Megaupload.com seized

Fri Jan 20 21:41:40 UTC 2012

On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 3:02 PM, Leo Bicknell <bicknell at ufp.org> wrote:
> In a message written on Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 09:37:16AM -1000, Paul Graydon wrote:
>> From what I understand about MegaUpload's approach, they created a hash
>> of every file that they stored.  If they'd already got a copy of the
>> file that was to be uploaded they'd just put an appropriate link in a
>> users space, saving them storage space, and bandwidth for both parties.
>> Fairly straight forward.  Whenever they received a DMCA take-down they
>> would remove the link, not the underlying file, so even though they knew
>> that a file was illegally hosted, they never actually removed it.  That
>> comes up for some argument about the ways the company should be
>> practically enforcing a DMCA take-down notice, whether each take-down
>> should apply to just an individual user's link to a file or whether the
>> file itself should be removed.  That could be different from
>> circumstance to circumstance.
>
> Note that with A DMCA take down the original uploader can issue a
> counter-notice to get the content put back.  Most sites don't
> immediately delete the content but rather disable it in some way
> so that should the file be counter noticed it can be put back up.
>
> Also, when using a hashed file store, it's possible that some uses
> are infringing and some are not.  I might make a movie, put it on
> Megaupload, and then give the links only to the 5 people who bought
> it from them.  One of them might turn around, upload it again to
> Megaupload, and share it with the world, infringing on my content.
> I would hope that when I issue a takedown notice they take down the
> infringers copy (link), but leave mine in place.
>
> None of this should be taken to mean I'm behind Megaupload.  I have

My take only, of course

> a greater concern here wondering if law enforcement,

maybe

> the courts,

probably not

> and most importantly the law makers

You've got to be kidding.

> understand the technolgy and
> can craft and apply laws in a reasonable way.

"A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents
and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents
eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with
it."
-- Max Planck,

We're in for an interesting few years.

> One major issue that
> already came up is that a whole lot of people used Megaupload for
> storing perfectly legal content.  It's now offline, and there appears to
> be no way for them to retrieve that data.  At what percentage is that
> reasonable?  If 99% of your users are infringing?  50%?  1%?  Could this
> be used to take down your competitors?  Buy some Amazon instances and
> put a bunch of infringing content on them, and then watch the feds seize
> all of Amazon's servers?
>

Maybe. It would help if you had a budget to lobby Congress sufficiently.

Regards
Marshall

> Lots of troubling questions, no good answers.
>
> --
>       Leo Bicknell - bicknell at ufp.org - CCIE 3440
>        PGP keys at http://www.ufp.org/~bicknell/