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Kim Dotcom responds to the latest procedural error
- nirvana 15y agoThis whole affair has been pretty terrible. But what makes it so profoundly tragic to me is-- I see no reason to believe that anyone involved will learn a lesson. That anyone will be punished, or that the US government won't continue to escalate along these lines. IP enforcement needs to be a civil matter, not a criminal matter. Further, the level of incompetence here makes me question how many legitimate criminal matters are being fumbled as well.
- fpp 15y agofully agreed - the problem is exactly that "shoot first ask questions later" attitude and as you rightly mentioned the complete lack of accountability seemingly some of those involved here are assuming to be applied to this like with other dubious activities in the recent past.
- pfisch 15y agoI think the only lesson here is that if you operate a site like megaupload the gov't will come down on you like a ton of bricks whether it is against the law or not. So if you operate some kind of scumbag business like megadownload you might get your house raided by a swat team and your business shut down. I understand that what the gov't is doing is technically wrong but Kim is a scumbag and a con artist so I have a hard time getting upset about it. He is getting rich by selling content had absolutely no hand in the creation of and has no rights to. Megaupload was not like youtube, and Kim is just a leech on society. If people want to operate some kind of not for profit piracy site that is one thing, it is another thing when they are making a fortune selling content they do not have the rights to.
- Joakal 15y agoThe bigger issue is the huge amount of power the government has to kill businesses at whim with no recourse. "The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all." -- HL Mencken
- HalibetLector 15y agoThe government isn't discerning between "not for profit" piracy and "for profit" piracy. In fact, they're not even focused on "piracy" at all. If this is allowed to stand without any kind of recourse or punishment, there would then be a precedent that allowed the government to shut down any company at any time for any reason without the due process of law anywhere in the world. It's naive to think that wouldn't get abused.
- rayiner 15y agoMan, if you think some procedural fumbles like this are bad, I suggest you don't look too closely at our criminal justice system...
- fpp 15y agoOnce you have looked behind the curtain of government wheeling and dealing at such multi-billion situations you tend to believe that what Kim Schmitz is telling might actually be the closest we get to the truth. Now we should all think about how such a case would/will be handled in a few years time based on the changes to civil rights / Internet regulations / totalitarian powers currently in the pipeline across most western societies. 2015: I guess you will not hear about it other that a few of those who lost their files and were not immediately constraint with gag orders will mentioning it on some low frequented boards. Sites like TorrentFreak will then immediately taken off the net / silenced by gag orders. A brave new world we are looking forward to - the .... are just practicing in the moment and will eventually get better over time.
- TazeTSchnitzel 15y agoQuick! Download Tor while you still can!
- yuhong 15y agoGood thing we have Silicon Valley lobbying to stop that.
- Joakal 15y agoCISPA legalises sharing of people's private data. USA government is brilliant with this proposal. It favours Silicon Valley and Hollywood. The people lose again.
- huhtenberg 15y agoHe should just really re-create the company and call it Megaupload2. That'll show 'em :)