Feds Shut Down Megaupload Website Day After SOPA Protest, Anonymous Attacks DOJ

CNN Money
Thursday, January 19, 2012

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — In one of the U.S. government’s largest anti-piracy crackdowns ever, federal agents on Thursday arrested the leaders of and shut down Megaupload.com, a popular hub for illegal file sharing.

Hours later, Megaupload’s fans turned the table on the feds. “Hacktivist” collective Anonymous said it set its sights on the U.S. Department of Justice and apparently knocked the agency’s website offline.

“We are having website problems, but we’re not sure what it’s from,” a DOJ spokeswoman told CNNMoney.

The DOJ website glitches came soon after various Twitter accounts associated with Anonymous took aim at the agency.

Full story here.

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Megaupload.com Gets Hit By Mega Piracy Indictment

JASON RYAN, PIERRE THOMAS and JACK CLOHERTY
ABC News
Thursday, January 19, 2012

The Justice Department has indicted seven individuals and two companies behind the popular file sharing website Megaupload.com which has been touted by stars will.i.am, Kim Kardashian and Puff Daddy.

The indictment alleges that the website and a shell company associated with the website, Vestor Limited, caused an estimated half-billion dollars in copyright losses and made an estimated $175 million in proceeds. The website was established in 2005 and at one point ranked as the 13th most visited website on the Internet.

The indictment accuses the suspects of being members of “the Mega Conspiracy, a worldwide criminal organization whose members engaged in criminal copyright infringement and money laundering on a massive scale.”

The case comes a day after internet companies and websites such as Google, WordPress and Wikipedia protested about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA).

Full story here.

This article was posted: Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 4:06 pm

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