice, /b/rothers, even if it was at the hands of a single anon that it was done, even if ahead of schedule. now we have our lasers primed, but what do we target now?
We target the bastard group that has thus far led this charge against our websites, like The Pirate Bay. We target MPAA.ORG! The IP is designated at “216.20.162.10″, and our firing time remains THE SAME. All details are just as before, but we have reaimed our crosshairs on this much larger target. We have the manpower, we have the botnets, it’s time we do to them what they keep doing to us.
REPEAT: AIPLEX IS ALREADY DOWN THANKS TO A SINGLE ANON. WE ARE MIGRATING TARGETS.
From the Anonymous media kit:
Operationayback is a *****.
DATE \September 19, 2010\
To whom it may concern,
This is to inform you that we, Anonymous, are organizing an Operation called “Payback is a *****”. Anonymous will be attacking the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), the MPAA (Motion Pictures Association of America), and their hired gun AIPLEX for attacks against the popular torrent and file sharing site, the Piratebay (www.thepiratebay.org). We will prevent users to access said enemy sites and we will keep them down for as long as we can. But why, you ask? Anonymous is tired of corporate interests controlling the internet and silencing the people’s rights to spread information, but more importantly, the right to SHARE with one another.The RIAA and the MPAA feign to aid the artists and their cause; yet they do no such thing. In their eyes is not hope, only dollar signs. Anonymous will not stand this any longer.We wish you the best of luck.
Sincerely,
Anonymous,
We are legion.
Both RIAA sites currently offline (they went down 5 minutes before schedule), as people continue to mobilize through the 4Chan message boards and Twitter, using the LOIC (Low Orbit Ion Cannon) DDoS tools to initiate independent attacks, and continuing to make what would seem unlikely for a group of people called Anonymous, celebratory tweets.
For all the “future of cyber protest” rhetoric, it remains to be seen how much effect a flood of traffic and a few hours of downtime will have on changing RIAA or MPAA piracy policy. After all, despite yesterday’s sustained attacks, the MPAA site is back up and running, snow owls and all.
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For the record, I am not participating, but I HATE the RIAA and MPAA and their antiquated rules.

Fight fire with fire. They DDoS torrent sites, we'll DDoS them back to hell.

yeah f(i mean i disagree with) da corporate world take over where they look at ppl as stupid bloodbags who work like slaves for slave money
restore humanities freedom like it once was at its pride !

this sounds funny on how easily can big sites can get flooded so easily.
thats what happens when big people get in freaky people's ways
lol
cheers

Internet Censorship Bill - CALL/WRITE your representatives!

I didn't see a post for this elsewhere (though some may recall that I have an exceptional ability to miss the obvious ), and you will not hear about this on the news, and it's barely even being covered in print or online. I'm usually too much of a cynic to bother with this sort of activism but this is a big deal, so please grant me 5 minutes of your time; you won't regret it.
The big deal? The "Stop Online Piracy Act" (SOPA). Well wait now, that doesn't sound so bad. We all download music for free here and there, maybe use an "extended trial" of Photoshop, but we know that piracy is technically stealing...so this can't be that bad, right? Wrong. Horribly wrong.
The fact that no news agency is covering this is absolutely insane. We criticize countries like China and Iran for censorship, but at least they don't attempt to conceal it within a vague anti-piracy bill. It is no exaggeration to say that this is one of the most significant bills to come through congress in the past decade, and most people don't even know it exists; much less that discussion began on it today. Of those that do know about it, half of them don't understand why it's a bad thing because H.R.3261 has such an innocuous name (it is also called the Protect IP Act of 2011 in the Senate). Don't be fooled.
"American Censorship Day" - Information on the Internet Blacklist Bills​I urge you to take the time to educate yourself on H.R.3261 "SOPA" and write and/or call your Senators and Congress(wo)men! I guarantee if you spend 10 minutes reading about this, you will understand why I'm using an annoyingly large, bright red font.
The Wikipedia Article has a brief section ("Supporters") that shows--in a nutshell--how some politicians are deceptively framing this as a "pro-jobs" bill, among other pleasant sounding things; this couldn't be further from the truth. This is, in a manner of speaking, trying to apply archaic copyright laws to a 21st century Internet, rather than taking the effort to rewrite the copyright laws to make sense in the modern world.
You can find a lot of information explained very well at "American Censorship Day" website (scroll down past the petition), and I would encourage you to do your own research as well. Sign the petition if you want, but really, it is considerably more effective to call or write (or both!) your representatives.
A few more good links:
"Contacting The Congress" - Easily lookup the names/contact information of your Reps/Senators.
SOPA Wikipedia Article - References - These references link to a variety of websites/articles that are both for and against this bill. I would like to personally point out how most of those in support are entities of a political nature, while those against are largely non-political technology-oriented entities.
Full Text of H.R.3261 [PDF] - A relatively "short" 78 pages.
Hearing Information - House Judiciary Committee - This bill is on "the fastrack," meaning its authors are trying to push it through as quickly as possible...This hearing is where the bill began it's journey today (11/16/11).
I thank you for taking the time to read this; if you choose to reply to this thread, bash me as much as you like, but please keep your responses to each other civil.
Alright, back to rooting my Revo (before doing so is a felony ).
Sincerely,
James

Good stuff the masses don't even realize how important this is
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

Basically when this bill passes we have no freedom of speech on the internets. The US government can block websites hosted on servers outside it's borders. And you can get sued for having a song playing on the radio heard in your video posted online.

jaszek said:
Basically when this bill passes we have no freedom of speech on the internets. The US government can block websites hosted on servers outside it's borders. And you can get sued for having a song playing on the radio heard in your video posted online.
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This is ridiculous we must stop them!
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

Must stop big brother government before it's too late!

Its getting near time for the guns to come out boys...
Brb, there are strange men in suits at my door....
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App

Great Job was about to post something about this on here but you beat me to it anyway here are some more links to articles,info and petitions:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-segal/stop-the-internet-blackli_b_739836.html
*
http://americancensorship.org/
http://demandprogress.org/blacklist/*
http://demandprogress.org/blacklist/?referring_akid=a2655379.916925._mXAo4&source=auto-taf
P.S keep spreading the word guys!

I think XDA should censor their logo/ and or have the javascript popup to support it http://americancensorship.org/
I have done it to my website for support purposes. come on guys we need this to be halted! So if you have a website/ blog please join the movement and censor your website for a day!

I guess this is the day when we finally found out for sure that govenments can be bought and paid for by greedy corporations.
You are now no longer being ruled by an elected body, but by a fat-cat in a pin-stripe suit.
This is the new world order i guess.

Very well written. I know quite a bit about this topic, since we will get something called "vorratsdatenspeicherung" where I live (austria). Basically The government logs your internet connection and it logs when and who you call/write a sms/ send an email and where you were by doing that.
Should be published on the portal!
I do what i want, because I can.

THIS IS CRAZY

This has to be one of those interpretation of the law issues though surely? I mean... you can't be prosecuted for lying on a dating profile about your height, weight, age etc. There'd be nobody left on match.com

Mykocorum said:
This has to be one of those interpretation of the law issues though surely? I mean... you can't be prosecuted for lying on a dating profile about your height, weight, age etc. There'd be nobody left on match.com
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The way the law is written does allow for scenarios like the one you propose. The retort of the politicians is, "We won't ever (ab)use this power for doing stuff like that, never ever." I don't know about you, but that's not too reassuring for me. If it's not abused now by these politicians, it'll be abused later by future politicians. Not to mention the precedent it sets...Once you give the government a little bit of control, it becomes very easy for them to get a lot of control.
Even if this were solely an interpretation of the law issue I'd still be against it, because Congress shouldn't be writing laws that can be so easily misinterpreted.
A link to the full text is up there, I plan on reading it tomorrow.

I totally agree the law should be written so that there is no room for interpretation.. you know if what you are doing is illegal from day one, ignorance is not a defence, but as devils advocate the counter is that you end up with thousands of very specific laws for hundreds of situations whilst occurrences the lawmakers didn't think of at the time are getting through loopholes and running away.
Circumstantially you should really be able to use the end purpose of why you are doing what you are doing as to the criminality of what's going down. I don't think anyone on this board would argue that a 40 year old man pretending to be a 13 year old girl on a forum or website to talk to other teenagers should be made illegal and is a very wrong thing - but who hasn't said they are two inches taller on a dating profile or put their build down as "athletic" rather than "a few extra pounds"

Bear in mind that the UK equivalent to this, the 'Digital Economy Act' was passed into law some time ago with barely a whimper of protest. Just like ProtectIP, it was kept quiet and barely reported on until it was too late. We just woke up one morning to draconian new laws. Again, it was bought and paid for by big media.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Economy_Act_2010
I doubt anything can be done to stop the same happening in the US, but perhaps enough pressure can be brought to bear to force some changes to the act. At least you guys have advanced warning to do something about it.
Edit: Big Content stacks Senate Committee
"US Senators have done their level best to give Big Content the law it wants to basically lock up citizens who might think of piracy or file sharing without having to worry about that pesky thing called constitution. The House Judiciary Committee today held an important hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act but only those witnesses who would not object to the law being invited. This was designed to give the impression that all the witnesses were in favour of the law."

Bump this baby. Also voted for frontpage!
I do what i want, because I can.

DirkGently said:
Bear in mind that the UK equivalent to this, the 'Digital Economy Act' was passed into law some time ago with barely a whimper of protest. Just like ProtectIP, it was kept quiet and barely reported on until it was too late. We just woke up one morning to draconian new laws. Again, it was bought and paid for by big media.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Economy_Act_2010
I doubt anything can be done to stop the same happening in the US, but perhaps enough pressure can be brought to bear to force some changes to the act. At least you guys have advanced warning to do something about it.
Edit: Big Content stacks Senate Committee
"US Senators have done their level best to give Big Content the law it wants to basically lock up citizens who might think of piracy or file sharing without having to worry about that pesky thing called constitution. The House Judiciary Committee today held an important hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act but only those witnesses who would not object to the law being invited. This was designed to give the impression that all the witnesses were in favour of the law."
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Thanks for posting this...It's absolutely crazy...I'm sure they'll find a way to completely circumvent a public hearing that gives opponents a chance to speak throughout the entire process.

jamRwoo said:
Thanks for posting this...It's absolutely crazy...I'm sure they'll find a way to completely circumvent a public hearing that gives opponents a chance to speak throughout the entire process.
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As always, the people can have a say.. at the ballot box!
I'm pleased to report that the government that introduced the DEA in the UK, lost in the next election shortly afterwards. (After being in power for thirteen years).
Karma b*tches!

Bumping this due to some developments...
Well, this is finally seeing the light of day and getting coverage by some news agencies; caught these articles on Drudge Report.
I just want to say that I hope Chris Dodd dies in a fire. Slowly. FYI: He's a former Senator spearheading this bill AND the new head of the MPAA. Primarily by attempting to bribe members of Congress. Gotta love that the Hollywood/Record Label lobbyists are getting all the airtime, while the people who actually understand this stuff are being silenced as much as possible.
Not too late to call/write your representatives. You can also share these links with your friends...tweet them, facebook them, reddit them, do whatever. If these links don't scare the living s**t out of you, well...idk...too many benzos perhaps. Feel free to copy this post and use it wherever, if you wish.
All of these articles are great and cover a different aspect (with some overlap) of the consequences of this legislation. Props to The Hill for giving this so much coverage; glad someone's doing it.
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MPAA Head Chris Dodd on Online Censorship Bill: China's the Model -- http://bit.ly/u7kgXy
"When the Chinese told Google that they had to block sites or they couldn't do [business] in their country, they managed to figure out how to block sites."
Google chairman says online piracy bill would 'criminalize' the Internet -- http://bit.ly/tRWEnj
"It's not a good thing. I understand the goal of what SOPA and PIPA are trying to do," Schmidt said of the Senate counterpart bill, the Protect IP Act. "Their goal is reasonable, their mechanism is terrible. They should not criminalize the intermediaries. They should go after the people that are violating the law."
Internet piracy bill: A free speech 'kill switch' -- http://bit.ly/tY6o6f
Consider this: Under the proposed legislation all that’s required for government to shutdown a specific website is the mere accusation that the site unlawfully featured copyrighted content. Such an accusation need not be proven – or even accompanied by probable cause. All that an accuser (or competitor) needs to do in order to obtain injunctive relief is point the finger at a website.
Legal expert says online piracy bill is unconstitutional -- http://bit.ly/tNBUDH
"Conceivably, an entire website containing tens of thousands of pages could be targeted if only a single page were accused of infringement," Tribe writes. "Such an approach would create severe practical problems for sites with substantial user-generated content, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and for blogs that allow users to post videos, photos, and other materials."
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God, do I hate politicians.
P.S. For those interested in a more detailed analysis of how this is a flagrant violation of free speech: Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law professor and Supreme Court advocate, wrote a memo detailing how SOPA does exactly that -- http://scr.bi/sFSRBg

Closed:
XDA Forum Rules said:
2.4 Personal attacks, racial, political and/or religious discussions: XDA is a discussion forum about certain mobile phones. Mobile phones are not racial, political, religious or personally offensive, therefore none of these types of discussions are permitted on XDA.
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MEGAUPLOAD SHUT DOWN Indicted

AP: One of world's largest file-sharing sites, http://Megaupload.com, shut down; company workers indicted

are you sure it's not another SOPA protest?
it'll be very controversial if true
then all the other file hosting sites are on target
and that means sources for new Anime releases will be limited.... Nooooooooooooo!

It would seem it's down for other reasons besides a SOPA protest.

@OP Do you have any links supporting your post? Other than MegaUpload having some DNS hijack issues back in November, there is nothing out there that supports your post.

i found it http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/01/19/feds-shut-down-file-sharing-website/
Feds shut down file-sharing website Megaupload.com
Published January 19, 2012
| Associated Press
McLEAN, Va. – Federal prosecutors in Virginia have shut down one of the world's largest file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, and charged its founder and others with violating piracy laws.
The indictment accuses the company of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed Thursday, one day after websites shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to thwart the online piracy of copyrighted movies and TV programs.
Megaupload.com has claimed it is diligent in responding to complaints about pirated material.
The indictment says at one point, Megaupload was the 13th most popular website in the world.
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more results from google https://www.google.com/search?q=Meg...GH4qTiQL2uty7CA&ved=0CFkQqAI&biw=1280&bih=970

Oh FOX news.... :cough:
I have my views about where they get their news from, and such views are not a democracy.
Edit: Didn't clue in that AP meant Associated Press, so it is credible.

From a quick perusal of teh interwebz, it is indeed down. Just coincidence that it's happened now, with all the SOPA stuff in everyone's head.

7 people connected to http://t.co/EzaQgqaF have been charged with online piracy crimes, WSJ reports. Story to come at http://t.co/1q2TkQ7W

This anti piracy crusade is out of control.

I Am Marino said:
This anti piracy crusade is out of control.
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It just seems like that because it's on everyone's mind. It's like when you drive a red escort. You see red escorts everywhere and think it's the most popular car on the road. It's not. You just notice it more because it's relevant to you.
Stuff like this happens quite a lot. It's nothing new, and for some (if not most) it's nothing other than a temporary glitch...
http://www.pcworld.com/article/1965...nocks_the_pirate_bay_offline_temporarily.html

I'm pretty sure MegaUpload is gone, and it hows the only need for SOPA and PIPA is so the rich guys can say what website they want shut down.

How is this? Official enough?
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/January/12-crm-074.html
What I love is the lack of technical understanding. Looks like the DOJ lawyers were led by the entertainment industry by taking advantage of their their raging lawyering libido.
Wonder if the case has any merit. Obviously SOPA doesn't need to be passed if the feds can shutter the 13th most popular web site in the world on piracy claims.

For all of you not believing this...here's another source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...egauploadcom/2012/01/19/gIQAJPIRBQ_story.html
and: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap...05l2sA?docId=c93737704b504930a11fc307d67b674d

Yah, WTF? I hate copyright law. Totally out of control. Corporations run America and America thinks it runs the world. I mean seriously, arresting people in New Zeland and Japan?! Extraditing them like murderers to face criminal charges in the USA?!!

R.I.P MegaUpload you shall be missed dearly!

Another article: http://gizmodo.com/5877612/feds-kill-megaupload

If MU goes down, doesn't that mean all other "types" of sites will also go down? No more Filesonic, fileserve, hotfile, etc. Man that would suuuuucccckkkk!

fleadog99 said:
If MU goes down, doesn't that mean all other "types" of sites will also go down? No more Filesonic, fileserve, hotfile, etc. Man that would suuuuucccckkkk!
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That is exactly what media companies would like. Scorched earth, so long as they reduce (yes, not eliminate, just reduce) infringement. Which is incredible because copyrights should never have lasted this long in the first place.
The media companies are pirating from the public by getting Congress to perpetually extend copyrights.
Time for someone to write a global redundant distributed filesystem. Run a client on your computer and dedicate a few GB for the world's benefit.

haydonxda said:
That is exactly what media companies would like. Scorched earth, so long as they reduce (yes, not eliminate, just reduce) infringement. Which is incredible because copyrights should never have lasted this long in the first place.
The media companies are pirating from the public by getting Congress to perpetually extend copyrights.
Time for someone to write a global redundant distributed filesystem. Run a client on your computer and dedicate a few GB for the world's benefit.
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This is disingenuous. People aren't using these sites to download books from the 1930s. The vast majority of the material is movies, music and software from the past 5-10 years. The term of copyright is ridiculous, but has no application here.
The fact is, this site, and a few others, rewards people explicitly for hosting pirated content. I hope someone markets a better cyberlocker where legitimate content can be shared without having to be lumped in with the pirates.

Dammit those b*strds, so the owner of megaupload must have been doing fairly well, good life no debts, team working on the site pirated links being taken down, they're trying then one day 500 million dollars in debt , dammit, its not their fault and media producers are still minted
Max. (From my Galaxy 2)

My honest opinion on MegaUpload being taken down

MHO the whole SOPA thing and americans' crackdown on piracy aint gonna stop it. Its up to the people themselves to decide whether they pirate or support. No matter how much effort or money the US or other governments waste on trying to stop piracy, its not going to stop. The online community has unlimited possibilites and there's always gonna be somebody that's gonna make a workaround, if you understand what i mean. All SOPA's gonna do is cause unnecessary inconvenience in the online world.
MegaUpload... hmm... i thought at first that it was a stupid move, I mean, there are loads of different file-hosting sites out there, why only take down MegaUpload? I mean sites like FileSonic and others that pay uploaders money for downloads are way more prone to illegitimate uses.
Alright so I read MegaUpload CEO's Kim Dotcom's bio, he does have quite an interesting history... A dual German and Finland citizen, holds permanent residency in both New Zealand and Hong Kong. He has multiple criminal records and has been charged more than twice or so for criminal offenses such as selling hacked telephone cards, credit card fraud, insider trading and embezzlement... in general, being a total smart arse:
WIKIPEDIA: In 2001, Schmitz (Kim) purchased $375,000 worth of shares of the nearly bankrupt company LetsBuyIt.com and subsequently announced his intention to invest EUR 50 million in the company. Unknown to others, Schmitz did not have the funds available to invest, although the announcement caused the share value of LetsBuyIt.com to jump by nearly 300%.Schmitz quickly sold the shares and profited $1.5 million as a result.
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In other words, he was a dirty business man with a bad reputation. I guess his criminal records would be the main reason why he was taken down first. I'm quite confident there are more coming.
As to how it affects me, it does a lot. I have quite a few files I need on MU... I don't have a premium account and would never buy one off them or anyone else, because I don't need it. I sure feel sorry for those who have a prem though...
^^ Again, this is my honest opinion.

Megaupload being taken down really sucks
Sent from my X10a using xda premium

negrobembon said:
Megaupload being taken down really sucks
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Couldn't agree more!

Yeah, it really sucks. Let's hope other file sharing sites don't get the same fate. Rapidshare etc. Not as good as Mega though... Here's my latest post on facebook lol
"Megaupload taken down by the Federal Government. ****ing ridiculous. The company was not EVEN BASED in the US. Is the US government now policing the rest of the world. They got the New Zealand police to arrest the founders, and the company base is in Hong Kong. How can they bring people from another part of the world, not even US citizens, and have them arrested... just adds to the bull**** with SOPA and PIPA. We are going to have a censored internet just like North Korea. **** THE US GOVERNMENT. DAMN. They need to get their priorities straight. Giving people years of jailtime for downloading music or small crimes, yet when someone murders someone you might get a year or two if your lucky. Something I saw someone post, download a Michael Jackson song and get 5 years prison, be the Dr. killing him and you get 1-2. smh.."

The megaupload. Being taken down doesnt surprise me personally. Its like limewire, it was a really blatant piracy hub. There was legitimate business on the site but it was mostly a hotbed for stolen data.
There are plenty of other oprions. Rapidshare, filehippo, dropbox

- Removed -

LordManhattan said:
Here you go: fake link removed
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Please stop posting that IP around. It's not real. The owners of the real MegaUpload have nothing to do with these "New MegaUpload" sites. Now for being stupid I hope you get a virus and have your bank account zeroed.
But seriously, do you really think they would put it back up right after it was closed? Someone just took a cached version to have the layout, put the text in there, and now they are thinking how to infect your computer and steal your money.
(yes, I am copy and pasting that whenever I see those numbers)

Yeah, just saw your reply in the other thread.
You should edit the quote out of your post

We don't need two MU threads....
Well, I don't anyway
Sent From My Fingers To Your Face.......