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BBC MUNDO RADIO
Government takedown of Megaupload leads to new fears
The
government takedown of Megaupload, a popular file-sharing site, has
stoked simmering fears that hard-line enforcement of copyright
infringements could profoundly disrupt Internet commerce.
- This image shows a web page from Megaupload.com, one of the largest file-sharing websites, which was shut down by U.S. authorities.
-, AFP/Getty Images
-, AFP/Getty Images
This
image shows a web page from Megaupload.com, one of the largest
file-sharing websites, which was shut down by U.S. authorities.
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File
sharing has become a major way corporations collaborate with employees
and partners and interact with customers. It fuels the sharing of rich
content across Internet-connected devices in the home and office and
distributed to mobile devices and has emerged as a major component of
cloud computing, the delivery of content and services across the Web.
"If
legitimate content is housed on the same service that might have
infringing content, it gets sucked into this vortex and it's gone," says
Dennis Fisher, security blogger at Threatpost.com. "I don't know how
much the government or these companies (advocating strict anti-piracy
enforcement) have thought this through. I would guess not a lot."
STORY: Congress shelves anti-piracy bills
BLOG: Kim Dotcom boasts a checkered, colorful bio
MORE: The Megaupload indictment
Federal
authorities shut down Megaupload.com, one of the world's most popular
file-sharing sites, Thursday and accused it of costing copyright holders
more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films, music and
other content.
Four executives arrested in New Zealand
appeared Friday in an Auckland courtroom to begin extradition
proceedings that could take more than a year. Three others remain at
large.
According to New Zealand's Fairfax
Media, a defense lawyer raised objections to a media request to
photograph the proceedings, but his client, Megaupload chief Kim Dotcom,
spoke out, saying he would not object "because we have nothing to
hide."
The judge granted the media access, and
ruled that Dotcom and the three other suspects would remain in custody
until Monday, the next scheduled hearing in the case.
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.
It was
unsealed a day after technology companies staged an online blackout to
protest two related bills in Congress that would crack down on sites
that use copyrighted materials and sell counterfeit goods. Congressional
leaders agreed Friday to indefinitely delay action on those bills —
Stop Online Priacy Act in the House and Protect IP Act in the Senate.
Critics contend SOPA and PIPA
don't so much protect the rights of filmmakers, musicians, writers and
artists as they do preserve an antiquated film and music distribution
system.
"No law passed in the U.S.
is going to have any real effect on whether people steal movies, music
and books. That ship has sailed," Fisher says. "The network of
underground sites that traffic in pirated movies and music won't
disappear. It will simply adapt."
Within 24 hours after U.S. authorities shut down Megaupload servers in Virginia, ABC News
reported that the website was accessible again by typing a numeric
address in a Web browser. But that address led to a webpage with a
message saying work was underway to restore Megaupload, and asking
people to spread the word on Facebook and Twitter.
Megaupload
may have had a contingency plan with a backup domain and server at the
ready to restore services should its main servers go down, something
that many Internet companies do, Fisher says.
Al
Hilwa, an analyst at research firm IDC, says defining who is
responsible for strictly obeying copyright laws is at the heart of the
piracy issue. "Shifting that responsibility to the technology providers,
networks, hosters and intermediate service providers who make up the
file-transfer chain would mean burdening them with escalating costs.
That would make them uncompetitive and hurt their growth." he says.
That
law enforcement officers were able to coordinate internationally to
take action demonstrates that current laws targeting copyright violators
work, says Art Brodsky, a spokesman for Public Knowledge, a Washington, D.C.-based communications and technology advocacy group. "They roped in New Zealand police and the FBI flew down there," he said. "So why do you need more laws?"
On
Friday afternoon, Twitter and Facebook users continued buzzing about
the shutdown of Megaupload. Some posted messages such as "R.I.P.
Megaupload," "Missing Megaupload already," and "Let's all have 1 minute
of silence for Megaupload."
Meanwhile, federal authorities are investigating disruptions to the Justice Department website and threats to the site maintained by the FBI believed to be prompted by the Megaupload arrests.
The
Justice Department website was back online Friday after being hit
Thursday evening. An alliance of hackers known as "Anonymous" claimed
responsibility.
In a written statement, the
Justice Department said its Web server had experienced a "significant
increase in activity, resulting in a degradation in service" and that
the activity was "being treated as a malicious act."
The
enforcement action against Megaupload and actions by hacktivists was
not unprecedented. Something similar happened in May 2006 when
authorities shut down movie-sharing site Piracy Bay.
Millions
of people use websites such as Megaupload and Bit Torrent to transfer
TV shows, movies and music. Other file-sharing sites like You Send It
and Dropbox focus on file-sharing for workplace collaboration. And newer
file-sharing sites like Spotify focus on file-sharing within social
media and mobile devices.
If anti-piracy
enforcement actions accelerate, hacktivists can be expected to uniformly
retaliate, says Josh Shaul, chief technology officer at Application
Security.
"We may be looking at a cycle of
more enforcement action, more sites being taken down and more
retaliation by hacktivists," Shaul says. "People will bring up new
file-sharing sites in countries where they can't be taken down, and the
cycle will continue."
The hacktivists are
getting better at retaliating quickly. Recruits to help execute
distributed denial of service (DDos) attacks are trained and equipped to
instantly add the processing power of their individual PCs to the
cause.
The constant stream of nuisance
requests that cut off public access to the Justice Department and motion
picture industry websites came from about 5,635 individuals using a
networking tool called a "low orbit ion cannon," according to messages
posted by Anonymous, which claims this to be the largest such attack
ever. PCs likely scattered in multiple nations, using tried-and-true
technology to make them difficult to trace, were used.
Such attacks formulate spontaneously in Internet Relay Chat
rooms. Participants must use their own initiative to set up their PCs
ahead of time so they can't be traced, but the necessary software and
training are readily available online.
"The
ranks of the hacktivists are swelling," Shaul says. "More people are
willing to stick their necks out on the line and start hacking."
While
Justice says it is illegal for anyone to download pirated content, its
investigation focused on the leaders of the company, not end users who
may have downloaded a few movies for personal viewing.
Megaupload.com
has 150 million registered users, about 50 million hits daily and
endorsements from music superstars. The U.S. indictment said founder
Dotcom made $42 million last year alone.
The
website allowed users to download some 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 movie industry has fought against the site, saying it is making money off pirated material. Though the company is based in Hong Kong
and Dotcom was living in New Zealand, some of the alleged pirated
content was hosted on leased servers in Virginia, and that was enough
for U.S. prosecutors to act.
New Zealand
police seized guns, artwork, more than $8 million in cash and luxury
cars valued at nearly $5 million after serving 10 search warrants at
several businesses and homes around Auckland.
Dotcom
is a resident of Hong Kong and New Zealand and a dual citizen of
Finland and Germany who had his name legally changed. The 37-year-old
was previously known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor.
Of
the three others arrested Thursday, two were German citizens and one
was Dutch. Three other defendants — another German, a Slovakian and an
Estonian — remained at large.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation,
which defends free speech and digital rights online, said in a
statement that the arrests set "a terrifying precedent. If the United
States can seize a Dutch citizen in New Zealand over a copyright claim,
what is next?"
Acohido reported from
SeattleContributing: Yamiche Alcindor, Roger Yu and Matthew Barakat in
McLean, Va.; Kevin Johnson in Washington; Associated Press
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