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Much like Napster, his only real crime was success. If nobody or barely anyone used Megaupload, he wouldn’t have been in as much trouble. He paved the way for

Much like Napster, his only real crime was success. If nobody or barely anyone used Megaupload, he wouldn’t have been in as much trouble. He paved the way for streaming and digital distribution of media. Megavideo in particular had the highest encoding rates possible at the time, even superior to YouTube.

skullone 2y ago
Except, he paid people for, and promoted the upload of copywrited works. He knowingly participated and basically tailored his products to pirating. Some people love him, but he will see his day in court apparently, but no one wants to even deal with him because he's gone crazy.
- hinkley 2y ago
  We had a friend who threw amazing parties because he had this sort of transgressive sense of humor. He got rich, retired young, and I fully believe that the professional peer pressure was the main thing keeping his screws tight because he just fell apart over three years. At one point he was telling my spouse he was trying to make himself crazy. Congratulations bud, you already are. Sane people don’t do that. Predatory people took advantage of his behavior and generosity, and by thirty he was involuntarily committed, his mother given power of attorney. My spouse was the person feeding his mom the information she needed to see to intervene. All he had left was the equity in his condo and $50k. I’m not sure I believed the deranged millionaire trope until I met this guy. And I watch my younger friends and acquaintances for signs of mania that masquerade as out of box or transgressive thinking.
  - gautamcgoel 2y ago
    How did your friend get rich, and how did people take advantage of him?
    - hinkley 2y ago
      Massive mooches, and a “situationship” with a woman who wasn’t quite his girlfriend. Microsoft millionaire.
- petre 2y ago
  Sure, pirating means comandeering of a ship, not distribtion of copyrighted works. He probably has a plan in a nearby Pacific jurisdiction like Vanuatu. Best of luck!
  - LastTrain 2y ago
    The language we humans use in casual conversation is a lot more fluid than that, you need to be able to deal with it.
    - meiraleal 2y ago
      Not when the language is used to accuse someone of a crime. He is no pirate, obviously. > He knowingly participated and basically tailored his products to pirating
      - AnimalMuppet 2y ago
        Nor is piracy, in the literal sense, the crime he is accused of. So I'm not sure what you're up in arms about.
  - popcalc 2y ago
    >https://www.tatler.com/article/inigo-philbrick-art-dealer-arrested-vanuatu-south-pacific-art-fraud https://www.tatler.com/article/inigo-philbrick-art-dealer-ar... Vanuatu is a no-go.
- mysecretaccount 2y ago
  Source for "he's gone crazy"? Curious about the degree of crazy, since he seemed pretty out there from the start.
  - sva_ 2y ago
    Looking at his Twitter, he peddles a bunch of conspiracy theories.
kube-system 2y ago
YouTube is way more successful than Megaupload or Napster. The difference is that YouTube went above and beyond to comply with the law and Megaupload and Napster didn't.
- londons_explore 2y ago
  With the right third party search engines, you can find almost any full movie on YouTube. They don't have to stop pirates, just keep them in the shadows.
  - Ringz 2y ago
    Which search engines are these? I ask for a friend who is doing research in this area.
    - spookie 2y ago
      Google with search operators wield more results than one expects. Theoritically speaking, of course.
  - kube-system 2y ago
    The DMCA doesn't give anyone a score based on how many movies they have, or don't have. What is relevant is that YouTube provides tools that comply with the DMCA.
- treflop 2y ago
  As someone who used to run an illegal video index, this is not true at all. YouTube had virtually zero enforcement. You could upload whole shows and movies and they were never taken down. Other sites like Google Video or Vimeo did go above and beyond to comply and they lost badly. YouTube started getting heat at some point and that’s only when they started enforcing, but by then, they already won.
  - kube-system 2y ago
    They didn't, but then they did, to the satisfaction of the Viacom case. Napster and Megaupload never built the tools to comply to the degree that YouTube did. Maybe if they had, they would still exist.
okl 2y ago
> his only real crime was success Nonsense. He has a criminal history going back to the early nineties.
damagednoob 2y ago
> If nobody or barely anyone used Megaupload, he wouldn’t have been in as much trouble. In a world where opportunity costs exist, as they do for law enforcement, this makes sense?
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
kypro 2y ago
> his only real crime was success. Success even when obtained with some illegality is fine so long as it plays well with the interests of elites. Kim didn't just break the law, he also painted himself a target by upsetting people with power. For all of his flaws, I think where I'd give someone like SBF a significant amount of credit is that he understood very well that if he wanted to do dodgy things he had to remain on the right side of those in power. Kim hasn't played the game right. Had he tried to win friends from the start he may not be in the situation he's in now.
- Temporary_31337 2y ago
  Which of course simply confirms that current elites are just sanctioned criminals that no one dares to challenge.
- roca 2y ago
  Dotcom did absolutely nothing to "upset people with power". He was always just an obnoxious hustler trying to make money by obviously illegal means.
pavlov 2y ago
> “If nobody or barely anyone used Megaupload, he wouldn’t have been in as much trouble” And if Captain Kidd hadn’t managed to raid any ships, he would have avoided the whole unfortunate hanging business. It goes without saying that unsuccessful criminals mostly don’t get caught.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
serial_dev 2y ago
Which kind of makes sense, doesn't it? I expect different treatment for Pablo Escobar / Chapo level drug dealers vs a guy who gave some of his weed to a buddy of his for some cash and later bought a pizza with it. They are both technically drug dealers, just one a bit more successful than the other.

skullone 2y ago

Except, he paid people for, and promoted the upload of copywrited works. He knowingly participated and basically tailored his products to pirating. Some people love him, but he will see his day in court apparently, but no one wants to even deal with him because he's gone crazy.

hinkley 2y ago
We had a friend who threw amazing parties because he had this sort of transgressive sense of humor. He got rich, retired young, and I fully believe that the professional peer pressure was the main thing keeping his screws tight because he just fell apart over three years. At one point he was telling my spouse he was trying to make himself crazy. Congratulations bud, you already are. Sane people don’t do that. Predatory people took advantage of his behavior and generosity, and by thirty he was involuntarily committed, his mother given power of attorney. My spouse was the person feeding his mom the information she needed to see to intervene. All he had left was the equity in his condo and $50k. I’m not sure I believed the deranged millionaire trope until I met this guy. And I watch my younger friends and acquaintances for signs of mania that masquerade as out of box or transgressive thinking.
- gautamcgoel 2y ago
  How did your friend get rich, and how did people take advantage of him?
  - hinkley 2y ago
    Massive mooches, and a “situationship” with a woman who wasn’t quite his girlfriend. Microsoft millionaire.
petre 2y ago
Sure, pirating means comandeering of a ship, not distribtion of copyrighted works. He probably has a plan in a nearby Pacific jurisdiction like Vanuatu. Best of luck!
- LastTrain 2y ago
  The language we humans use in casual conversation is a lot more fluid than that, you need to be able to deal with it.
  - meiraleal 2y ago
    Not when the language is used to accuse someone of a crime. He is no pirate, obviously. > He knowingly participated and basically tailored his products to pirating
    - AnimalMuppet 2y ago
      Nor is piracy, in the literal sense, the crime he is accused of. So I'm not sure what you're up in arms about.
- popcalc 2y ago
  >https://www.tatler.com/article/inigo-philbrick-art-dealer-arrested-vanuatu-south-pacific-art-fraud https://www.tatler.com/article/inigo-philbrick-art-dealer-ar... Vanuatu is a no-go.
mysecretaccount 2y ago
Source for "he's gone crazy"? Curious about the degree of crazy, since he seemed pretty out there from the start.
- sva_ 2y ago
  Looking at his Twitter, he peddles a bunch of conspiracy theories.

kube-system 2y ago

YouTube is way more successful than Megaupload or Napster. The difference is that YouTube went above and beyond to comply with the law and Megaupload and Napster didn't.

londons_explore 2y ago
With the right third party search engines, you can find almost any full movie on YouTube. They don't have to stop pirates, just keep them in the shadows.
- Ringz 2y ago
  Which search engines are these? I ask for a friend who is doing research in this area.
  - spookie 2y ago
    Google with search operators wield more results than one expects. Theoritically speaking, of course.
- kube-system 2y ago
  The DMCA doesn't give anyone a score based on how many movies they have, or don't have. What is relevant is that YouTube provides tools that comply with the DMCA.
treflop 2y ago
As someone who used to run an illegal video index, this is not true at all. YouTube had virtually zero enforcement. You could upload whole shows and movies and they were never taken down. Other sites like Google Video or Vimeo did go above and beyond to comply and they lost badly. YouTube started getting heat at some point and that’s only when they started enforcing, but by then, they already won.
- kube-system 2y ago
  They didn't, but then they did, to the satisfaction of the Viacom case. Napster and Megaupload never built the tools to comply to the degree that YouTube did. Maybe if they had, they would still exist.

okl 2y ago

> his only real crime was success Nonsense. He has a criminal history going back to the early nineties.

damagednoob 2y ago

> If nobody or barely anyone used Megaupload, he wouldn’t have been in as much trouble. In a world where opportunity costs exist, as they do for law enforcement, this makes sense?

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

kypro 2y ago

> his only real crime was success. Success even when obtained with some illegality is fine so long as it plays well with the interests of elites. Kim didn't just break the law, he also painted himself a target by upsetting people with power. For all of his flaws, I think where I'd give someone like SBF a significant amount of credit is that he understood very well that if he wanted to do dodgy things he had to remain on the right side of those in power. Kim hasn't played the game right. Had he tried to win friends from the start he may not be in the situation he's in now.

Temporary_31337 2y ago
Which of course simply confirms that current elites are just sanctioned criminals that no one dares to challenge.
roca 2y ago
Dotcom did absolutely nothing to "upset people with power". He was always just an obnoxious hustler trying to make money by obviously illegal means.

pavlov 2y ago

> “If nobody or barely anyone used Megaupload, he wouldn’t have been in as much trouble” And if Captain Kidd hadn’t managed to raid any ships, he would have avoided the whole unfortunate hanging business. It goes without saying that unsuccessful criminals mostly don’t get caught.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

serial_dev 2y ago

Which kind of makes sense, doesn't it? I expect different treatment for Pablo Escobar / Chapo level drug dealers vs a guy who gave some of his weed to a buddy of his for some cash and later bought a pizza with it. They are both technically drug dealers, just one a bit more successful than the other.