Original WinUAE author Mathias Ortmann arrested in MU raid

redrumloa

redrumloa

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According to the FBI, Mathias Ortmann apparently was the CTO and co-founder of a piracy exploiting gang led by well-known con artist Kim Schmitz (also known as "Kim Dotcom" and "Kimble"). Mathias Ortmann is said to have received 9 million dollars in 2010 alone in profits from Megaupload.com. He was arrested this week in Auckland, New Zealand, at the request of US officials.

http://static2.stuff.co.nz/files/MegaUpload.pdf

Source: Moobunny
 
Wow... I didn't know it was the same guy. Bummer for him. :( To get labelled as profiting off piracy like that is really kind of stretching the laws. MegaUpload was actually a fairly useful service in the same area as other file hosting, such as RapidShare, DropBox, and even iCloud....

I'll miss P Diddy's catchy song, too.

Ok, actually, I think the song is probably a better reason to arrest people than piracy, but I just had to post it! :D
 
Mental note: If I ever decide to start a business that profits from piracy, relocate to the Ukraine first.
 
Well, really, remember to do that anytime you start a business that upsets the Copyright cartel. For the most part, MegaUpload was at least giving lip-service to being legit, though. There are numerous services that much more blatantly fly the pirate flag than they did. There were some leaked MegaUpload emails that seemed to indicate that they knew a lot of their content was pirated, but nothing that really should have lead to the heavy-handed crackdown that happened.

Interestingly, MegaUpload's CEO appears to be a high-end producer for the recording industry. Hmm... The content mafia didn't like that type of competition?
 
Glaucus said:
Mental note: If I ever decide to start a business that profits from piracy, relocate to the Ukraine first.
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But what is a business profiting from piracy? MegaUpload was profiting from ad revenue and memberships. That is how a lot of people are making money - but now if your members are uploading unlicensed content you are profiting from piracy.

That would be like a communications service profiting from the proceeds of drugs if people were setting up buys.
 
@Fluffy, no argument there, my post was more for humor than actual commentary. However, to address your point directly, I could argue that MU is different from your examples because they were active participants in the illegal activity. Now please note I re-wrote that sentence a few times because I don't want anyone to think I'm siding with the MPAA/RIAA, I am not. If it were up to me MU would still be around. But I also think MU, like the Pirate Bay, were catering to specific groups and that makes them easy targets. The real problem now is how this case will unfold in court, and will it set a bad precedent that could affect other sites that are a lot further removed from piracy. Ars Technica has a really good article about this case:

Why the feds smashed Megaupload
Law professor James Grimmelmann of New York Law School tells Ars, "If proven at trial, there's easily enough in the indictment to prove criminal copyright infringement many times over. But much of what the indictment details are legitimate business strategies many websites use to increase their traffic and revenues: offering premium subscriptions, running ads, rewarding active users.

"I hope that if this case goes to trial and results in convictions, that the court will be careful in sorting out just what Megaupload did that crossed the line of criminality."
Click to expand...
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
But what is a business profiting from piracy? MegaUpload was profiting from ad revenue and memberships. That is how a lot of people are making money - but now if your members are uploading unlicensed content you are profiting from piracy.

That would be like a communications service profiting from the proceeds of drugs if people were setting up buys.
Click to expand...

Right, what about Western Digital and other hard drive makers? Hard drives are commonly used to store pirate software and media. Ok, so they are worried about sharing, what about Sandisk and other thumb drives? I share by way of thumb drives quite often.
 
I think many countries already pay a piracy tax on their blank media.
 
redrumloa said:
Really? That's just plain silly if true. A piracy tax would give license to pirate.
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That is exactly what our supreme court ruled. We complained about the stupid tax when it came in but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise and the media companies have not been able to go after Canadians the way they have been able to go after everyone else - and they keep wanting to back out of the deal but we caved in to paying up for your protection racket so now leave us alone.
 
Actually, your analogy got me thinking... Maybe MegaUpload is no more guilty of piracy than the music industry is of promoting gangsterism.
 
Glaucus said:
Actually, your analogy got me thinking... Maybe MegaUpload is no more guilty of piracy than the music industry is of promoting gangsterism.
Click to expand...
There's a whole 'nother great big thread there.

And let's not forget that the entertainment industry itself has been a big player in promoting piracy.
Maybe promoting and making money off of piracy is just a way to make money off the crowd that won't buy at the retail price and would otherwise be lost.
 
Though there also was some truly bizarre things going on there. Kimble (aka Kim Dotcom) seems to be a MegaTool. And things just keep getting weirder.

But things don't add up on the finances side, either. Aside from whatever profits MegaUpload may have been pulling from its semi-legitimate membership, there may have been an actual old-fashioned cut-and-dried money laundering operation using MegaUpload as its cover.

So, I hope there's more to the story than the RIAA just bought a take-down of a possible contender.
 
I'm a little skeptical about this latest theory as to why take down MegaUpload. According to Fluffy's link the news about their new venture was announced only weeks before the police made their move. Organizing a multinational police bust in that short of a time just doesn't sound right. I'd bet this operation was planned far in advance.
 
I'm a little skeptical about this latest theory as to why take down MegaUpload. According to Fluffy's link the news about their new venture was announced only weeks before the police made their move. Organizing a multinational police bust in that short of a time just doesn't sound right. I'd bet this operation was planned far in advance.
Click to expand...

Agreed. It almost makes me wonder if MegaUpload wasn't more like collateral damage from a raid for something entirely different.
 
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