Feds Shut Down Megaupload

It seems that SOPA and PIPA aren't even needed, since today the DoJ went to New Zealand and arrested Kim Schlitz, founder of the Megaupload service. He is now either in the process of being extradited to America to face trial or already has been.

So what does this mean aside from the fact that one of the best, most accessible, and least tedious to use file hosts has been removed from the internet? Well, it means that at any time, for any number of reasons, American governmental agencies can waltz into a country on the other side of the world in which they have no jurisdiction, carrying torches and pitchforks and proceed to drag people off whilst branding them "Pirates", like the term is the intellectual property equivalent of a kiddy porn ring. They will later go on to release a statement stating that (Insert multi-billion dollar organization's name here) lost 500 million dollars due to piracy, and every good little brainwashed citizen out there will think "Good riddance! How is (Insert filthy rich band's name here) supposed to afford that third diamond studded Olympic swimming pool if these "pirates" are out there giving away their songs for free?".

That last paragraph got me thinking, why the fuck are people who acquire content and share it with others free of charge called pirates? Doesn't traditional piracy usually involve murdering the original owners and selling the property on the black market? This seems a lot more like taking from the absurdly wealthy and giving to those who would otherwise be getting gouged by companies who own a monopoly on the item they're selling. I deem from this day fourth people who share files free of charge should be called Robin Hoods.

Compared to other file hosts I've encountered in the last few years, MU seemed rather vigilant when taking down something that could even be considered illegal or copyright material. It's more than a little disturbing that even with that being the case, the feds snapped their fingers and made a site with over a 150 million members disappear overnight, and jailed their founder and several other employees.

It seems all too clear that anti-piracy is going to become the new golden ticket that the American government will use to invade other countries and drag their citizens off to face trial in the land of the fre... fre... sorry, I just can't bring myself to type that word today.