Thread: SOPA and PIPA put on hold!!!

Originally Posted by Red Team

As long as there are people in government that adhere to this kind of dated pre-internet mentality, these laws are going to keep coming. The answer isn't to control the internet, rather it's to adapt to it, and someone needs to drill that into those politicians' heads.

You would have thought Itunes to be a salutary lession to them but seemingly not.

Hollywood still has too much money for them to realize this in the near future

Originally Posted by bigross86

We did it! A rare case of common sense broke out and they stopped these abysmal bills from going through. Finally, politicians listening to what the people want instead of listening to big money. Think it'll last?

All the way to friday. When the Feds stretched their international arm and shut down Megaupload/megavideo.

If they already have this power, why do we need SOPA/PIPA?

Megaupload shutdown raises new Internet-sharing fears - The Washington Post

I saw that, but apparently that investigation was running for a couple years already, the arrests just came with really funky timing

Originally Posted by Gun Grape

All the way to friday. When the Feds stretched their international arm and shut down Megaupload/megavideo.

If they already have this power, why do we need SOPA/PIPA?

Megaupload shutdown raises new Internet-sharing fears - The Washington Post

They went after Megaupload because the owner/operators were living in New Zealand. The NZ Govt. and police are happy to have their tummy's scratched by the FBI, I doubt the FBI would have been able to do this if the operators had been based in the States or Europe.

I'm fine with not being able to download a free copy of a copyrighted object. That is already illegal - this new legislation lets them do more than that, it lets them force people to prove they aren't guilty. Many people don't have the resources to do that.

When they catch someone breaking the law - then they can stop them right away, they shouldn't have to go to court first to stop a crime - if they are wrong - thet need to be held accountable. Laws like SOPA - PIPA reduce the accountability in cases like these. The porno bill is way out there - investigate everyone? That sounds like a police state law. Who has never browsed a site they weren't interested in explaining?

Originally Posted by Parihaka

They went after Megaupload because the owner/operators were living in New Zealand. The NZ Govt. and police are happy to have their tummy's scratched by the FBI, I doubt the FBI would have been able to do this if the operators had been based in the States or Europe.

So, the details are starting to leak out. Looks like the FBI intel on this guy are a complete load of bullshit

Elite Anti-Terror Police Went After Megaupload’s Kim Dotcom
enigmaxFebruary 7, 2012142 MegaUploadPrint
While last month’s shutdown of Megaupload has been well documented, the finer details of the raid on Kim Dotcom’s mansion have only just been revealed. A new and astonishing report features a house tour and in-depth discussion with Dotcom’s bodyguard. He was confronted by dozens of armed police, some from New Zealand’s elite anti-terrorist force, who also demanded of a nanny: “Do you have any bombs?!”

Even after taking in the details of today’s 3Newz report several times, it is harder than ever to comprehend what happened at the Dotcom mansion last month.

We knew that dozens of police swooped on the location in helicopters and we knew they were armed. But what is even more unbelievable is that some of them were from the Special Tactics Group, New Zealand’s elite counter-terrorist force.

STG, nicknamed “Super Tough Guys”, train with the country’s Special Air Force and are sent in to deal with the most violent of offenders. Yet no one in the Dotcom household had any record of violence. Indeed, their main target was a man suspected of online copyright infringement – a computer related offense.

Wayne Tempero, Dotcom’s bodyguard, told 3Newz that the police were armed with assault rifles and sidearms – STG are known to use M4A3 carbines and Glock pistols. Tempero explained that two firearms were held in Dotcom mansion – two shotguns, both his, legal, fully licensed and locked away in safes.

At 06:45 Tempero was woken by a “horrendous noise” and after dressing and running outside he was confronted by a huge cloud of dust being kicked up a helicopter hovering just above the ground.

Tempero, wearing just a t-shirt and track pants with his hands held up, and was ordered by a flak jacket wearing armed officer to lie on the floor. Tempero said that the noise of the helicopter and doors being smashed elsewhere on the property was so loud that if the police did identify themselves, he didn’t hear them.

The armed police went into the indoor play area which had 3 kids inside – one aged 3, one 4 and another 15 months, together with their Filipino nannies. From there they proceeded to one of the nannies’ rooms, kicked the door down and demanded to know if she had any firearms – or bombs.

Tempero said he asked the nanny twice if she was sure they asked if she had bombs – she said she was. “Maybe that’s the kind of thing that Filipino nannies do,” Tempero said.

Outside people were being handcuffed and put on the floor. Two security guards, Tempero himself and the Filipino staff, were placed next to a van containing barking dogs.

Meanwhile the police had gone upstairs and were trying to smash down the door to Kim Dotcom’s quarters. Tempero said Dotcom’s wife tried to give them the security code but they weren’t interested and told her to go downstairs.

Police smashed down three doors to get to Kim and when Tempero was allowed back upstairs, six officers with sledgehammers and a circular saw were trying to smash into what they thought was Dotcom’s hiding place. It was in fact a broken service elevator/dumb waiter (below).


Dotcom had actually followed a prearranged plan formulated by his bodyguard which involved him hiding in the “Red Room” to ensure his safety. Tempero was asked what would have happened if a couple of police had simply turned up and asked for Dotcom to come down.

“He would have complied with everything, we would have sat at the large table, he would’ve probably offered them breakfast and he would have complied with everything,” Tempero said.

“Would he have done anything to destroy the hard drive, to take down Megaupload?” 3Newz asked. “Certainly not, why would he? He would be destroying his defense,” Tempero responded.


Despite the massive police and apparent counter-terrorist operation against him, Dotcom was in the Red Room alone for more than half an hour.

“If Kim had a Doomsday setup where he could delete his harddrive or takedown Megaupload, would there have been sufficient time for him to do that had that been his intention?” questioned 3Newz.

“He could’ve done that within seconds,” said Tempero.

There can be little doubt that Kim Dotcom and the other operators of Megaupload are accused of serious crimes and ultimately a court will decide if they are innocent or guilty. But whatever the scale of the alleged offenses, these are ‘white collar’ issues – computer matters – and whatever he may or may not have done, Kim Dotcom is not a terrorist and has never been accused of being one.

Here’s the excellent 3Newz video report. It’s over 10 minutes long but worth the time.

Judging by the 3Newz reporter’s tone, he’s struggling to see the connection between the alleged offenses and the response by the authorities. And he isn’t the only one.

Furthermore, despite it yet to have been outlined what New Zealand laws this guy has supposedly broken, his assets including his business have been seized, his family has been turfed out of their home and all household goods seized, he has been refused bail, he has not been officially charged despite being held for over two weeks (details are under court suppression) and the FBI have apparently gained ownership over his NZ based servers and have deleted them.
The NZ Police are going to be answering some very pointed questions about illegal imprisonment search and seizure over the next few weeks.