Swizz Beats revealed as CEO and owner of Megaupload.com
staxwax
1,474 Posts
Whoa, power move.
b/w
Not using it anymore, i am not lining his pockets.
b/w
Not using it anymore, i am not lining his pockets.
Swizz Beatz has Sean ???Diddy??? Combs, Kanye West and Will.i.am in hot water with their label by getting them to promote his site, MegaUpload. The CEO of the Internet company, Beatz ??? also a recording artist, producer and DJ ??? persuaded the stars to appear in a ???Mega Song??? video promoting his service, intended to send large media files. The catch is the music industry has been fighting against file sharing, accusing the services MegaUpload offers of supporting piracy. Beatz???s wife, Alicia Keys, has also promoted the site with her picture and a quote. Swizz had also asked Mary J. Blige, Kim Kardashian, Lil Jon and Macy Gray to promote MegaUpload. But after the starry promo appeared on YouTube last month, Diddy, Kanye and Will.i.am???s label, Universal Music Group, issued a ???take-down notice??? to YouTube, saying the artists??? performances were unauthorized. Their individual reps followed up, sources say. Mega-Upload fired back with a lawsuit against Universal to stop it from blocking distribution of the video. A Mega rep told us: ???We have never received any word that any artist has [individually] filed a take-down . . . [we have] legally binding agreements with the performers that appear in the video . . . They promised that they had the rights to enter into that agreement and it???s not interfering with any third-party rights.??? UMG and Diddy reps wouldn???t comment. West???s and Will.i.am???s reps didn???t get back to us.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/music_stars_in_upload_of_trouble_cpoHrLbEe7gr3Od5XcF9BL#ixzz1juU7Duyw
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They arrested the owner of megaupload.
One of the world's largest file-sharing sites was shut down Thursday, and its founder and several company executives were charged with violating piracy laws, federal prosecutors said.
An indictment accuses Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to thwart online piracy.
The Justice Department said in a statement said that Kim Dotcom, formerly known as Kim Schmitz, and three others were arrested Thursday in New Zealand at the request of U.S. officials. Two other defendants are at large.
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, among others.
The Hong Kong-based company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO.
Before the site 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.
A lawyer who represented the company in a lawsuit last year declined comment Thursday.
Megaupload is considered a "cyberlocker," in which users can upload and transfer files that are too large to send by email. Such sites can have perfectly legitimate uses. But the Motion Picture Association of America, which has campaigned for a crackdown on piracy, estimated that the vast majority of content being shared on Megaupload was in violation of copyright laws.
The website allowed users to download films, TV shows, games, music and other content for free, but made money by charging subscriptions to people who wanted access to faster download speeds or extra content. The website also sold advertising.
The indictment was returned in the Eastern District of Virginia, which claimed jurisdiction in part because some of the alleged pirated materials were hosted on leased servers in Ashburn, Va.
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 conspiracy in 2010 alone, according to the indictment.
Dotcom is founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer of Megaupload.
Government websites are looking real fragile right now.
Chris Brown is such a damn CLOWN!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Goodbye
As of today, Filesonic.com deleted all my files, as well as Ben's and King Skullie's. I had about 800GB of data stored there. It seems that all the filehosts are running scared because of Megaupload's trial and that there is nothing left to do and no other option but to quit. I made this decision as the creator of the blog along with Ben and King Skullie, that the blog must cease to be. There was too much work and time put into the creation of this place to have it all taken away by some greedy corporate fucks.
It was fun while it lasted, please remember this place as the first that started a wave of good material in outstanding quality. These three years spent with this blog have been a wonderful experience that none of its authors will ever forget. Stay strong, and whatever happens, keep your love for the music. You can leave any messages you have for us here.
Farewell,
MWDP
PS. we may decide to do something else with the site, or not. Any Ideas?
MegaUpload/MegaVideo/MegaPorn
Closed.
FileServe (TAKING DOWN ALMOST EVERYTHING!)
Deleting multiple files. Closed affiliate program.
FileJungle
(Owned by FileServe) Deleting multiple files. Testing out blocking some USA IP addresses.
UploadStation
(Owned by FileServe) Deleting multiple files. Testing out blocking some USA IP addresses.
FileSonic
(Owned by Fileserve)
Can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally.
VideoBB
Closed affiliate program.
Uploaded.to
Banned USA IP addresses.
FilePost
Started suspending accounts with infringing material (doing what Hotfile did)
VideoZer
Closed affiliate program.
4shared
Deleting multiple files.
http://thewamagazine.com/read/articles/megaupload.htm
The beginning of the end.
I'd like to hear a good argument of why we are entitled to free music/movies/porn.
Because it screws the man?
I don't actually think we are. If this marks the beginning of the end for commercial filesharing sites, then they had a good run and I don't think anyone who's benefitted from them in any serious way can complain. Something like this has been coming for years. I sympathise with those people who were using Megaupload for legitimate commercial reasons, rather than simply using other people's content as a way of lining their own pockets, and I hope they're able to find an alternative that works for them.
It's a shame that they couldn't have come up with an idea like this earlier, because it's actually pretty useful. However, I did laugh when I read that my former employers - a company that takes quite a firm line regarding the misuse and misappropriation of intellectual property - is a "proud partner" in the newest venture from a company that's made hundreds of millions from precisely the kind of behaviour they carpet their own employees for.
Interesting times...
A smarter move would be to buy into it, something which certain major players were clearly considering - Amazon, Gracenote (owned by Sony), Rovi, etc.
Totally agree - I understand that Megaupload came up with such a crazy valuation for the company that no-one would touch it. It could only ever have been sold to a handful of interested parties given its legal status and highly uncertain future and megaupload missed the boat either through stupidity or greed.
Sure. Right after you explain why we are entitled to have copyright laws continuously extended. Even decades after the death of creator of said product.
And we've had free music/movies for many years. This is more an issue with business failing to meet needs of customers and protecting outdated business models than anything else.
If I was a proponent of extended copyright laws I might take the time to explain why...I'm not.
Prior to the Internet what was the most popular mechanism to receive free music and movies??
You mean Libraries?