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Megaupload To Department of Justice: We Will Fight This

Downed cyberlocker site MegaUpload is pledging not to go gentle into that good night, as they say are trying to get up and running again. On Thursday, the Department of Justice shut down the site, acc...
Megaupload To Department of Justice: We Will Fight This
Written by Josh Wolford
  • Downed cyberlocker site MegaUpload is pledging not to go gentle into that good night, as they say are trying to get up and running again.

    On Thursday, the Department of Justice shut down the site, accusing it of being an “international organized criminal enterprise ” that is “responsible for massive worldwide online piracy of numerous types of copyrighted works.” This action prompted a massive backlash from the likes of Twitter and reddit – but the more notable response came from online group Anonymous.

    Anonymous began a campaign dubbed #OpMegaUpload Thursday afternoon, taking down the Department of Justice’s website as well as sites for the MPAA and RIAA. When it was all said and done, #OpMegaUpload stood as the biggest coordinated attack in the history of Anonymous. Though it’s being debated whether the DOJ baited Anonymous into a rash response to undermine credibility, #OpMegaUpload has received plenty of praise on the interwebs.

    And now, MegaUpload says they’re going to fight. Here’s what their lawyer ira Rothken told Reuters:

    The company is looking at its legal options for getting back its servers and its domain and getting its servers back up online. Megaupload will vigorously defend itself. It is really offensive to say that just because people can upload bad things, therefore Megaupload is automatically responsible.

    It seems as though MegaUpload and the U.S. Government have different ideas about the functionality of the site. It’s unlikely that the issue will be resolved in the next couple of days, but that’s the timeframe that Anonymous has given the DOJ. In a video message, the group demands that MegaUpload be restored within 72 hours. If that demand is not met, they threaten to take down servers of the UN, Xbox Live, US Bank, Capital One, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

    Of course, all of this drama is unfolding in front of the SOPA / PIPA backdrop. Following Wednesday’s internet-wide protests, both SOPA and PIPA have been put on the backburner.

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