Payback-Anonymous hacks U.S. govt. sites after Megaupload shutdown

[gokufan]

The hacker group Anonymous said it launched its largest-ever online attack in retaliation for the U.S. government’s shutdown of one of the world’s largest file-sharing websites, Megaupload, for alleged copyright infringements.

More than 5,000 of its members had collaborated to bring down the websites of the Justice Department, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America, the hacker collective said on Thursday. All three sites were inaccessible on Thursday.

The group said in a message on its Twitter account @YourAnonNews that 5,635 people were using denial-of-service attacks to target the websites, including those of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the White House, although both those sites appeared to be working.

The action came after federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment against seven people connected with Megaupload, which they said earned $175 million while costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue.

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom, whose real name is Kim Schmitz, was among four of the accused arrested on Friday in New Zealand.

 

[thatsashok]

i think seven people were arrested.

And its as expected - payback

 

[Sarath_]

Am I the only one who finds this lame

[font=arial, sans-serif]copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue.[/font]

 

[agantuk]

Funny world we live in. We steal from others, protest when someone stops that, and then don't want others to steal from us

 

[vercetti]

its not funny when u apply a little logic.... when ppl try to monopolize things, some start stealing.

companies that sued MU already made profits of upto billions/year but they are not happy as they lost some 500 million over 5-6 years....

Funny world we live in. We steal from others, protest when someone stops that, and then don't want others to steal from us

 

[vivek.krishnan]

Am I the only one who finds this lame

Nope, it just that those a**holes see it as "assumed" loss, which would be actually none.

its not funny when u apply a little logic.... when ppl try to monopolize things, some start stealing.

companies that sued MU already made profits of upto billions/year but they are not happy as they lost some 500 million over 5-6 years....

And lets see how much stuff goes to the artists and how much to the record labels? I am guessing 1:99

 

[neerajvohra]

check the reply in the video by the hackers to the US govertment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Smb-cFSDXrw

 

[Sarath_]

^ That version is awesome.

 

[gokufan]

Spread it.

 

[chiron]

What laws were the MU arrests based on? None of the articles I checked are clear on that...

 

[thatsashok]

check the reply in the video by the hackers to the US govertment

MEGAUPLOAD IS TAKEN DOWN!! Due to S.O.P.A, P.I.P.A / USA Government - YouTube

The voice seems like the one Adobe Reader uses for "Read out Loud" mode. I think they put that voice to good use

 

[vercetti]

Its typical annonymus.... exact same thing happened last time when these guys hacked the PSN network

The voice seems like the one Adobe Reader uses for "Read out Loud" mode. I think they put that voice to good use

 

[agantuk]

its not funny when u apply a little logic.... when ppl try to monopolize things, some start stealing.

companies that sued MU already made profits of upto billions/year but they are not happy as they lost some 500 million over 5-6 years....

I don't see that as a justification to steal. It is like saying Mukesh Ambani earns in crores, so if a thief steals his Bentley, it's fine because you know what, he has loads of money!

 

[thatsashok]

its fine when they do it the Robinhood way and help others with stolen loot

 

[vercetti]

Err..its not a justification; its a reason

Also, I said something about monopoly which u very convienently missed out. Read it again pls.

Stealing is not ok...we are not debating that. I was just giving a reason why this happened in the first place not to defend it

I don't see that as a justification to steal. It is like saying Mukesh Ambani earns in crores, so if a thief steals his Bentley, it's fine because you know what, he has loads of money!

 

[agantuk]

^ I read that, but theft is not an answer to monopoly, alternatives are.

 

[Mr.J]

Funny thing is many artists don't say anything against piracy. They only want to be heard.

 

[chiron]

I don't see that as a justification to steal. It is like saying Mukesh Ambani earns in crores, so if a thief steals his Bentley, it's fine because you know what, he has loads of money!

looks like the sopa analogy is more like if a guy is a drug dealer then his friends and family should also be arrested.

Answering my own question

What laws were the MU arrests based on? None of the articles I checked are clear on that...

[font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]backstory:[/font]

[font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]"Early 2011" - "The FBI contacted New Zealand Police in early 2011 with a request to assist with their investigation into the Mega Conspiracy." said Detective Inspector Grant Wormald of OFCANZ[/font]

[font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]28-OCT-2011 -[/font] MegaUpload labelled a 'rogue' site by MPAA.

[font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]09-DEC-2011 -[/font] MegaUpload releases a music video with RIAA artists endorsing MegaUpload.

[font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]10-DEC-2011 - [/font]UMG doesn't like the video. Has it removed from YouTube.

[font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]12-DEC-2011 - [/font]MegaUpload files suit against UMG on the grounds that UMG cannot remove the content as MegaUpload holds the copyright, not UMG.

[font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]16-DEC-2011 - [/font]UMG says "So what? We can take down whatever we want!" and "You can't touch us. This isn't DMCA. We didn't take it down because of copyright. We took it down because we can."

[font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]21-DEC-2011 -[/font] MegaUpload labelled a "rogue" site by the USTR.

[font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]28-DEC-2011 - [/font]MegaUpload wants an explaination from UMG.

[font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]19-JAN-2012 -[/font] MegaUpload shut down by Feds

[font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]20-JAN-2012 - [/font]New Zealand arrests in US led global copyright infringement investigation of Megaupload.com and related sites.

Here is the indictment.

[font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]According to page 25 of the indictment "54. It was further part of the Conspiracy, from at least September 2005 until July 2011, that the Conspiracy provided financial incentives for users to upload infringing copies of popular copyrighted works. The Conspiracy made payments to uploaders who were known to have uploaded infringing copies of copyrighted works."[/font]