Megaupload kills “Mega Video” lawsuit to concentrate on not being destroyed

March 29, 2012 6:05 PM Tom Cheredar
Tom Cheredar

Recently defunct file-hosting service Megaupload has decided not to pursue further legal action against Universal Music Group.

UMG first accused the company’s “Mega Video” music video of copyright infringement back in January, sent out Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown …

ValCom sues Megaupload for millions over copyright infringement

March 23, 2012 11:42 AM Heather Kelly
Heather Kelly

What will happen to file-sharing company Megaupload’s $42 million in seized assets? Founder Kim Dotcom is scraping by on a monthly stipend of $48,500 (taken from the interest on Dotcom’s $10 million in New Zealand government bonds) but the rest …

TVShack creator being extradited to the U.S. on copyright violation charges

March 14, 2012 9:09 AM Tom Cheredar
Tom Cheredar

U.K. authorities have agreed to extradite a 23-year-old student to the U.S. on copyright infringement charges, officials announced yesterday.

The student in question, Richard O’Dwyer, is responsible for running the site TVShack, which collects links to other sites that illegally …

Oh snap: Megaupload had a ‘large number’ of users from DOJ and U.S. Senate

March 12, 2012 9:11 AM Sean Ludwig
Sean Ludwig

Megaupload, the popular file-hosting site that the U.S. government shut down in mid-January, may have had many users in the U.S. government, according to new interview with founder Kim Dotcom.

Dotcom (pictured) and several other Megaupload employees were named in …

Disney, Fox, Universal call for a stop to Megaupload competitor Hotfile

March 8, 2012 11:21 AM Meghan Kelly
Meghan Kelly

File-sharing site and Megaupload competitor Hotfile is in hot water. A group of major entertainment companies has asked the U.S. District Court to make a summary judgement in a year-long case against the company.

Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Studios, …

U.S. files for extradition of Megaupload kingpin Kim Dotcom

March 5, 2012 10:42 AM Sean Ludwig
Sean Ludwig

The United States government, as promised, has filed papers with New Zealand to extradite Megaupload founder and alleged mega-pirate Kim Dotcom, according to the New Zealand Herald.

Dotcom (pictured) and several other Megaupload employees were named in a 72-page indictment …

Megaupload founder out on bail, banned from Internet and helicopters

February 22, 2012 10:41 AM Meghan Kelly
Meghan Kelly

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom was released on bail Wednesday in New Zealand, after a judge ruled he was no longer a flight risk. Dotcom is not allowed to access the Internet while out on bail, and he cannot use a …

U.S. government concerned about Anonymous causing blackouts

February 21, 2012 10:35 AM Meghan Kelly
Meghan Kelly

Hacker group Anonymous could have the power to take town the United States’ electrical grid this year, National Security Agency director General Keith Alexander believes.

Sources that spoke to the Wall Street Journal said the director admitted his concern over …

SOPA foe Fred Wilson says everyone is a pirate, but supports a blacklist for pirate sites

February 15, 2012 8:38 AM Ben Popper
Ben Popper

Influential New York investor Fred Wilson was one of the earliest and loudest opponents of the anti-piracy bill SOPA. He worried that it would threaten sites he considered legitimate, like Reddit, or Tumblr, which is backed by his firm Union …

CIA website down, Anonymous says it’s responsible

February 10, 2012 1:41 PM Meghan Kelly
Meghan Kelly

Anonymous bullhorn @YourAnonNews is claiming that the hacktivist group has taken down the Central Intelligence Agency‘s website.

“CIA TANGO DOWN: https://www.cia.gov/ #Anonymous,” a person behind @YourAnonNews tweeted.

The attack took place roughly around 12:10 p.m. Pacific time on Friday, and …

Police seize Megaupload founder’s $4.3M home, let pregnant wife stay

February 8, 2012 4:56 PM Jennifer Van Grove
Jennifer Van Grove

Government officials have Megaupload founder and accused money-launderer Kim Dotcom right where they want him — locked up in New Zealand awaiting an extradition hearing — but that’s not stopping them from kicking the Internet mogul while he’s down.

New …

EFF wants to help Megaupload users get files back from Feds

February 1, 2012 9:22 AM Sean Ludwig
Sean Ludwig

Worried your legal files stored on Megaupload are about to be deleted? The non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has offered to help with retrieving legitimate content and returning it to Megaupload users.

For those who haven’t been paying attention, here’s …

Megaupload’s third-party hosts say user data won’t get deleted (for now)

January 31, 2012 7:46 AM Tom Cheredar
Tom Cheredar

The hosting companies that stored the files from Megaupload users’ digital lockers, Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications Group, have decided not to delete that data from its servers — at least temporarily.

For those of your who haven’t been following, …

Feds say MegaUpload data could be deleted by Thursday

January 30, 2012 4:24 AM Ben Popper
Ben Popper

In putting the kibosh on MegaUpload, federal prosecutors arrested seven men and froze millions in assets. With their funds in limbo, MegaUpload can’t pay the costs to the companies that store its data, and a letter from the federales says …

New record label lets you download music for free

January 29, 2012 1:17 PM Meghan Kelly
Meghan Kelly

“Download for free” is something of a taboo in the entertainment industry as bootleg content continues to take chunks out of studios’ revenue. But one record label is branching out and giving the people what they want: free music.

“At …

Megaupload customers who lost their files banding together to sue FBI

January 26, 2012 1:55 PM Sean Ludwig
Sean Ludwig

When Megaupload was shut down a week ago by the Department of Justice and FBI for allegedly profiting from copyright infringement, many of the service’s users complained that they lost personal, non-infringing files. Now those users are banding together to …

Megaupload kingpin Kim Dotcom denied bail in New Zealand

January 24, 2012 7:22 PM Sean Ludwig
Sean Ludwig

Larger-than-life Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom was denied bail in a New Zealand court on Wednesday morning after his hearing was delayed Monday.

Dotcom (pictured) and several other Megaupload employees were named in a 72-page indictment issued last Thursday by the …

Arrest fallout: Kim Dotcom drops to No. 2 rank in Modern Warfare 3

January 23, 2012 11:15 PM Dean Takahashi
Dean Takahashi

Getting arrested for the illegal downloading of copyrighted material hasn’t done wonders for Kim Dotcom, also known as MEGARACER, who is now the former No. 1 player in the world for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3. In the past …

15 file-sharing sites like Megaupload that the Feds may target next

January 23, 2012 3:31 PM Sean Ludwig
Sean Ludwig

Editor's Pick

As more details come to light in the much-publicized Megaupload case, other file-sharing sites around the web are shutting their doors in fear that they could be targeted next by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Over the weekend, popular Megaupload …