With the recent suspension of the SOPA and PIPA bills, the latest story in the Federal government’s war on Internet piracy was the shutdown of file-sharing site Megaupload.com. But did the FBI go too far? Now anyone who knows a little bit about Megaupload, knows that the site did carry a ton of illegal content – but is this the site’s fault or its users?
So what is Megaupload? Essentially the site offered a storage locker – in the cloud – to upload content that gave users un-policed access to post whatever they wanted. In certain cases, several used the site to post illegal content, with most of it being publicly accessible. Once posted, the content could be downloaded by anyone searching for it. This could be music, movies, television shows or applications. This provided a seemingly endless stream of content users could acquire for free without repercussions or payment.
The site had to know its days were numbered, but a shutdown and arrest of Kim Dotcom, Megaupload founder, may have been a bit overboard. In fact, the details of the arrest involve a police raid utilizing helicopters, Dotcom locking himself in the safe room of his 25,000 square-foot mansion with a sawed-off shotgun, while the police cut him out of the room to make the arrest. This all happened during a raid that seemed more like a scene from a nerd-ier version of Scarface than anything else. Someone should have told Dotcom that sawed-off shotguns are illegal in laser tag.
Maybe the recent arrest of Dotcom and the shutdown of Megaupload – and its sister site Megavideo – are proof that the U.S. government may not need SOPA or PIPA to protect copyrights? The flawed Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), enacted in 1998, gives lawmakers the authority to remove the presence of illegally posted content, without going as far as shutting down the site itself. Nonetheless, a shutdown of Megaupload was still accomplished. This was due in large part because the site had actively advertised its illegal content. Now even though the site was based in China, its .com domain still meant it fell under U.S. jurisdiction. SOPA however, would allow lawmakers to venture further, shutting down U.S. access to foreign domains as well as domains falling under U.S. jurisdiction.
It’s a slippery slope. We’re reaching an age where the definition of copyright infringement is blurred. If Megaupload is illegal, how is YouTube not? It’s a classic argument of who’s to blame? If the bank leaves the safe doors open and someone walks in and steals your money, is it the banks fault or the thief? Most would say both, but what if the bank never promised any level of protection? Or should they?
Upon hearing of the shutdown, it’s hard to defend the site, but also equally hard to keep the impending-doom light from going off regarding the future of my favorite websites – Google Music or YouTube to mention a couple.
As Internet-wide panic exploded over the weekend, several other sites have either revoked U.S. access or stopped file sharing indefinitely. FileSonic, one of the top file-sharing sites, has suspended all file sharing. Maybe this is what the government wanted? SOPA and PIPA fell by the wayside so maybe this is their next-best option? It’s hard to tell, but I believe the Internet is heading in the right direction. It’s just about getting there with only bumps and bruises and not broken bones.