Hollywood unions blast Google and urge Senate support for PIPA

[Weezer]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ente...sopa-pipa.html

The Department of Justice announced Thursday that it has conducted a major action to shut down MegaUpload, a popular file-sharing site widely used for free downloads of movies and television shows.

After receiving indictments from a grand jury in Virginia for racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and other charges on Jan. 5, federal authorities on Thursday arrested four people and executed more than 20 search warrants in the U.S. and eight foreign countries, seizing 18 domain names and an estimated $50 million in assets, including servers run in Virginia and Washington, D.C.

MegaUpload is a "digital locker" that allows users to store files that can then be streamed or downloaded by others. Its subsidiary site MegaVideo became very popular for the unauthorized downloads of movies and TV shows. Users whose uploaded content proved particularly popular were paid for their participation.

In a joint statement, the Justice Department and FBI called the action "among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States."

Ira Rothken, an attorney for MegaUpload, said in an interview that he only learned of the actions in a press release this morning and had not yet read the entire indictment. "Our initial impression is that the allegations are without merit and MegaUpload is going to vigorously contest them," he said. "We have deep concerns over due process and assets being taken without the opportunity for a hearing."

According to the indictment, the operators of MegaUpload earned more than $175 million in illegal profits and caused an estimated $500 million in harm to copyright holders.

The site is advertised as having more than 50 million daily visitors, according to federal authorities.

Four of MegaUpload's operators have been arrested in New Zealand, while three more remain at large. Not listed on the indictment is rapper Swiss Beatz -- real name Kasseem Dean -- who, according to a report in the New York Post, is the CEO of MegaUpload. Beatz is married to pop singer Alicia Keys.

Rothken said that Beatz had not been running the site but that recently there had been "a transition period going on."

The seven each face a maximum of 55 years in prison.

The news is sure to be welcome in the entertainment industry, whose leaders have faced a recent setback in their push for the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act. The proposed bills, if passed, would make it easier for U.S. courts to go after piracy sites that, unlike MegaUpload, operate entirely overseas.

Critics who believe the bills are heavy-handed and don't adequately protect civil liberties conducted a U.S. Internet "blackout." As many as 10,000 websites went black Wednesday, among them Wikipedia, Craigslist and Reddit. The protest helped to pressure lawmakers to oppose SOPA and PIPA.

The Obama administration announced its opposition to the bills in their current forms Saturday.

When unions of workers hold reactionary positions, like here, should we support them?

Truth be known, The entertainment industry actually has very little effect on the economy.You never hear the term "import/export of films". Profits from the entertainment generally go to the pockets of selfish celebrities. Illegal downloading exists, yet they still have enough money to keep making those dumb movies and sellout albums, they'll be fine.

This makes my blood boil.

[citizen of industry]

55years in prison for copyright infringement. Yeah, okay. People do less than that for murder and child abuse.

[Le Rouge]

FBI.gov is down.


Edit : *was down.

[Princess Luna]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ente...sopa-pipa.html

The Department of Justice announced Thursday that it has conducted a major action to shut down MegaUpload, a popular file-sharing site widely used for free downloads of movies and television shows.

After receiving indictments from a grand jury in Virginia for racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and other charges on Jan. 5, federal authorities on Thursday arrested four people and executed more than 20 search warrants in the U.S. and eight foreign countries, seizing 18 domain names and an estimated $50 million in assets, including servers run in Virginia and Washington, D.C.

MegaUpload is a "digital locker" that allows users to store files that can then be streamed or downloaded by others. Its subsidiary site MegaVideo became very popular for the unauthorized downloads of movies and TV shows. Users whose uploaded content proved particularly popular were paid for their participation.

In a joint statement, the Justice Department and FBI called the action "among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States."

Ira Rothken, an attorney for MegaUpload, said in an interview that he only learned of the actions in a press release this morning and had not yet read the entire indictment. "Our initial impression is that the allegations are without merit and MegaUpload is going to vigorously contest them," he said. "We have deep concerns over due process and assets being taken without the opportunity for a hearing."

According to the indictment, the operators of MegaUpload earned more than $175 million in illegal profits and caused an estimated $500 million in harm to copyright holders.

The site is advertised as having more than 50 million daily visitors, according to federal authorities.

Four of MegaUpload's operators have been arrested in New Zealand, while three more remain at large. Not listed on the indictment is rapper Swiss Beatz -- real name Kasseem Dean -- who, according to a report in the New York Post, is the CEO of MegaUpload. Beatz is married to pop singer Alicia Keys.

Rothken said that Beatz had not been running the site but that recently there had been "a transition period going on."

The seven each face a maximum of 55 years in prison.

The news is sure to be welcome in the entertainment industry, whose leaders have faced a recent setback in their push for the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act. The proposed bills, if passed, would make it easier for U.S. courts to go after piracy sites that, unlike MegaUpload, operate entirely overseas.

Critics who believe the bills are heavy-handed and don't adequately protect civil liberties conducted a U.S. Internet "blackout." As many as 10,000 websites went black Wednesday, among them Wikipedia, Craigslist and Reddit. The protest helped to pressure lawmakers to oppose SOPA and PIPA.

The Obama administration announced its opposition to the bills in their current forms Saturday.

When unions of workers hold reactionary positions, like here, should we support them?

Truth be known, The entertainment industry actually has very little effect on the economy.You never hear the term "import/export of films". Profits from the entertainment generally go to the pockets of selfish celebrities. Illegal downloading exists, yet they still have enough money to keep making those dumb movies and sellout albums, they'll be fine.

This makes my blood boil.

No more then we should support the police unions that go crazy when ever someone brings up the word "Police Brutality"

[workersadvocate]

Business union sellouts can fuck off! Hand in hand with the media companies.

[Ocean Seal]

55years in prison for copyright infringement. Yeah, okay. People do less than that for murder and child abuse.

The sheer rationality of your point demonstrates the absurdity of believing that our laws are some magical presence that we should worship.

[cb9's_unity]

When unions of workers hold reactionary positions, like here, should we support them?

Just because something calls itself a union doesn't mean it suddenly gains some magical immunity to criticism or rejection. The composition, leadership, and general political orientation of a group of people are more important than whatever designation they give themselves.

[zimmerwald1915]

This is not news. The entertainment unions have been behind the producers and the state on file sharing since it was an issue. It's a way for the union leadership to claim to the membership that they're fighting for residual payments, and thus for the members' interests (the one truth in all the bourgeoisie's spin about file sharing is that when residual payments are made they are usually a source of more, and more steady, income to talent than what they receive up front) while actually bargaining away members' rights to be paid residuals in the first place, among other things.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

the one truth in all the bourgeoisie's spin about file sharing is that when residual payments are made they are usually a source of more, and more steady, income to talent than what they receive up front

That really depends on the industry. With a lot of music, when the main way to "make it as a musician" was to get a record deal, the advance was all the artist ever saw (since their small claim on the sales rarely "recouped" what the label laid out for the ad campaigns, music videos, etc.). So with hip hop for example, a lot of artists live/d on advances, payment for live shows and whatever else they could scratch up.

With other, less "mainstream" industries that's also the case... For example porn actors are paid for each scene and never see another penny (forget about residuals, the one scene can even end up on multiple DVD releases, on websites, cable TV on demand, etc.). So they make a few hundred dollars for staring in films that are the basis of an $80,000,000,000 industry in the U.S.

[Crux]

Free the MegaUpload 4/7!

[zimmerwald1915]

That really depends on the industry. With a lot of music, when the main way to "make it as a musician" was to get a record deal, the advance was all the artist ever saw (since their small claim on the sales rarely "recouped" what the label laid out for the ad campaigns, music videos, etc.). So with hip hop for example, a lot of artists live/d on advances, payment for live shows and whatever else they could scratch up.

With other, less "mainstream" industries that's also the case... For example porn actors are paid for each scene and never see another penny (forget about residuals, the one scene can even end up on multiple DVD releases, on websites, cable TV on demand, etc.). So they make a few hundred dollars for staring in films that are the basis of an $80,000,000,000 industry in the U.S.

Apologies, I was speaking from experience in television and should have specified that. The point remains that the entertainment unions have adopted this position so they can pretend to be defending residuals while in fact bargaining them away where they still exist.