With megaupload, is there any hope for the Cloud and US based businesses?

Now that MegaUpload has been destroyed and millions of users with legitimate files have lost them, what becomes of the Cloud? Megaupload situation has shown that the United States can attack just about any website, anywhere in the world and shut it down. This is long before a case has gone to trial and anyone has been proven guilty. Now we feel that massive companies such as Google and Microsoft are beyond the reach of the Feds, but is that enough to trust these services? Safe Haven protection and the ability for content companies to complain and remove files is no longer enough, or at least no longer a factor when your directors can be targeted and by extension the firm can be shut down. Do we know that the directors of Google aren't involved in some form of insider trading or laundering that passes some portion of these funds through Google? How would we know until it hit the news? Because by the logic of Megaupload if that were the case Google could be shut down and its assets all seized. And what about ICT investment? Would you invest in a business now that allowed or required user submissions whether images, files or video? This is 2012 and user engagement and interaction is a major part of any website and project moving forward. But how can an investor countenance putting money behind such a project? Do you really really know every director on that startup team and what they are doing? In my view what happened with Megaupload is a complete catastrophe for the web, that isn't really being covered by the tech press. I could care less what the founder of Megaupload, or some of his employees did. Prosecute them separately. Megaupload was not a Piratebay, or a videoninja. It was far far more than that, and bigger than that. We are losing our privacy, we are losing our rights on the Internet including fair use. All to enrich the United States' RIAA/MPAA businesses. This isn't right. And in my view it affects everyone in IT. From the developer, to the investor, the business owner, the designer. Everything is affected by these draconian acts. And before anyone talks about "picking" on the United States. It is the ONLY country bringing forward these draconian and destructive laws such as ACTA, PIPA, TPP  and SOPA. and it is the ONLY country forcing others to sign on and to alter their copyright laws to conform to its own standards. No other country is attempting to do this. So yes, this is coming from the United States, and it is the US at fault here for this type of response to the changing landscape of the Internet. The question is what can the rest of the world do about it? what can Americans do about it? If even a quarter of what Megaupload's founder is accused of doing is true then they are certainly poor choices as poster child for an industry, but it is what it is. This debate has started on the internet, and I believe it's a very important one.

I don't know whether they are in fact as they are portrayed, but they are essentially the poster child for the issue right now. If you had legitimate business data on their servers, tough luck charlie. It's gone. This in effect means that not only do cloud providers have to worry about what their users are uploading, so do all of their customers have to worry about one another. It's untenable, I think. I think it's a serious problem, especially since the case against them actually looks a bit thin. But that may not matter, because they don't have access to their own funds or business records, so how are they supposed to mount a defense? And to the person out there who is thinking, ya, but they shouldn't have allowed people to upload infringing materials...this has not yet been proven. The government should have to make a case to someone before they send the helicopters out to land in your yard. Maybe a magistrate in New Zealand issued a warrant or something, but I have not seen this mentioned in the coverage. The situation seems to be that we're being told htat these are bad guys, trust us on this. Sound familiar? But by the way, Canada is about to pass its own SOPA, but as I understand it many copyright laws passed in other countries have a lot to do with Hollywood. ----- Excess quoted text cut - see Original Post for more -----

> But by the way, Canada is about to pass its own SOPA, but as I understand > it many copyright laws passed in other countries have a lot to do with > Hollywood. > Or bollywood :-) Go with a publicly traded cloud company like Amizon. They have the legal team to fight on you're behalf :-)

Megaupload *has* a lawyer. What they don't have access to are their records and their funds. Hope they were guilty, because they are out of business either way. On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 5:25 AM, Casey Dougall - Uber Website Solutions < casey@uberwebsitesolutions.com> wrote: ----- Excess quoted text cut - see Original Post for more -----

I think that they will be "proven" guilty despite whether or not they are actually guilty. businesses? Megaupload *has* a lawyer. What they don't have access to are their records and their funds. Hope they were guilty, because they are out of business either way. On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 5:25 AM, Casey Dougall - Uber Website Solutions < casey@uberwebsitesolutions.com> wrote: ----- Excess quoted text cut - see Original Post for more -----

I'd stick with Amazon. They have too much to lose to do anything even slightly off-legal. On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 8:25 AM, Casey Dougall - Uber Website Solutions < casey@uberwebsitesolutions.com> wrote: > > Go with a publicly traded cloud company like Amizon. They have the legal > team to fight on you're behalf :-)

you guys aren't getting it. It's the other users you have to worry about. And apparently cloud providers are now expected to police them. That's an unfunded mandate that should put quite a few out of business, but the ones that survive will have to, or risk this sort of catastrophic shutdown. ----- Excess quoted text cut - see Original Post for more -----

No. I got it. I wasn't answering to that part of the issue. The bigger issue I have no idea what do with, nor do I have the funds, willpower or time to help fight it or even debate it. Call me apathetic. Right now, I've got other personal issues to fry. ----- Excess quoted text cut - see Original Post for more -----

fair enough. I don't know what to do about it either. It doesn't seem to bother them that SOPA didn't pass. I do remember reading that they disregarded some takedown notices, so maybe they were asking to go out of business. It still bothers me that they won in court and yet still had helicopters landing on their property. Seems excessive. And very well publicized. ----- Excess quoted text cut - see Original Post for more -----

From what I was reading they were in compliance with that and were in the process or already had removed some of the offending content. businesses? fair enough. I don't know what to do about it either. It doesn't seem to bother them that SOPA didn't pass. I do remember reading that they disregarded some takedown notices, so maybe they were asking to go out of business. It still bothers me that they won in court and yet still had helicopters landing on their property. Seems excessive. And very well publicized. ----- Excess quoted text cut - see Original Post for more ----- about. ----- Excess quoted text cut - see Original Post for more -----

I guess I feel like the only thing I can do is pay attention and notice this shit, so I feel like I should do that. And tell people. Yeah, maybe it makes me Cassandra, and nobody likes Cassandra. But still. On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 6:34 PM, Eric Roberts < owner@threeravensconsulting.com> wrote: ----- Excess quoted text cut - see Original Post for more -----