Information Madness

A lot of things are happening today. Megaupload has been shut down. New Zealand police has raided and arrested Megaupload founders. These arrests have come about as United States’ debate on online piracy laws heats up.

Hackers have already started attacking sites of the Department of Justice, big music companies and film trade groups. The estimated economic harm is going to be around five hundred million dollars.

The United States government has shut down the Megaupload.com content sharing website. It has charged its founders and many employees with copyright infringement in a big battle against piracy of films and music.

The film and music industries want Congress to crack down on internet piracy and theft of content. Companies like Facebook and Google have complained that the current drafts of the legislation will lead to rigid censorship.

New Zealand police has seized millions of dollars worth of assets including luxury cars such as Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe from the Megaupload founders. It is being dubbed as `Mega Conspiracy’ by the prosecutors.

Vocal critics of the Stop Online Piracy Act showed their opposition to the shutdown of Megaupload. Representatives of the Department of Justice and Universal Music have decline comment on the hackers’ attacks on their sites. Motion Picture Association of America said that the group was working with the law enforcement people to identify the attackers.

Prior to the shutdown, Megaupload had one hundred and fifty million registered users and millions of daily visitors. It was estimated to be the thirteenth most visited site on the internet.