Friday 20 January 2012

BREAKING NEWS : internet freedom

As of now - absolutely NOTHING about this from Reuters.


Cyberwarfare Thursday - If you think SOPA is dead, wait just one second


Comments from Collapse Net

SOPA and PIPA protests have been ongoing for the last several weeks, as a parallel fight with other bills such as NDAA, and the Feds fired a legal shot heard around the country today when the FBI moved to shut down MegaUpload, a popular file-sharing site widely used for free downloads of movies and television shows. In a joint statement, the Justice Department and FBI called the action "among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States."

That statement was not well received by the Internet community, and Anonymous fired back.

"In response to today’s federal raid on the file sharing service Megaupload, hackers with the online collective Anonymous have broken the websites for the Department of Justice, Universal Music Group, RIAA and Motion Picture Association of America. “It was in retaliation for Megaupload, as was the concurrent attack on Justice.org,” Anonymous operative Barrett Brown tells RT on Thursday afternoon."

Mega Upload caught CollapseNet's eye this morning because this Megaupload video, shown below, went viral a few weeks ago.  The video was "censored" last month and has had close to 12 million views in three weeks. It's also especially interesting because it ties in many of the biggest hip-hop music celebs... guys like Kanye, P. Diddy, and Jamie Foxx who are obviously well connected.

This video is a trip at first glance...repetitive indoctrination urging listeners to "upload to me today." It is very possible that a lot of people were duped into uploading material they wouldn't have otherwise after watching this video. After all, most people visit a site like Mega Upload only to download music, videos, games, but not to upload (aka "illegally distribute") copyrighted material. Something surely smells fishy here. -- Max Mogren & Jonathan Barnes, CollapseNet Editorial Staff.


Anonymous downs government, music industry sites in largest attack ever


RT
19 January, 2012


Hacktivists with the collective Anonymous are waging an attack on the website for the White House after successfully breaking the sites for the Department of Justice, Universal Music Group, RIAA and Motion Picture Association of America.

In response to today’s federal raid on the file sharing service Megaupload, hackers with the online collective Anonymous have broken the websites for the Department of Justice, Universal Music Group, RIAA and Motion Picture Association of America.

“It was in retaliation for Megaupload, as was the concurrent attack on Justice.org,” Anonymous operative Barrett Brown tells RT on Thursday afternoon.

Only hours before the DoJ and Universal sites went down, news broke that Megaupload, a massive file sharing site with a reported 50 million daily users, was taken down by federal agents. Four people linked to Megaupload were arrested in New Zealand and an international crackdown led agents to serving at least 20 search warrants across the globe.

Less than an hour after the DoJ and Universal sites came down, the website for the RIAA, or Recording Industry Association of America, went offline as well. Shortly before 6 p.m EST, the government's Copyright.gov site went down as well. Thirty minutes later came the site for BMI, or Broadcast Music, Inc, the licensing organization that represents some of the biggest names in music.

Also on Thursday, MPAA.org also returned an error as Anonymous hacktivists managed to bring the website for the Motion Picture Association of America. The group, headed by former senator Chris Dodd, is an adamant supporter of both PIPA and SOPA legislation.

Universal Music Group, or UMG, is the largest record company in the United States and under its umbrella are the labels Interscope-Geffen-A&M, the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group and Mercury Records.

Brown adds that “more is coming” and Anonymous-aligned hacktivists are pursuing a joint effort with others to “damage campaign raising abilities of remaining Democrats who support SOPA.”

Although many members of Congress have just this week changed their stance on the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, the raid on Megaupload Thursday proved that the feds don’t need SOPA or its sister legislation, PIPA, in order to pose a blow to the Web.

Brown adds that operatives involved in the project will use an “experimental campaign” and search engine optimization techniques “whereby to forever saddle some of these congressmen with their record on this issue.”

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