Response to Adam Ward's DTC356 post #2 on Megaupload's FBI Shutdown

Sorry this isn't on Adam's Tumblr, but there was no option to leave a comment there. 

Adam used an anecdote about the government shutdown of Megaupload to point out more unfair treatment online. Unfair treatment meaning the government's pick-and-choose prejudice against certain pirates or pirate hosting sites – like Megaupload, the Pirate Bay, or Aaron Swartz – and not others, like YouTube. 

I agree that the government's bias in dealing with these sites/individuals is pretty blatantly skeezy. Make an example of the little guys who aren't profiting, but allow the profiteers (like Google, for owning YouTube) to keep on profiting. I wonder why... It seems like the same permission given to the architects of the financial bank crisis: they're too big to jail.

Adam explains that Megaupload moved its services to a New Zealand server and changed the mechanics of its site to skirt away from some of the blame. I think the Pirate Bay was getting away with the same thing for a long time. They no longer store the data on their servers and s0 cannot give its users direct access to download the material – now they just linked up the people who have the data so they can share with each other. This type of activity was/is not illegal in Sweden  (not sure what the update is after their lawsuit), where the Pirate Bay has its servers. But that didn't keep American companies like Apple, Dreamworks, Warner Brothers, and others from threatening legal action. The documentary on the Pirate Bay's lawsuit will be piratable soon, I hear.

Adam says, "It’s basically like this: if you let someone borrow your cell phone and they  used it to commit a crime, but then erased any evidence of placing a call, sending a text, or using the internet, you would be none the wiser to anything wrong being done with your property. That’s the theory behind Mega.co.nz, and considering the federal government’s hasty and unnecessary prosecution of people like Aaron Swartz, Kim Dotcom is potentially marching himself right into information freedom martyrdom."

The bootleggers/pirates/whatever you want to call the people who share files are getting more creative to get around current law. I think it's pretty clear that computer programmers get a lot more done in a lot less time than lawmakers do. However, Adam is right. Kim Dotcom is in danger for outsmarting the system, being "civilly disobedient," but in the eyes of the property owners, taking away their livelihood.