Quote
mariannerl

Quote
Turd On The Run

Quote
mariannerl
Rapidshares'boss... a lady, told a swiss newspaper today that she has no fears that they will get closed too. But you never know. Rapidshare is located in Zug Switzerland. And a few weeks ago our governement made the decision that dowloading is legal (but uploading..), for me as swiss citizen a clear statement. If the swiss governement does allow an US intervention (what happened before) they will loose my trust in them,.. in my eyes.

We will see.

IF the Swiss government allows U.S. intervention they will lose your trust?!!!!!!!! THEY DO NOT DESERVE YOUR TRUST! The Swiss government already prostituted centuries of precious banking secrecy laws and bent over and grabbed their ankles for Uncle Sam's tax henchmen...what makes you think the milktoast imbeciles in the Swiss government will show any more fortitude against the U.S.'s copyright lawyers? When Switzerland gave away its Crown Jewel (Banking Secrecy and Private Account information) to the U.S. I lost any and all respect for those Alpine paper-pushers.

There is a difference between tax evasion and tax fraud in swiss law. In case of tax fraud swiss banks always had to give help to other countries governements. Nothing new.

Banks helped US citizens in their criminal behaviour. Tax fraud! By the way besides swiss banks, also a lot of foreign banks with swiss branch.

So I am very happy that they got that criminals (but in my opinion the banks should have been more sancioned .. but you know international reasons.. money...). I am swiss and I pay taxes. I would get even prison if I would do the same like those US citizens. So...?

But there is no way to get information from swiss banks if there exists only a suspicion of that somebody does not declare all accounts (tax evasion), in that case banks are only allowed to give information if there is another reason like if that money is out of criminal action. ANd I don't want to hear now that Switzerland has soooo much of such money. Maybe years ago. Today that kind of money is else where (later here)

It's a big difference you know. But I do know that most people don't know that and are also not interested to really learn.. they rather like to spread "klischees" ..

At least all that has nothing to do with tax fraud or tax evasion. It's a war of the countries to get the money of their people in their banks and their institutions. There are other people than the governement that like to make money with their money.

If you want to hide your money. Where to go? Delaware or the Channel Islands. No problem these place ar not on the black list and never will be. Of course not. Why? Enough support of the US and UK. T London is the best place at all for money laundering.. (surely not Switzerland.. anymore..)... that's all dishonest.

You are misinformed. The use/definition of the terms tax fraud (avoiding payment) and tax evasion (the purpose of which is to avoid the creation of a tax liability in the first place) can vary depending on the country of jurisdiction. Switzerland, unlike the United States and most other countries, may differentiate between tax fraud and tax evasion, (fraud is illegal, evasion isn't a crime), but this differentiation is not in effect in 99% of other countries, vis-a-vis foreign nationals' ownership of Swiss accounts. This is what made the Swiss (and to a lesser extent Liechtenstein, Andorra, etc...) model special. But evasion (by hiding your assets in a Swiss bank account) is now deemed a crime in every other Western Economy...so by definition, for 99% of all foreign governments evasion=fraud=crime (again, vis-a-vis owning a Swiss bank account).

For centuries, Switzerland refused to enforce this diktat by claiming its own sovereign interpretation of evasion vs. fraud. By now acquiescing and accepting foreign governments' (USA, Germany, France, etc...) definitions of "crime" the Swiss government has compromised its sovereignty and put thousands of foreigners at risk of penalty and incarceration. This was a historical breach of trust that has terribly damaged Switzerland's reputation amongst (mainly American and European) foreign investors. Most of these people were not -- as you call them -- "criminals". They simply wanted to escape punitive double and triple taxation of their earnings by confiscatory governments.

When Switzerland decided -- against centuries of tradition -- to cooperate with other nations' authorities who are investigating tax evasion and hand over data on accounts at banks based within its borders it destroyed its reputation as a (tax) haven for bank secrecy...a reputation (and business model) that had made Switzerland a very wealthy country.

Switzerland's decision to adopt the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's definition of tax evasion got them off the OECD's blacklist...so it bowed to outside pressure, (something unthinkable to previous generations of Swiss bankers) but at what price?

Swiss finance minister Hans-Rudolf Merz claimed that if Switzerland remained on the blacklist, it would hurt not only the banking sector, but also the country's whole economy. This is debatable as now no Swiss banks will accept even legal accounts from American citizens or residents. They simply want nothing more to do with Americans due to the U.S. government's Orwellian stance on foreign accounts. (i.e. If you are a U.S. citizen and have a Swiss bank account but aren't using it to illegally hide income from the IRS, the Swiss bank no longer wants your business...they want you out.) This will have critical long-term economic effects for Switzerland.

Solution? Other governments should emulate the Swiss, not try to destroy them. If all countries were (like Switzerland) "tax havens", the citizens would keep their money at home. The U.S.A. and all these high-tax Liberal-Socialist Welfare States in the E.U. would rather destroy the Swiss banks than to COMPETE with them.

"Now listen I'm a proud man,
Dontcha think I want you on the street.
I'm working so hard, I'm working for the company...o yea...
I'm working so hard, to keep you in luxury."

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hedegaard

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dcba
"I hate America"

cos they stole your toy? Now I have anothe bad news for you : the US have the power to switch off the entire World Wide Web in 5 seconds. That's part of their supremacy along with the power to switch off the entire GPS in etc...

Feeling worse now? ><

You forgot to mention their nuclearweapons! Its THEIR best toys!

cheers and peace
Bo

Too much power in the hands of one nation is very dangerous.
It's fortunate that Europe reacted just a few months ago by launching 2 satellites to allow the Galileo program (the European GPS) to work in a few years.

as to nuclear weapons, I hope the FBI will do domething to shut them down.
Let's wait and see !

I am not missinformed at all. My problem is that my english is not so good and I can not write so well.

First of all not every bank did deliver account names. It was a criminal case (UBS etc.)

It's not true that no bank accepts legal accounts of US citizens (with W9). Amongst them who do are Postfinance and some smaller banks and cantonal banks (not the Zurichoise). Some privat banks accept them also (so does mine)

Countries like USA and UK allow their own "tax havens" (Delaware, Channel Island, etc.). Thats probably ok for you.

And again this is not a matter of legal or illegal, it's an economic war. Nothing else. And in these times (EU crisis) still billions come in to Swiss banks. Legal money. But I am sure those countries will find ways to get that back to their own banks.

Personnally I did not like what the generations before me did. I pay my taxes. Even if that knocks out the swiss banks or does destroy our image. What I don't like is if every authority can have a look at my account.

According to on line reports, here's thee toll as of today:

MegaUpload - Closed
FileServe - Closed
FileJungle - Deleting files. Locked in the U.S..
UploadStation - Locked in the U.S..
FileSonic - Closed
VideoBB - Closed
Uploaded - Closed
FilePost - Deleting all material
4shared - Deleting files with copyright
MediaFire - Called to testify in the next 90 days and it will open doors to FBI

They're going insane!

Just as long as the guitar plays, let it steal your heart away

so now people will start again to buy milions of cd's and dvd's ! great !

....obviousely it won't be like that, the subject is a lot more complicated..
I downloaded a lot of stuff, as milions of other music fans, especially bootlegs.
but thanks to that i bought many cd's of band i liked after downloading or i attended many gigs of bands I had downloaded before..
I think that bands like gov't mule, black crowes, allman etc etc play in front of thousands of people not only because they are good, but because the easy downloading of their concerts (legal or illegal) created a sort of legendary atmosphere around them

But i also know people who only downloaded and they never bought a cd, but i am afraid they are not gonna buy cd's anyway..
conclusion?
cd sales won't increase because music has not the same value of some years ago.
listening to 70 minutes albums costs time and energy, music changed the life of mine and other generations but those times are over now. I used to spend hours to talk about music with friends, I became what i am with my good and bad sides thanks to the music i listened... i know by heart hundreds of songs and many of them left something inside of me.
If this has changed, i doubt cd sales will increase , megaupload shut down has nothing to do with it.

This was highlighted on Facebook by our good friend Jos known on here as urbansteel,trying to get people not to buy or download ANYTHING in March,I for one will give it a go,every little helps.

[black-march.com]


Could have started a new thread I know but this one seems sort of right

Quote
adotulipson
This was highlighted on Facebook by our good friend Jos known on here as urbansteel,trying to get people not to buy or download ANYTHING in March,I for one will give it a go,every little helps.

[black-march.com]


Could have started a new thread I know but this one seems sort of right

I'm in.
We should not be thrown back to medieval times, when record companies can operate like feudal lords,
who suck out the creativity of their peasant artists and are protected by governments to keep
the system that way.

Just as long as the guitar plays, let it steal your heart away

This was posted on Hotstuff (courtesy of Erik Snow) for anyone interested..................

He must be very proud of his Finnish citizenship going by the large flag on the roof of his manison

London Street Kid
THE STONES RULE..OK!

Geez a Job I can do that!

[black-march.com]

Hmmm... I can see the logic behind the Black March business, but personally I would make an exception for local independent book and record stores, if you are lucky enough to still have one within shopping distance. The big guns like Amazon will survive, but small stores are having a hard enough time as it is, and putting my local bookshop out of business is not part of my agenda.

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Green Lady
putting my local bookshop out of business is not part of my agenda

A respectable choice.
Though one could argue that governments are less considerate about respecting peoples individual
interests by distroying millions and millions of files people had stored in those storage sites.

Just as long as the guitar plays, let it steal your heart away

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franzk

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Naturalust
Hey you can start you own server, seel your own songs get 100% of the money, sounds like a great biz plan, no? Good luck. peace

Have you heard of Thom Yorke or Trent Reznor by any chance? peace

if you do yer homework you will see both these guys had company driven success BEFORE they decided to go it alone and use their own methods and terms. Hardly a grass roots start. peace.

For those who want to call out to the politicians, here's a petition against ACTA. Please sign
and make sure those who pull the strings become aware of the importance of freedom to share
information on the internet in a democratic world.

Petition against ACTA


Edit: here's a line from the ACTA that sends shivers down my spine:



Just as long as the guitar plays, let it steal your heart away



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-01-26 13:19 by marcovandereijk.

At least one person stands up, though I fear it's a bit late. It's not the least person:

Acta rapporteur denounces ACTA mascarade

Just as long as the guitar plays, let it steal your heart away

Very complex issue in this era of Technology.

One could find almost ANY offically released "album" to download on Megaupload.
How cool is that? It's sister, Megavideo, also gone. The recent Stones official Some Girls was up there, both audio and video, along with a myriad of others.

Are we, as users, responsible for bittorrenting/downloading offical, copyrighted releases? Or are the people who create these websites the culprits?

I believe it really comes down to ETHICS! And a lack of regulation that should've been put into place years ago. Haven't seen much here about the rights of the ARTISTS we all so adore. Actors/Musicians/Artists. Gone are the days when we were kids in a candy store, hitting the local record store for the newest releases from our favorite bands. Now it is point and click instant access, without a care/respect for the artists rights.

From Wired, almost 18 years ago, wrap your mind around this artice, 13 pages, but well worth the read...

here it us on one page, for ease of reading.
The Economy of Ideas

And the same as it appeared in Wired.
Wired May 1994 Economy of Ideas

Quote
Borncrosseyed
Very complex issue in this era of Technology.

One could find almost ANY offically released "album" to download on Megaupload.
How cool is that? It's sister, Megavideo, also gone. The recent Stones official Some Girls was up there, both audio and video, along with a myriad of others.

Are we, as users, responsible for bittorrenting/downloading offical, copyrighted releases? Or are the people who create these websites the culprits?

I believe it really comes down to ETHICS! And a lack of regulation that should've been put into place years ago. Haven't seen much here about the rights of the ARTISTS we all so adore. Actors/Musicians/Artists. Gone are the days when we were kids in a candy store, hitting the local record store for the newest releases from our favorite bands. Now it is point and click instant access, without a care/respect for the artists rights.

From Wired, almost 18 years ago, wrap your mind around this artice, 13 pages, but well worth the read...

here it us on one page, for ease of reading.
The Economy of Ideas

And the same as it appeared in Wired.
Wired May 1994 Economy of Ideas

Brilliant, definitive article. Thank you for posting it.

[rt.com]

I bet SCL played a part in getting this website deactivated. He's done it to individuals.

Related story- [www.hollywoodreporter.com]

Universal Music May Have Inadvertently Exposed a Flaw in the YouTube Takedown Process One rap artist speaks out against UMG, YouTube, and SOPA.
10:45 AM PST 1/27/2012 by Eriq Gardner

Last month, before federal authorities shut down Megaupload, the popular file-storage website got into a legal brawl with Universal Music Group over a video that was removed from YouTube.

Megaupload hasn't experienced much success thus far in pressing claims that UMG misused its copyrights by removing the video, which featured many stars purportedly endorsing Megaupload. But the lawsuit did reveal something that wasn't known -- YouTube had granted UMG the powers to remove videos from the video-sharing website at will, "based on a number of contractually specified criteria."

The contract between UMG and YouTube over use of a "Content Management System" remains secret, but the ability to remove videos from YouTube could become controversial quickly. Just witness what happened to one rap group who found it impossible to put up one of its own songs on YouTube.

The rap group known as After the Smoke had created a song entitled, "One in a Million."


The song included a dancing keyboard rhythm and a scattered beat that was catchy enough that it became the underlying music to a track, "Far From A Bitch" by another rap group artist known as Yelawolf, signed to a UMG label.

When Yelawolf's song was leaked without authorization, UMG allegedly stepped in and had the song removed.

But in the aftermath, YouTube's filtering technology, perhaps on the lookout for any reposted copies, took down "One in a Million," angering group member Whuzi. "We were like, 'Wait a minute? What's going on?'" Whuzi told Vice Magazine. "When I looked into it deeper and tried to contact YouTube and went through the all the correct procedures, they told me the entity that owns the copyright to our song was Universal."

After the Smoke is not signed to any Universal label.

Does this expose a flaw in the whole removal-and-subsequent-filtering process? And does UMG bear any responsibility for what happened?

UMG wouldn't comment publicly on our requests for an explanation. But the company did release its claim over the video.

Meanwhile, we reported over the weekend that Megaupload had dropped UMG from its lawsuit over the "Megaupload Mega Song" video, but was continuing to fight anonymous John Does. As such, Megaupload pushed for discovery in an effort to ascertain who should be blamed for what transpired.

A hearing was held earlier this week, in which Megaupload's attorney, Ira Rothkin, told the judge that he now was only seeking the terms of the confidential agreement between UMG and YouTube. Megaupload said that the agreement would facilitate an analysis of what claims, if any, it could make from the brief removal of its video from the internet.


'California federal judge Jacqueline Scott Corley has now denied that request, saying that it might be efficient for Megaupload, but that the troubled file-storage company hadn't articulated a persuasive reason to go on such a fishing expedition. "The problem with Plaintiff's argument...is that it applies to nearly every case," she said in her decision.

The future of Megaupload's lawsuit is now up in the air.

If copyright owners are abusing YouTube's takedown process, it might be up to other plaintiffs to make the case. Still pending is a lawsuit brought by Stephanie Lenz against UMG for allegedly abusing the takedown process on YouTube by having her video of a toddler dancing to a Prince song removed. Also of note is an ongoing lawsuit by songwriter Matt Heart, whose "Eternal Knight" song got booted off of YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon. Heart has experienced some preliminary success in his copyright misrepresentation claims against Summit Entertainment, which based the takedown on some of its Twilight intellectual property.

As for Whuzi, he hasn't said whether the rap group is thinking about a lawsuit, but does offer that even if given a chance to sign with UMG, he wouldn't take it. "With the whole SOPA protest, people realize they have power when they see a negative thing going on and act on it," he says.

For an industry that's pursuing copyright reform, the portrayal of a copyright regime that works against young artists can't be a good thing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-01-28 16:14 by Max'sKansasCity.

Quote
marcovandereijk
According to on line reports, here's thee toll as of today:

MegaUpload - Closed
FileServe - Closed
FileJungle - Deleting files. Locked in the U.S..
UploadStation - Locked in the U.S..
FileSonic - Closed
VideoBB - Closed
Uploaded - Closed
FilePost - Deleting all material
4shared - Deleting files with copyright
MediaFire - Called to testify in the next 90 days and it will open doors to FBI

They're going insane!

Can we assume that all the other non-megaupload sites listed here are subsidiaries of Megaupload?

That leaves Rapidshare as the lone standing major site. For now. They have had their problems in the past as well.

Not to many people in New Zealand are to concerned about what Kim Dotcom done really.He's probably more popular than our Prime Minister especially after paying for 500 thousand dollars worth of fireworks for Auckland's New Year celebrations.His generosity is well published in the media but not so much how he got his money that part is sort of sweeped under the carpet.

--------------
ColonialstoneNZ
--------------

Download the full report here: Report on the entertainment industry

Neil Young on the subject:

http://allthingsd.com/20120131/neil-youngs-music-rescue-mission-video/

Just as long as the guitar plays, let it steal your heart away

Just an intersting FYI to any Skype users out there....

I guess the laws pertaining to wiretapping phones do not apply to
wire tapping the internet. I may have missed something, so feel
free to correct... but it appears the FBI has been "tapping" the
Skype lines of Megaupload owners since 1997, and used that information
to build a case against them. Skype only keep records for 30 days, and
the FBI has to (might have to) get a court order to request those records
but it appears the FBI has records going back years because they placed a
bug / software / malware/ program to record all of their (and your) Skype
conversations, with the only limits being the size of their memory chip budget.

The moral?..... if you use VOIP ..... be aware they may be listening, and
and by "they" I mean ANYONE (not just the FBI )(wife/ girlfriend/ husaband/
boyfiend/ dog) smart enough to put a bug / program on your computer.


==============================================================
[www.theverge.com]


The FBI reportedly used private Skype IM conversations that it intercepted as a basis for its case against Megaupload, but what isn't clear is how exactly the FBI acquired these conversations. The US Department of Justice told CNET that the evidence was obtained through search warrants, and Skype was not asked to turn over any information to the FBI. According to its privacy policy, Skype only holds data for 30 days, while some of the conversations that the FBI had access to go back up to five years. If the FBI didn't receive data from Skype directly, there's the possibility that there was some tracking software implanted on the Megaupload executives computers, and there's historical precedence for that scenario. In 2007, the FBI remotely installed a piece of spyware known as CIPAV on the computer of a suspect who was emailing bomb threats; this software reported back an ongoing log of the computer's outgoing communication. Similar software could certainly be behind these uncovered Skype conversations, but we're not likely to find out for sure until the case is fully underway.

As for what was in these intercepted Skype sessions, Stuff.co.nz revealed details of a conversation between Megaupload co-founder Mathias Ortmann and head programmer Bram van der Kolk in which the pair worried about what founder Kim Dotcom would do if the company found itself in legal trouble. As Van der Kolk reportedly said in a 2007 conversation, "Would he take the last little bit of money and take off? He's good at that."



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-02-01 19:42 by Max'sKansasCity.

Quote
marcovandereijk
Neil Young on the subject:

http://allthingsd.com/20120131/neil-youngs-music-rescue-mission-video/

"Piracy is the new radio", eh?

Haven't we been here before?



Actually there was once considerable opposition to having records played on the radio, from both copyright owners and musicians' unions, because (horror of horrors) people were listening to the records without having to buy them!

Now where have I heard that before?

Yesterday Kim Dotcom was denied bail for the third time because he's to much of a "flight risk".Dotcom had told the court how,while on remand he had recieved letters from female prisoners and even a phone call from a man claiming to be a prosecutor and asking for money in exchange for a favourable bail appeal.

--------------
ColonialstoneNZ
--------------

Super Bowl crackdown: US sacks more than 300 websites

United States lawmakers insisted that the Stop Online Piracy Act was necessary
to thwart copyright crimes on the World Wide Web.

Even after the bill was halted in Congress, however, federal agents have still
found the way to shut down more than 300 websites recently.

The raid, the latest under the umbrella of a mission dubbed Operation Fake
Sweep, is just the most recent event in a series of attempts to keep Americans
from illegally broadcasting copyrighted programming. It is also, however, the
latest assault on the not-so free World Wide Web.

The arrest of Kim Dotcom and subsequent shut-down of Megaupload comes after the
Stop Online Piracy Act failed to pass the US Congress, but despite being dropped
by American lawmakers, authorities in the States are still free to freeze
seemingly any website they wish.

Virtually all of the seized websites are not located in the United States. But
because they utilize the "dot com" suffix, the US government claims jurisdiction.

This is the full story:

Super Bowl crackdown: US sacks more than 300 websites

Published: 04 February, 2012, 02:10

United States lawmakers insisted that the Stop Online Piracy Act was necessary to thwart copyright crimes on the World Wide Web.

Even after the bill was halted in Congress, however, federal agents have still found the way to shut down more than 300 websites recently. Federal authorities have sacked a 28-year-old Michigan man for operating websites that they say illegally streamed professional sports games on the Internet.

Yonjo Quiroa of Comstock Park, Michigan in the United States was arrested on Wednesday by agents with the Homeland Security Investigations unit. They are charging him with one count of criminal infringement of a copyright for allegedly operating at least nine websites that offered unauthorized Internet streams of live sporting events.

The raid, the latest under the umbrella of a mission dubbed Operation Fake Sweep, is just the most recent event in a series of attempts to keep Americans from illegally broadcasting copyrighted programming. It is also, however, the latest assault on the not-so free World Wide Web.

Quiroa’s arrest comes mere weeks after federal agents coordinated a raid on the home of Kim Dotcom, the founder of the file-sharing website Megaupload. Authorities insist that Megaupload’s operation benefited marvelously while infringing on copyright after copyright, preventing musicians and filmmakers from reaping upwards of half a billion dollars in profits. The arrest of Kim Dotcom and subsequent shut-down of Megaupload comes after the Stop Online Piracy Act failed to pass the US Congress, but despite being dropped by American lawmakers, authorities in the States are still free to freeze seemingly any website they wish.

“Even without SOPA having been passed yet, the federal government always had tremendous power to do some of the things that they want to do. So if this is what can occur without SOPA being passed, imagine what can occur after SOPA is passed,” Project PM founder Barrett Brown tells RT.

Authorities say that Operation Fake Sweep led to the shutting down of 307 websites linked to illegal activity relating to professional sports. Many of them, they say, offered consumers a chance to purchase unlicensed, counterfeit sportswear. Only 16 of the hundreds of sites offered services where users could stream live sports events, and feds believe that Quiroa operated nine of them. The US Attorney’s Office says that he made at least $13,000 by selling advertisements on his site.

If convicted, Quiroa faces up to five years in prison.

In New Zealand, Dotcom is still behind bars after being denied bail twice and losing an appeal on Friday. Americans hope to extradite him to the US to charge him with copyright-related offenses in the States, despite being a German citizen residing in New Zealand and operating a service headquartered in Hong Kong.

News of Quiroa’s arrest comes only days before the National Football League’s championship game: this weekend’s Super Bowl. United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton says in a statement, "While most people are focusing on whether the Patriots or Giants will win on Sunday, we at ICE have our sights on a different type of victory: defeating the international counterfeiting rings that illegally profit off of this event, the NFL, its players and sports fans."

"In sports, players must abide by rules of the game, and in life, individuals must follow the laws of the land. Our message is simple: abiding by intellectual property rights laws is not optional; it's the law,” adds the director.

[rt.com]