RIP Mega Upload

This is so sad, sad indeed. Mega Upload's gone for good. I'm in denial. What about the shows I watch? I can't watch em anymore coz everything's been taken down. NoooOO. What about the Vampire Diaries? What will happen to Damon, Stefan and Elena? :(

As the story goes:

In a joint statement, the Justice Department and FBI called the action "among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States."

Ira Rothken, an attorney for MegaUpload, said in an interview that he only learned of the actions in a press release this morning and had not yet read the entire indictment. "Our initial impression is that the allegations are without merit and MegaUpload is going to vigorously contest them," he said. "We have deep concerns over due process and assets being taken without the opportunity for a hearing."

According to the indictment, the operators of MegaUpload earned more than $175 million in illegal profits and caused an estimated $500 million in harm to copyright holders.

Read the rest of this tragedy here.

Censoring the Web

Say what? internet censorship? Apparently there's this bill that's about to be passed as law in the US. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as House Bill 3261, gives law enforcers expanded ability to incriminate sites that stream copyrighted content. According to www.razorianfly.com:

Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators such as PayPal from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for 10 such infringements within six months. 

Oh no, this means sites like YouTube could be shut down/blocked! Actually, practically any website could be shut down coz sharing copyrighted content has become commonplace in practically all social media. And how about blogs? People will have to clear everything with the content owners now? I'm not from the US but lots of the sites I visit are US based. I'd be really sad if I couldn't access YouTube or Facebook anymore. For sure the net wouldn't be as fun anymore.

If it's worth anything, I think I'll be signing up for the petition against this bill. And if you happen to read this, Reader, why don't you join, too? Whether or not you're in the US, you can join the strike. Add #STOPSOPA to your tweets and sign up at: