What Do You Think?

[jonnyb25]

By no means do I condone mass piracy however, let us look at the numbers.
According to this story the group had "massive" online piracy through megaupload.com and other sites, generating $US 175m in criminal proceeds (subscriptions and advertising revenue) and causing $US 500m in harm to copyright owners.
Supposedly they distributed copyrighted works including movies, television programs, music, software and books.

So 500 million and 175 million would be 675 million for the year from all those industries (movies, television programs, music, software and books).

Let us consider what just the movie industry made last week in box office sales (Jan 13-19, 2012).

according to http://boxofficemojo.com/weekly/chart/?yr=2012&wk=02&p=.htm

If we select the total gross of just 4 if the top 50 movies the total amount would be: $US767m well over the 675m of income and alleged damage that the group is accused of doing for a year.

and remember that total is just from movie box office sales.

It does not include merchandizing, future dvd, or other income sources.
Nor does it include how much was made in all the other industries during the same week.

This leaves one to wonder just how much piracy is really hurting the industries.

Especially when it comes to people, groups, productions, etc. that we rarely (if ever) hear about in the main stream media sources.

It also leads one to wonder if these high profile arrests are more about intimidation and testing if the government abuse of power will hold up in the courts and in front of a jury.

For if the government can get heavy handed copyright enforcement laws passed all the government has to do to get any negative story censored is publish it in a paper very few people will see copyright the negative story then shut down anyone that dares repeat any part of the story for copyright violations.






http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/fbi-unplugs-top-piracy-site/story-e6frg6so-1226249800286

FBI unplugs top piracy site
From:
The Australian January 21, 2012

The millionaire founder of the one of the world's most popular filesharing websites said he has "nothing to hide" after the FBI shut down Megaupload, triggering applause from world leaders and a revenge hacking attack on the US State Department.
Megaupload.com went offline as justice officials and the FBI laid out the details of what they described as "among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the US".

Authorities claim Hong Kong-based Megaupload and its sister sites generated more than $US175 million ($168m) in criminal proceeds and caused more than half a billion dollars in harm to copyright owners. The site founder was among four arrested for online piracy and crimes that allegedly had netted them millions of dollars from subscriptions and advertising revenue.

Kim Dotcom, 37, aka Kim Schmitz, a German national who lives in New Zealand's most expensive house, appeared in Auckland's North Shore District Court alongside three others yesterday.

"We don't mind if there is press coverage," Mr Dotcom said to judge David McNaughton following an application by media to film the court appearance. "We have nothing to hide."

The four, including two NZ residents, are among seven people facing online piracy charges in the US. They face extradition to the US while the remaining three are not thought to be in NZ. As well as Mr Dotcom, appearing in court were the website's chief marketing officer, Finn Batato, 38, chief technical officer and co-founder Mathias Ortmann, 40, all of Germany, and Dutch national Bram van der Kolk, 29, who is also an NZ resident. The men were remanded in custody and are due to reappear in court on Monday. A prosecutor representing the US authorities opposed bail.

The group, known as the Mega Conspiracy, are accused of "massive" online piracy through megaupload.com and other sites, generating $US175m in criminal proceeds and causing $US500m in harm to copyright owners.

Police executed 10 search warrants at houses and businesses across Auckland, seizing more than $NZ10m ($7.7m) from financial institutions, and assets, including cars worth $NZ6m, artworks and two shotguns.

More than 20 search warrants were executed in the US and eight other countries yesterday.

Officials seized about $US50m in assets as well as 18 domain names associated with Megaupload.

Following the shutdown of the Megaupload website, hackers retaliated by taking down the FBI and US Department of Justice sites. Hackers from the Anonymous group tweeted that they had shut the websites of the FBI, Justice Department, Universal Music, and the Recording Industry Association of America.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomed the US shutdown of Megaupload, saying the site's operators were reaping "criminal profits from the illegal distribution of copyrighted works".

"The time has come for increased judicial and police co-operation between states" in the fight against online piracy, Mr Sarkozy said in a statement.

The site is popular with Hollywood celebrities and it was reported yesterday that Swizz Beatz, a music producer married to singer Alicia Keys, was its chief executive. Beatz, whose real name is Kasseem Dean, was not named in the indictment.

The indictment came one day after Wikipedia, Google and other websites staged a protest against congressional legislation intended to crack down on online piracy.

Mr Dotcom, a German who also holds Finnish citizenship, has Hong Kong and New Zealand residency. He lives in the $NZ30m former Chrisco mansion in Coatesville, north of Auckland.

Mr Dotcom is no stranger to being on the wrong side of the law, with a list of convictions including for insider trading, credit card fraud, hacking and embezzlement. But despite his background, he was granted NZ residency, reportedly after investing $NZ10m in government bonds and making a generous donation to the Christchurch earthquake fund.

He told TV program Campbell Live in 2010 his convictions had been wiped clean under a German "clean slate" law.

"Officially I am as clean as it gets," he said. "I am not a bad person with a bad character."

He founded the Megaupload website in 2005. It distributed copyrighted works including movies, television programs, music, software and books. Megaupload also offered financial incentives for users to upload popular content and drive web traffic to the site.

Mr Dotcom made $US42m from Megaupload and other associated websites in 2010, according to the FBI's indictment filed in a Virginia court.