Anonymous Superthread

In any case they're a bunch of criminals on some self-aggrandized crusade against 'the Man.' Not even vigilantes, just punks who decide to break the law when it suits them.

Revenge for what? As many have said, MegaUpload is not unique. There are hundreds of other sites like it. It is only revenge if they had personal stakes in the success of the company.

Weren't the servers in the US.
Edit: Not using a question mark when asking a question. Happy Birthday Kali

Definition:the unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the persuit of political aims.
The definition clearly states that it's both the use of "violence and intimidation."
You could call them a terrorist organization in the sense that they "intimidate" people when they shut down websites, but that would mean protesters are also terrorists when they "intimidate" people with their large number and shut down traffic.(of course I don't think either of them are terrorists)

But you could argue that their crimes extended to the US.

Letting people download pirated files, some of media that was produced in the US.

Youtube makes an active effort to stop what would be defined as "piracy", and as far as I know offers no service for what is posted on it's site to be copied. Google, while showing these sites, is merely a means to an end. There is no way to prove that they purposefully lead people to these sites without the consent of the person, who needs to search for them. Pedro posted the indictment for Megaupload. You should read it.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/78786408/Mega-Indictment

Yes, but can they prove that they proactively attempted to not only remove files, but keep pirated material off their site. That is the nature of the indictment.

From the indictment "to transport, transmit, and transfer and attempt to transport, transmit, and

transfer a monetary instrument and funds from a place in the United States to and through a place outside the United States, and to a place in the United States from or through a place outside theUnited States, with the intent to promote the carrying on of the specified unlawful activity of criminal copyright infringement, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section1956(a)(2)(A)"

and

"7.

Megaupload.com advertises itself as a “cyberlocker,” which is a private data

storage provider. However, as part of the design of the service, the vast majority of

Megaupload.com users do not have significant capabilities to store private content long-term. Unregistered anonymous users (referred to as “Non-Members” by the Conspiracy) are allowed to upload and download content files, but any Non-Member-uploaded content that is not downloaded within 21 days is permanently deleted. Similarly, registered free users (or “Members”) are allowed to upload and download content files, but each uploaded file must be downloaded every 90 days in order to remain on the system. Only premium users have a realistic chance of having any private long-term storage,

8.

Once a user clicks on a link, the user is generally brought to a download page for

the file. The download page contains online advertisements provided by the Conspiracy, which means that every download on Megaupload.com provides a financial gain to the Conspiracy that is directly tied to the download. The more popular the content, such as copies of well-known copyrighted works, the more users that find their way to a Megaupload.com download page; the access of these additional users, in turn, makes the Mega Conspiracy more money. Because only a small percentage of Megaupload.com users pay for their use of the systems, Mega Conspiracy’s business strategy for advertising requires maximizing the number of online

downloads (i.e., distributions of content), which is also inconsistent with the concept of

private storage. since their files are not regularly deleted due to non-use. In contrast, when any type of user on Megaupload.com uploads a copy

of a popular file that is repeatedly downloaded, including infringing copies of copyrighted works available for download, that file remains on Mega Conspiracy-controlled computers and is available for distribution by anyone who can locate an active link to the file."

You would need to prove that the files taken off the site were due to copyright infringement rather then those listed above.

It's like if a mod deleted a post on this site. He or she would not only have to delete the post, but show that it was worth deleting, due to some infraction of the rules.

Have you read the indictment? It seems to me that they have a good amount of proof that Megaupload not only facilitated but supported piracy. That would be the, "proven guilty" part.

Skip down to page 28. Read Overt Acts.