This is a very good point. eBay do monitor/police these things though and will take down listings if they breach their rules/are illegal items. That's not to say eBay catch everyone doing naughty stuff, but the fact that they make an effort and have a an active policy to combat wrong doing means it seems fair to me that eBay as a whole shouldn't be taken down. Does megaupload have such a policy? Do they have a track record of removing illegal files and working with the police and the media industry? I don't know. If they have been trying their best then it does seem harsh to bring the site down. If not, then fair enough. What choice do the authorities have?

PPP

Well, if you want to blame the people who committed the crime, with shutting down the website you are not punishing the right ones...

I think it's the case they re-assess the concept of intellectual property: I can't download and listen to a song, but I can listen to it for free on an internet radio or via Grooveshark?

They just need to accept the fact that the world has changed dramatically since the 60s, the entertainment industry has become too expensive and not everybody can afford to pay their prices, but still, because of the marketing they generated, people want to use their products nonetheless. Result? If I can't afford it, I'll get it for free, since it's easier that way.

It's their own greediness that is damaging them.. besides I would like to really quantify this "damage", considering that I haven't heard of a high profile music star being broke lately..
How should people feel when they say that Tom Cruise's daughter had, at 4 years old, a $130.000 Xmas list?! I mean, hellooooo?!? Reality check!!!

F**k them I say, I don't need your industry, I know who to rely to if I want good music and good movies.
In the end of the day, it's their fault if blockbusters like Pearl Harbour get so publicised and little masterpieces like Dark Blue World barely make it to the cinema screens.

I'm pretty sure that megaupload (never used it) and other sites like limewire etc all had legal terms and conditons for users to read and aknowlege, how exactly sites are expected to police these things without major intrusions into public privacy and freedom?.........

And so what, if i can´t afford it, i don´t buy it. or if i really must have this new piece of "already-old-tomorrow" art, i save up some money and buy it later.
That´s no excuse for piracy.

the only sad thing about shutting down megaup is, that those that used it honestly are now punished because of the many who weren´t.

Its a hard one, eh.... damned, if they do and damned if they don't

it can't very be done to invade privacy in servers or socialise the movie/ record companies, any more than it would be to let capitalism run rampant... people like reward/ notablity for their efforts, so taking an axe to copyright laws wouldn't work too well either.
Running filters in isp's etc would only turn the 'net into the equivalent of a queue in the > insert country here < motor registries.

and yeah... a classic situation of the minority buggering it up for the majority

How exactly they do this is down to them. It's their problem and they need to address it if they want to stay in business. I know it's a little different, but YouTube managed to limit the damage by limiting video lengths to 10 minutes. Straight away this reduces the illegal file share problem.

IMHO I can't see what the privacy/freedom issue is. The terms & conditions for megaupload's end users will state what is allowed and what isn't. Then, it surely can't be that hard for megaupload to automatically search their database of files on their servers for key words that might flag an issue. Complex sure, but doable if there is a will. Then, if someone is found to have uploaded something bad, just take it down. If a user repeat offends, ban them from the site. The site survives, good users can stay and illegal file sharing is reduced.

The problem is, that illegal files have to be reported, before they´re taken off the server. Usually those are files, that are held in high regard by the fellow community.

Whatever way you want to put it, it all boils down to big brother taking away everybody's toys because a few kids are naughty, and the toys we are allowed to keep are the budget lowest cost/functionality versions.

*sigh* I just wonder when Hollywood, UBI and Sony and the rest will understand that the battle is over.
20% of Sweden's population are incriminated just because they prefer another method of consuming music/film/games than currently available.
More and more are moving into legal options as they pop up.
Digital music surpasses the CD format worldwide.

But like always, if you follow the trail of money you'll find the reasons why the industry are hunting common people down.
In the new arena there's no need for middlemen as the musician sell his music directly to the consumer. Same thing with games and film.
Have you checked vimeo lately? N00bs are making awesome movies with $1K cameras with almost no budget.

My 2 year old son will never have heard of Warner Bros, UBI or Sony Music when he's 18.

The industry is dying but the culture is in international bloom.
Like a cornered beast Hollywood fights for survival. The vultures are awaiting to clean the bones.

We sure live in exciting times.
- "Son, there once was a wall that divided a city, called the Berlin wall"