Hey, remember Wednesday when a bunch of your favourite sites went dead in order to protest SOPA, effectively an internet censorship bill? The US has decided to show what it thinks of these puny concerns about internet freedom by shutting down biggest filesharing site on the internet and arresting the people who ran it.
Megaupload is dead. It has vanished into the ether, and with it has gone countless gigaterawhatabytes of files, some of which may even have been legal. Not to be apocalyptic (lol, jk) could hail the end of filesharing sites as we know it. This sets a nasty precedent and the Yank anti-piracy stormtroopers are likely to go after other popular sites like Rapidshare, Mediafire and so on.
Can you imagine a world without easy ways to pirate shit? No more watching episodes of that shiny new series just after it's broadcast in the US and spoilered all over web. No more randomly watching those weird cult movies you'd never find at the local Blockbuster. No more tracking down those hard-to-find, never-been-released-on-DVD obscure shows from the early 90s. Excuse me, I need a moment. To Drink.
Okay, I'm back. Luckily, the internet is resourceful and hydra-esque when it comes to matters of illegally downloading things. They'll come up with new ways and new sites which the US Government will presumably also try to shut down years later. The implications of this move far beyond the ease with which you can find music online.
Megaupload was based on Hong Kong, but the US Govt managed to successfully go after it anyway based on some loophole of jurisdiction . Scarily, several people involved with Megaupload, none of whom are US citizens or reside in the US, have been arrested while in their native countries. As with Julian Assange's troubles with the law last year, the extent of the US's influences overseas is obvious.
If only the US showed as much initiative in preventing climate change or dealing with the massive fucking island of rotting, stinking garbage floating in the Pacific Ocean as it did in appeasing anti-piracy lobbyists.
I think it's time to pay several extended visits to the remaining filesharing sites before the anti-piracy police swoop across oceans and borders, kick down my door and arrest me for the unthinkable crime of downloading bits of information able to be infinitely replicated and shared.
I find it really sad that the US has so much power overseas. We also have to realise that the US's income from royalties on music and film, create more millionairs than any other sector. Money talks and bullshit walks. All that is left now is to learn chinese and get what you need from their filesharing sites - lol. But if they keep flogging this dead horse, the real problems in the world will be glanced over because we all know the super rich stay super rich because they are so generous and tackle environmental problems they help create with their own money and the goodness of their hearts....
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