On today’s MTR, we talk about yesterday’s shutdown of Megaupload, the enormously popular and celebrity-endorsed file sharing site. It’s either the 13th or 72nd most popular site on the web, depending on whether you believe the Justice Department or Alexa.com, respectively. Wikipedia says Megaupload has 155 employees. But seven executives were charged and a few of them, including the head honcho, were arrested yesterday and the site was shut down for copyright violations.
Illegal content on a file sharing site? I’m reminded of Claude Rains in Casablanca:
The Megaupload team, however, is well funded and preparing a defense. It’s hired Ira Rothken, an attorney experienced at fighting copyright cases, and Rothken is planning to bring on several more lawyers. CNET adds some pretty remarkable details to how the arrest of Kim Dotcom, who ran the site, went down in New Zealand:
When police came to his door, DotCom tried to evade arrest, according to authorities. “Despite our staff clearly identifying themselves, Mr Dotcom retreated into the house and activated a number of electronic locking mechanisms,” Detective Inspector Grant Wormald said in a report from New Zealand news outlet TVNZ. “While police neutralized these locks he then further barricaded himself into a safe room within the house which officers had to cut their way into.”
They said they found Dotcom near a sawed-off shotgun but he was arrested without further incident.
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