Hackers with the online collective Anonymous have broken the websites for the FBI, Department of Justice, Universal Music Group, RIAA, Motion Picture Association of America and Warner Music Group.
Anonymous Group is taking down the the Government sites as the file sharing site Megaupload.com was shut down by the U.S. Justice Department on January 19, 2012, during an investigation into alleged copyright infringement.
Megaupload is an online Hong Kong based company established in 2005 that ran a one-click hosting online service MegaUpload.com, along with its sister services.
The indictment and subsequent arrests come only a day after major websites blacked out and rallies were held to protest SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (PROTECT IP Act), two Internet piracy bills currently under debate in the U.S. Congress.
Anonymous operative Barrett Brown says “It was in retaliation for Megaupload, as was the concurrent attack on Justice.org,” . [Source RT.Com]
The legal action against Mega will set a precedent for similar cloud-hosting services such as Dropbox.
Including Megaupload Founder Kim DotCom, Four people linked to Megaupload were arrested in New Zealand..
In addition to MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom, another six alleged members of the Mega “conspiracy” were charged in the indictment:
– Finn Batato, 38, Mega’s chief marketing officer and a citizen and resident of Germany
– Julius Bencko, 35, Mega’s graphic designer from Slovakia
– Sven Echternach, 39,Mega’s German head of business development;
– Mathias Ortmann, 40, the German CTO, co-founder and director of Mega
– Andrus Nomm, 32, programmer and head of the development from Estonia
– Bram van der Kolk, 29, a Dutch citizen who oversaw programming and network issues. [Source: TorrentFreak]
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which defends free speech and digital rights online, said in a statement that, “This kind of application of international criminal procedures to Internet policy issues sets a terrifying precedent. If the United States can seize a Dutch citizen in New Zealand over a copyright claim, what is next?”
Before Megaupload was taken down, it posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were “grotesquely overblown.”
“The fact is that the vast majority of Mega’s Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch,” the statement said. [Source: WashingtonPost]
