Update 3, 3:20pm Pacific: Last week a British court ruled that a British student can be extradited to the U.S. for running a website with a .com address that linked to sites with pirated TV shows and films. Get used to copyright as the argument for America as a virtual Gitmo. Note: SOPA/PIPA not required for US Customs to treat links to allegedly copyrighted material like murder.
Update 2, 3:05 pm Pacific: From comments on my Google+ post, Justin Jensen writes: “I’ve always likened Anon’s DDoS attacks to an old civil disobedience standby: the sit-in. A mass of people occupying a place of business to draw attention to perceived injustice.”
Update 1, 2.45 pm Pacific: ArsTechnica reports attack on WhiteHouse.gov underway as well as the sites of Democrats in Congress who support SOPA/PIPA.
The day after the Net railed against #SOPA / #PIPA , the FBI shut down Hong Kong-based MegaUpload.com (a file-sharing site) and announced the arrest of four people in New Zealand. Per the WSJ:
The move pushed the raging piracy debate to new territory: the role of online lockers where users around the world store and share material, often times pirated movies and music.
The DOJ says MegaUpload has 50M users a day and “is responsible for at least $500 million in losses for the owners of the copyrights in question.” Pennies a day per user? Shut down the entire site because a few people share copyrighted material? Who the hell needs SOPA/PIPA, then?
In response, Anonymous has claimed responsibility for taking down the web sites associated with the DOJ, Universal Music Group, MPAA and the RIAA.
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com