SHIT JUST GOT REAL, Y'ALL.

[rogueslayer452]

MegaUpload has been shut down.

I shouldn't be surprised considering the threats that have been happening lately, along with the convenient timing these people have with the upcoming decision of the SOPA bill tomorrow. I will however admit to be shocked and baffled at them shutting down the biggest file-sharing site on the Internet, seeing as how many people thought it would be impossible. Of course that is was before they realized they could shut down the entire site completely instead of targeting every individual person as they do with peer-to-peer file sharing networks.

This kind of changes things, but it also doesn't change anything at the same time.

They tried this before, not just online sharing sites like Napster and Kazaa but also back in the day with VCRs and cassette tapes, the government will try to find ways of taking piracy, in any form, away. Eliminating the sources. Unfortunately for them, the more you take away, the more the people get creative and find other methods of sharing these things. I think these people tend to forget that times are changing, we live in a digital world now, technology is advancing and there is no way you can censor the Internet like this. This is why the SOPA bill cannot be passed. Apparently the government has been tracking down MU for a while, imagine all your sites being censored and shut down. Our freedoms, or ways of communicating, of sharing things that are otherwise unavailable to us, will cease to exist.

Comments

[allodole.livejournal.com]

this is so scary.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

It's not the first time this has happened and it won't be the last, but just the convenience of timing right with the threat of SOPA and everything? It just makes me really pissed off and upset and worried as all fuck, because this is like the government saying: "Well, if the bill doesn't pass we'll still take away your websites, and if it does pass, then we'll be taking everything away and restricting your freedoms on the Internet by the weekend"

It's scary and disturbing and outraging all at once.

[carameltrap.livejournal.com]

I'm pissed off right now. While my country has banned the site, I was still able to access it and now all my files are just gone. They should know that doing things like that won't work. People won't thank them for it. Instead, they just incurred people's ire.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Exactly. And although SOPA/PIPA has been delayed indefinitely, the other threats hasn't ceased either. Megaupload was just the first, now other sites are deleting stuff and blocking IP addresses, in fear of what might happen if the government gets a hold of them too and holds them responsible too, even if they aren't even in the U.S.

It's all scary stuff, and it shouldn't be policed in this manner. At all. :/

[lynnylou.livejournal.com]

These bills need to be stopped. I have emailed my Congressmen and Senators to say I am against these bills and have signed several positions. If these bills are passed it could really set us back with our civil liberties and suppress the right to freedom of speech and freedom of expression.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

There just seems to be more and more bills and threats coming out lately. First it was SOPA/PIPA which, as far as we know for right now, has been delayed indefinitely. But another new threat of ACTA has been issued, which is reportedly even more dangerous than SOPA was on a global scale. And now other filesharing sites are deleting everything for fear of what has happened to Megaupload and the people who ran the site.

It's frightening, to be honest. It's all happening so fast and it makes you wonder why this is such a huge deal to begin with, esp since there are other issues to be concerned about in our country/world.

[gwaevalarin.livejournal.com]

What you said aside, I know people who had legal stuff stored on MU. Random Acts had most of their footage there. And now it's just gone because they didn't even get a warning.
If we use that "downloading is stealing" argument, then they just destroyed innocent people's property. And other than the "stealing" where things aren't really gone, this footage is.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

It just keeps getting worse because now other filesharing sites are deleting everything, as well. In fear because of what happened to Megaupload (and the people running the site are reportedly being deported to the US and charged for their crimes, or so I've been hearing) It's just a whole big lump of scary and ridiculous stupidity.

It's like, really? Aren't there other more pressing matters to be dealt with in this world other than filesharing sites? Furthermore, they're treating this like it's strictly US-based, which it's not. Although the new threat, ACTA, is international so idk.

All of this is just too much at once.