FBI Shutters Megaupload, Triggers Anonymous DDoS Spree

BY EVAN THOMAS ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN The US government is calling it the Mega conspiracy: on Thursday the Department of Justice and the FBI shut down file-sharing site Megaupload and seized the company's assets. Al Jazeera reports authorities in New Zealand arrested four people connected to the site on suspicion of facilitating piracy on a global scale. "Within New Zealand, we have seized in excess of $6 million worth of motor vehicles, and over $10 million in cash from several New Zealand finance companies." Ars Technica says this was only a matter of time. "For years, the site has claimed to take down unauthorized content when notified by rightsholders. But the government asserts that Megaupload merely wanted the veneer of legitimacy, while its employees knew full well that the site's main use was to distribute infringing content." The Justice Department alleges that Megaupload has done more than half a billion dollars of damage to US copyright holders. If convicted, the seven members of the "Mega conspiracy" could spend as long as 50 years in prison. The indictment is one of the largest copyright cases ever brought by the US, and came hard on the heels of hallmark Internet protest over piracy bills currently circulating in congress. When the FBI hit Megaupload, the Internet noticed. Hours after Megaupload went offline, Anonymous hammered down the websites of the RIAA, MPAA, the Department of Justice and Universal Music with Distributed Denial of Service attacks ...

View Count: 0 Date: January 21, 2012