NZ Police Raid File-Sharing Site Founder's Mansion

ABC News ^ | 01/20/2012

[Wolfie]

NZ Police Raid File-Sharing Site Founder's Mansion

New Zealand police raided several homes and businesses linked to the founder of Megaupload.com, a giant Internet file-sharing site shut down by U.S. authorities, on Friday and seized guns, millions of dollars, and nearly $5 million in luxury cars, officials said.

Police arrested founder Kim Dotcom and three Megaupload employees on U.S. accusations that they facilitated millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue. Extradition proceedings against them could last a year or more.

With 150 million registered users, about 50 million hits daily and endorsements from music superstars, Megaupload.com was among the world's biggest file-sharing sites. According to a U.S. indictment, the site, which was shut down Thursday, earned Dotcom $42 million in 2010 alone.

Although the company is based in Hong Kong and Dotcom lives in New Zealand, some of the alleged pirated content was hosted on leased servers in Virginia, and that was enough for U.S. prosecutors to act.

New Zealand police served 10 search warrants at several businesses and homes around the city of Auckland.

[RoadTest]

Kim Dotcom?

[Wolfie]

I know...what are the odds?!?!?

[Salamander]

Smart @ss....;D

[people get *paid* for that file sharing stuff?]

[isthisnickcool]

What next? New Zealand passes a law saying I can't water my lawn in Texas on Sundays so when I do the US Feds arrest me? Confiscate my stuff? Throw me in jail.

The article says that the guy changed his name to dotcom. FYI.

[Bobalu]

If the hollyweird elite were all conservatives then this guy would get seated next to Mooschelle at the State of the Union address..

Just sayin.....

[gaijin]

accusations that they facilitated millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue.

GOOD for them...! Piracy is cute and sexy. Pirates are SMART..!

When EVERY mansion in the Hollywood Hills goes on the auction block, auctioned away from the America-hating owners then...

I WILL DANCE A HAPPY JIG..!

Extra points if their kids starve to death or get hooked on crack.

Piracy is agent orange, and Hollywood Degenerates are the VC. They've made war on America for decades, and now the world is making war on them.

I HOPE IT REALLY HURTS THEM. And it WILL.

[Wolfie]

The lesson I've learned from filesharing discussions is this: If it's easy to steal, it's okay to steal it. Who knew?

[DBrow]

The Climategate emails were first released on Megaupload.

[icwhatudo]

Google owns YouTube. When can we expect GOOGLE to be shut down and its founders arrested?

YouTube is playing these COPYRIGHTED movies for free:

The Chronicles Of Narnia

Shrek

Armageddon (Been up for 3 years so its not like this is some quick post someone made that slipped by)

Silent Hill

Day After Tomorrow

Rise of the Planet Of The Apes

There are many MANY others. Why aren't the feds shutting down Google? Too big to fail?

[roostercashews]

When will the entertainment industry (RIAA, MPAA) learn they are in a losing battle? I’m far from being on the side of piracy, but this reeks of what a SOPA and PIPA future will look like if any form of it ever passes. They find something they don’t like and the whole site goes down.

[moehoward]

"..With 150 million registered users, about 50 million hits daily and endorsements from music superstars,...

Does anyone see the problem here?

[moehoward]

Please stop. I can go to the local public library right now and bring home the actual retail copy of those films and many many more films and watch them for free.

I guess it’s ok as long as the gov does it...../s

[Salamander]

Shouldn’t they stop calling it file *sharing* and start calling it file buying/selling?

I’m so confuuuuuuused........:-|

[LyinLibs]

“Kim Dotcom” sounds kinda like “Barry Soetoro.”

[Moonman62]

There are many MANY others. Why aren't the feds shutting down Google? Too big to fail?

From what I can tell Google cooperates and gets along very well with copyright holders. In many cases copyright holders have no issue with a less than ideal copy on Youtube. Sometimes they get free advertising as compensation. If they want it taken down, Youtube will do it right away.

[Dallas59]

There was shoplifting done at my local Walmart. They should shut down all the Walmarts!

BUY MORE HOLLYWOOD MOVIES!

[microgood]

Extradition proceedings against them could last a year or more.

Great. Our generation has incarcerated 5 times as many citizens as any other generation in human history but that is still not enough. We have to import prisoners from other countries.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

Shouldn’t they stop calling it file *sharing* and start calling it file buying/selling?

At a site like Megaupload (it has many copycats) someone will upload (share) a movie. You can either download it at a slower speed for free (that's where the sharing part comes in) or buy a premium membership and get it full speed with no nag screens. You aren't paying for the movie you are paying for the speed and convenience. The person who uploaded the movie is rewarded either in cash or credits that can be used to extend his premium membership based on how many people downlad his movie. He's not being paid for the movie itself he's being paid for bringing new users into the site. The owners actually don't get involved in either end, they make their money off of the premium memberships, which will probably be their defense. They do delete files for copyright infringement but 99.9% of the copyrighted material slips by their enforcers, which will be the government's case.

Even if you shut down every file sharing site there would still be multiple ways to get the movies. Heck, even Usenet newsgroups and IRC still share movies after all these years and advancements in technology.

[sten]

Megaupload.com employees Bram van der Kolk, also known as Bramos, left, Finn Batato,second from left, Mathias Ortmann and founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer of Megaupload.com Kim Dotcom (also known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor), right, appear in North Shore District Court in Auckland, New Zealand, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The four appeared in court in relation to arrests made to Megaupload.com, which is linked to a U.S. investigation into international copyright infringement and money laundering.

i wondered what happened to kimble