MegaUpload taken down because................

[Serpo]

MegaUpload Is Now Launching a Music Service Called MegaBox...

Wednesday, December 21, 2011
by paul (http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/about/team)
There's another gigantic wrinkle in the MegaUpload drama. Not only is MegaUpload fighting tooth-and-nail against Universal Music Group, but they're now planning the launch of a cloud-based music locker, download store, and do-it-yourself artist service. It's called MegaBox, and it's already up in beta with listed partners 7digital, Gracenote, Rovi, and Amazon MP3.

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/images/1097.jpg
Actually, this is technically a relaunch of an earlier concept, and a perfect re-stab at major label opponents. "UMG knows that we are going to compete with them via our own music venture called Megabox.com, a site that will soon allow artists to sell their creations directly to consumers while allowing artists to keep 90 percent of earnings," MegaUpload founder Kim 'Dotcom' Schmitz told Torrentfreak this week.
In other words, another entry into the very crowded DIY space. But there's a lot more to this story. Instead of charging artists, Schmitz wants to pay artists - even for free downloads. "We have a solution called the Megakey that will allow artists to earn income from users who download music for free," Dotcom outlined. "Yes that's right, we will pay artists even for free downloads. The Megakey business model has been tested with over a million users and it works."
And there could be more mega-artist deals ahead, of the will.i.am variety. "You can expect several Megabox announcements next year including exclusive deals with artists who are eager to depart from outdated business models."




http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2011/111221airvinyl

[vacuum]

The music and movie industries need to just die already. It's just not worth the sacrifice of the public's rights for theirs. They act as if art wouldn't exist without them.

Yes, big movies would take a hit, but personally I don't care. (I'm sure others have different opinions on this, but I literally only watch one or two movies a year, and more often then not it ends up making me mad or frustrated for some reason or another.)

[Hatha Sunahara]

When your business model is based on ripping off the artists and the public, and technology arises that makes you irrelevant, then even the government can't save you with laws like SOPA or PIPA. The RIAA and MPAA need to adopt a more honest business model or join the rest of the dust in the history bin. You don't need to be a rocket surgeon to grasp that the Mega Box idea is a constructive adaptation of technology to achieve equity in the marketplace. I won't shed any tears for dead monopolists as I am sure no one else will either.

Apple needs some competition for its iStore. They are charging way too much for music and apps.


Hatha

[osoab]

This is the only thread that I could find on MegaUpload.

Some new info on the case. Full Scribd text at the link.

Megaupload Search Warrants Ruled Illegal by High Court (http://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-search-warrants-ruled-illegal-by-high-court-120628/)



The search warrants used by police to raid the New Zealand home of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom have been ruled illegal. In addition, the data that was sent to the FBI was ruled to be unlawfully obtained. The decision by the High Court is the latest in a series of setbacks for prosecutors on both sides of the Pacific. Could this be the beginning of the end for the Megaupload trial?

A case that seemed, just 5 months ago, to be a veritable David and Goliath fight is certainly living up to its billing.
The battle between Megaupload (David) and the US Government and the MPAA (Goliath) started out with a flurry of blows against the New Zealand based site staff, but in recent weeks the blows have all been falling stateside.
Today, the New Zealand High Court ruled that the search warrants used to raid Dotcom’s mansion were illegal, casting uncertainty over the entire ‘Mega Conspiracy’ case.

An earlier ruling by High Court Justice Judith Potter concluded (http://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-seizure-order-null-and-void-says-high-court-120318/) that a previous search and seizure order was invalid because of improper paperwork. The documents were later corrected.

In the ruling, Chief Justice Helen Winkelmann declared the warrants illegal, noting that they were not adequately descriptive of the offenses Dotcom was accused of.

“Indeed they fell well short of that. They were general warrants, and as such, are invalid,” she said (http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/kim-dotcom-search-warrants-unlawful-judge-rules-4950160).

In addition, the data removed from New Zealand by the FBI (which they claim was ‘not stolen’, since it was ‘only data’ (http://torrentfreak.com/fbi-did-not-steal-megaupload-evidence-because-its-digital-120607/)) was also ruled to be illegally obtained, and should not have been taken out the country.

“…the release of cloned hard drives to the FBI for shipping to the United States was contrary to the February 16 direction under section 49 (2) of the MACMA [Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act] that the items seized were to remain in custody and control of the Commissioner of Police. This dealing with the cloned hard drives was therefore in breach of s49(3) of the MACMA.”

Winkelmann also voiced concerns over police conduct, questioning if their actions in January amounted to unreasonable search and seizure, with a preliminary view that they did. Along with these concerns came a note that the raid could be considered trespass by the police, not something the elite anti-terrorist team used for the raid will want on their record.

Perhaps the biggest setback for any prosecution relates to what evidence was collected. An independent, and appropriately experienced High Court lawyer will now conduct a review of the evidence to determine what is and is not relevant to the charges Dotcom faces.

Anything deemed not relevant will be returned to Dotcom, and not provided to the US. Anything deemed relevant will be copied to both Dotcom and US authorities for use in court.

While the ruling does not amount to the unequivocal quashing of the search warrants and the invalidation of any evidence collected through them, it is a significant win for Dotcom. Meanwhile a request for the cloned hard drives to be returned (presumably without being copied) has been made to US authorities. The amount of respect for the New Zealand legal system held by US authorities may be inferred by the time it takes to comply with the request.

As for the extradition hearing? That’s still going ahead.

[Cebu_4_2]

Whoaaa!

http://megaupload.com/banner.jpg

[Horn]

The music and movie industries need to just die already. It's just not worth the sacrifice of the public's rights for theirs. They act as if art wouldn't exist without them.

The public wouldn't exist without movies & music.

[Gaillo]

The public wouldn't exist without movies & music.

At least not happily and compliantly! ;)

It's like Roman bread and circuses... without the bread.

[Glass]

The music and movie industries need to just die already. It's just not worth the sacrifice of the public's rights for theirs. They act as if art wouldn't exist without them.

Yes, big movies would take a hit, but personally I don't care. (I'm sure others have different opinions on this, but I literally only watch one or two movies a year, and more often then not it ends up making me mad or frustrated for some reason or another.)

I haven't been to a big movie in many years. Since it clicked, I can't fund an industry like that. I'm anti monopoly and I think indie films are often better anyway. Many don't have the big bang cgi but that is just a matter of time. indie cgi is coming as well as everything else. Web 2.0 is on the horizon and this will throttle the indie web. it will be a battle to see if indie gets enough momentum to kill or wrest control of web 2.0. from the bad guys.

I've actually been viewing a lot more material online recently, trying to soak up the huge data allowances they give these days. There is a lot of good stuff out there. There's a lot of crap which definately out numbers the good stuff.... but theres still hope.

[osoab]

The publik wouldn't exist without movies & music.

fify.

[osoab]

http://informationliberation.com/?id=41300


Kim Dotcom: U.S. Government Used Echelon to Spy on Me

by Ernesto
http://informationliberation.com/space.gif
Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom believes that he was spied on by New Zealand’s GCSB because this allowed the U.S. Government to have real-time access to all of his communications. New Zealand and the United States have an agreement to share all intelligence gathered by the secretive Echelon, and Dotcom says this is the primary reason GCSB was utilized for the secret surveillance.

Two weeks ago New Zealand's Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security found that the government had illegally spied (http://torrentfreak.com/bad-police-info-led-spies-to-monitor-dotcom-govt-suppressed-information-120926/) on Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom.

His report found that the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Communications_Security_Bureau)) carried out surveillance on Dotcom, despite the fact that by law it can only conduct action against foreign targets.

When the spying debacle became public New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key apologized (http://torrentfreak.com/new-zealand-prime-minister-apologizes-to-kim-dotcom-120927/) to Dotcom, but for Megaupload’s founder there’s an even bigger issue that thus far hasn’t been discussed.

Dotcom says it’s “nonsense” that he was spied on by GCSB in order to locate him. The New Zealand authorities had many less secretive options to monitor his communications, and according to Dotcom GCSB’s connection to the Echelon network was the main reason the group was used.

“The interesting part is that the GCSB is one of the five partners in the Echelon project, the global spying project,” Dotcom tells TorrentFreak. “They are prying on every type of communication they can get their hands on, from wireless, to Internet, to satellite, to telephone.”

Besides New Zealand’s GCSB, the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States is also part of Echelon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON). And since there are deals in place that allow the organizations to share data, the U.S. Government might have been listening in.

Under the UK/USA agreement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UKUSA_Agreement) all Echelon partners have instant access to all the data they gather. In other words, all the intelligence gathered by GCSB is available to the Americans in real-time. There is no obligation to make a specific request to get access.

To Dotcom it’s clear that this data sharing policy was the real reason GCSB was tasked with the information gathering.

“The GCSB was utilized to surveil all my communication in order to give the U.S. Government full access to all my communication, without the requirement of a warrant, and without the ability for me to get access to transcripts or discovery,” Dotcom tells us.

“The U.S. has used this GCSB surveillance to get real-time access to my phone calls, Internet traffic and everything, and I can’t do anything about it. They refuse to cooperate with the court and say it’s all national security,” he adds.

Interestingly, Dotcom and his lawyers believe the spying efforts might benefit their case, as it could show that nothing nefarious was going on. However, thus far the authorities have refused to release transcripts.

"This is evidence that would clear us. If they provide us with transcripts of recorded telephone conversations, we would be very pleased, because all you can hear is that we were trying to do the right thing. It would show that we're a good corporate citizen," Dotcom says.

“In the Indictment the DOJ alleges that Megaupload was a Racketeering operation like the Mafia. Have you ever heard of an alleged Mafia boss to get excited about surveillance transcripts that would proof his innocence?”

The Echelon link is no coincidence according to Megaupload’s founder, who’s convinced that the U.S. was listening all along.

“It’s obvious,” Dotcom says.

“Everything that’s happening in this case all point in one direction. The people in the highest seats of power wanted to use all their toys to destroy us, for their benefactors in Hollywood.”

In the coming month these spying issues and the U.S. connection will remain an important topic in the New Zealand case.

Last week Dotcom revealed that he suspects that GCSB started monitoring his communications as early as October 2011 (https://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcoms-gaming-lag-hints-spying-121004/). Detective Inspector Grant Wormald is suspected of committing perjury in court, as he explicitly denied that any such surveillance efforts were carried out. He and Crown Law had knowledge of the GCSB spying on Kim Dotcom.

In addition, Dotcom says that several cameras were secretly installed around his home, something that will be discussed in more detail during the next court hearing.

[osoab]

So is Gabon getting a new aid package?


Kim Dotcom loses new domain in preemptive strike by government (http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/11/kim-dotcom-loses-new-domain-in-preemptive-strike-by-government/)




One week after Kim Dotcom unveiled "Me.ga," (http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/11/kim-dotcom-unveils-me-ga-domain-mega-plan-to-fool-law-enforcement/) the domain for his new file sharing service to replace Megaupload, the government of Gabon in Africa announced that it would suspend the site immediately. At the same time, a group called Omega that opposes Dotcom has seemingly taken over the domain and has it redirecting to its Twitter feed.

The nation of Gabon in Central Africa controls the .ga Internet domains, and doesn't want Dotcom using one of them as a "platform or screen for committing acts aimed at violating copyrights."

"I have instructed my departments... to immediately suspend the site www.me.ga," said Communication Minister Blaise Louembe, according to the AFP French news agency (http://phys.org/news/2012-11-gabon-megaupload-site.html).

Dotcom was reportedly hosting (http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http://www.numerama.com/magazine/24173-mega-kim-dotcom-heberge-son-domaine-chez-vivendi.htmlv) the Me.ga domain with Gabon Telecom, a subsidiary of the Vivendi entertainment company. On Twitter, Dotcom blamed the Me.ga shutdown on "the reach of the US & Vivendi (https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/265937455444815872)." He's not giving up plans to launch his new Mega service, though. Dotcom also tweeted (https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/265940286524493824) that "We have an alternative domain. This just demonstrates the bad faith witch hunt the US government is on." Me.ga had been set up to redirect traffic to a site in France that would provide access to Dotcom's new file-sharing service, which is expected to launch in January.

For now, Me.ga is redirecting to the Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/o) of a group called Omega. Omega is being described as "hackers (http://thenextweb.com/media/2012/11/07/as-gabon-seizes-kim-dotcoms-domain-hackers-take-control-of-me-ga-and-offer-to-sell-it-to-universal/)" in some accounts, although it may have taken over the domain by legitimate means after it was pulled from Dotcom's control. The Twitter feed popped up overnight, with statements like "Say goodbye to me.ga and hello to o.me.ga," and "Of course we will entertain offers from @KimDotcom's enemies in the millions of dollars (or bitcoins) for the me.ga domain." Omega also claimed that "@KimDotcom offered us 1% of Megabox in exchange" for the domain.

Omega's website (http://www.ome.ga/) contains nothing but an image of the Greek letter for which it is named. The group is apparently not a fan of Dotcom's attitude toward copyright laws, saying in another tweet "Ome.ga is the future of music, 100% of the earnings will go to artists." Music labels are not wont to give 100 percent of earnings to artists, either, but Omega said it would like to sell its newly acquired domain to Universal Music Group and donate 10 percent of the proceeds to a youth charity in Gabon.