Autorità statunitensi chiudono file-sharing sito Megaupload

AP – Uno dei più popolari siti di file-sharing del mondo, aveva le imposte Giovedi, e il suo fondatore e diversi funzionari della società sono stati accusati di facilitare milioni di download illegali di film, musica e altri contenuti.

Un atto d'accusa accusato Megaupload.com di costare titolari di copyright almeno $500 milioni in mancati introiti. The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to make it easier for authorities to go after websites with pirated material, especially those with overseas headquarters and servers.

Megaupload is based in Hong Kong, but some of the alleged pirated content was hosted on leased servers in Virginia, which gave federal authorities jurisdiction, the indictment said.

The Justice Department said in a statement said that Kim Dotcom, 37, and three other employees were arrested Thursday in New Zealand at the request of U.S. funzionari. Three other defendants are at large.

Before Megaupload was taken down, it posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were “grotesquely overblown.”

“The fact is that the vast majority of Mega’s Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch,” the statement said.

The indictment may have prompted a response from the loose affiliation of hackers known as “Anonymous,” which claimed credit for attacking the Justice Department’s website. The site was inaccessible Thursday evening.

A spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America said in an emailed statement Thursday that the group’s site had been hacked, although it appeared to be working later Thursday evening.

“The motion picture and television industry has always been a strong supporter of free speech,” the spokesman said. “We strongly condemn any attempts to silence any groups or individuals.”

Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, tra gli altri.

The company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO. He was not named in the indictment and declined to comment through a representative.

Secondo l'accusa, Megaupload was estimated at one point to be the 13th most frequently visited website on the Internet. Current estimates by companies that monitor Web traffic place it in the top 100.

The five-count indictment, which alleges copyright infringement as well as conspiracy to commit money laundering and racketeering, described a site designed specifically to reward users who uploaded pirated content for sharing, and turned a blind eye to requests from copyright holders to remove copyright-protected files.

Per esempio, users received cash bonuses if they uploaded content popular enough to generate massive numbers of downloads, secondo l'accusa. Tale contenuto è stato quasi sempre protetti da copyright.

Il sito vantava 150 milioni di utenti registrati e circa 50 milioni di visite al giorno. Il Dipartimento di Giustizia ha detto che era illegale per chiunque di scaricare contenuti pirata, ma la loro indagine focalizzata sui dirigenti della società, non gli utenti finali che potrebbero aver scaricato alcuni film per la visione personale.

Un avvocato che ha rappresentato la società in una causa lo scorso anno ha voluto commentare Giovedi. Gli sforzi per raggiungere un avvocato che rappresenta Dotcom non hanno avuto successo.

Megaupload è considerato un "cyberlocker,"In cui gli utenti possono caricare e trasferire file che sono troppo grandi da inviare per e-mail. Tali siti possono avere usi perfettamente legittimi. Ma la Motion Picture Association of America, che ha lottato per un giro di vite sulla pirateria, stima che la stragrande maggioranza dei contenuti che vengono condivisi su Megaupload era in violazione delle leggi sul copyright.

Il sito ha permesso agli utenti di scaricare alcuni contenuti gratis, ma fatto i soldi facendo pagare abbonamenti a persone che volevano l'accesso a velocità di download più veloci o contenuti extra. Il sito ha inoltre ceduto pubblicità.

L'atto d'accusa è stato restituito nel Distretto Orientale della Virginia, che ha sostenuto la competenza, in parte perché alcuni dei presunti materiali pirata sono stati ospitati su server affittati in Virginia. I procuratori ci hanno perseguito più indagini di pirateria.

Steven T. Shelton, un avvocato copyright presso la ditta Cozen O'Connor di New York, said opponents of the legislation are worried the proposals lessen the burden for the government to target a wide variety of websites. Shelton said he expects to see the government engage in more enforcement in the future, as technology makes it easier to catch and target suspected pirates.

“I think we’ll be seeing more of this,", Ha detto. “This is just the beginning.”

Dotcom, a resident of both Hong Kong and New Zealand, and a dual citizen of Finland and Germany, made more than $42 million from the site in 2010 solo, according to the indictment.

Dotcom had his name legally changed. He was previously known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor. He is founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer of Megaupload.

Officials estimated it could be a year or more before Dotcom and the others arrested in New Zealand are formally extradited.

The others arrested were Finn Batato, 38, a citizen and resident of Germany, the company’s chief marketing officer; Mathias Ortmann, 40, a citizen of Germany and resident of both Germany and Hong Kong, who is the chief technical officer, co-founder and director; and Bram van der Kolk, aka Bramos, 29, a Dutch citizen and resident of both the Netherlands and New Zealand, who oversees programming.

Still at large are Julius Bencko, 35, a citizen and resident of Slovakia, the site’s graphic designer; Sven Echternach, 39, a citizen and resident of Germany, head of business development; and Andrus Nomm, 32, a citizen of Estonia and resident of both Turkey and Estonia, head of the development software division.

Several sister sites were also shut down, including one dedicated to sharing pornography files.

Fonte: Intrn’l News 24/7 AP