Posted on 01/20/2012 1:13:24 PM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Stealing is stealing where it happens does not make any difference.
Yes, true, in older generations we just killed them and saved on the jail fees.
There is a very old rule that if you are doing anything that even has a possibility of a major government crackdown, you arrange your assets so they cannot swoop down and seize everything.
You might live in a mansion, but you don’t own it. You don’t own the cars you drive or are driven in. 100 employees and servants work for you, but they are not *your* employees and servants. Optimally, you do not have a lofty title, but are just an employee yourself.
Your declared annual wages should be little more than minimum wage, even if you *theoretically* are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Even the vast majority of people think that some actor is the real boss, though their job is just to act, not to actually know or do anything other than follow orders.
You don’t do business where you live, your business building is a rental, and with the remote touch of a button all your computer memory and storage are wiped, and your entire operation goes to a “jump HQ” in another country, where all it has done previously is archive everything.
Hopefully, no matter where the police arrive, or when, they will just be greeted by a phalanx of ambitious lawyers and video cameras.
That was not the point. Using that logic then I suppose you would agree the Americans fall under the laws of New Zealand or fall under moslem sharia law for that matter.
For Americans concerned about SOPA—those that support SOPA actually ENABLED/DISTRIBUTED piracy software!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJIuYgIvKsc&feature=related
It’s not illegal to file share.
If you steal off of someone in new Zealand, and/or you steal off of someone in Saudi, you are damn straight, they can do with you as they wish. Where in the hell did you get the ideal that your birth and/or place you live exempts you from civilization.
Ideal? How about idea? I got mine from the United States Constitution.....
Too much hassle.
I’ll stick with NetFlix.
;D
Wrong on both accounts.
By your way of thinking Mexico could solve the US immigration problem by passing a Mexican law saying that illegals in America are US citizens. Then the Justice department would happily enforce it.
Good points. I was wrong headed about this. I get tweaked up when I see a business shut down without what I consider to be due process.
What this does prove is that there is no need for the SOPA, etc. laws that are being pushed.
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