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As a counter-point to the SOPA/PIPA demonstration
Renegade:
Wouldn't destruction of evidence by police in a pending trial be a Federal offence? I don't understand that.
Usually the people who would be interested in the destruction of evidence would be the people being charged - because the evidence provides grounds (evidence) for the charges.
That would be Mr Dotcom in this case, I presume, so it doesn't make sense here.
-IainB (January 30, 2012, 07:31 PM)
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I wouldn't go there quite so fast... Let me sort this a bit so that it DOES make sense...
Suppose the same thing happens to DC because something copyrighted was posted. Now, they preserve that post or the infringing material, but destroy everything else.
HUH~! WTF?!?
A 1-off copyright infringement is certainly still an infringement, but what is the context? Is it 1 out of a million? User uploaded? Systemic?
The destruction of, or the permitted destruction of, evidence is exactly that -- destruction of evidence.
I submit that by destroying the context of any alleged infringement, the prosecution effectively prevents the defense from having a fair defense.
IainB:
I ran into this article at Forbes magazine. It's by Larry Downes and it's called: Who Really Stopped SOPA, and Why? (Web over to read it. Forbes get's pissy about quoting their text.)
-40hz (January 30, 2012, 12:49 PM)
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That article is spot-on. Thanks.
40hz:
Well, looks like the government there is looking to delete the evidence...
https://rt.com/news/usa-megaupload-files-prosecutors-031/
You have to wonder... Why would you delete the evidence? Hmmm...
-Renegade (January 30, 2012, 06:40 AM)
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Hmmm, I say...
-Lashiec (January 30, 2012, 08:00 PM)
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Think 'avoidance conditioning' and it all becomes clear.
Here, I think you're just seeing another example of abusing forfeiture laws to send a message to people.
The message is : Be very careful who you host things with. Because if you don't, and your host runs afoul of the law, your content may be destroyed - even though you had nothing to do with it. So if you see anything that looks even the slightes bit 'iffy' - you better walk away from it pronto lest you suffer the consequences.
Private schools use a similar tactic. In my old high school, three students got expelled - two for smoking marijuana, and one for having the bad luck to walk in on them doing it just before the Dean of Students (acting on a tip) did.
Rule was, if you were there - you're screwed. Even if you were not involved.
It's arbitrary, illogical, fundamentally unfair, and spiteful. And it's scary. But that's because it's intended to be. Fear is a powerful motivator.
In the case of Megauploads, it's the Feds showing everybody what a badass posse they are in the hopes of further isolating sharing sites and ideally cutting into their revenue streams by scaring off legitimate would-be customers.
The RICO act gets used in a similar fashion. A favorite tactic is seizing things that clearly belong to parents, friends, and other innocent parties in order that their pain can be used for leverage in compelling "cooperation" from the person they're really interested in.
It's one more example of law enforcement terror tactics. Just like every other form of 'group punishment' or abuse of legal statute.
Megauploads is the proverbial "head on a stake" over the gate leading into the city. It says: You have been warned. Better watch you step, and mind your tongue, around here!
:o
Stoic Joker:
Think 'avoidance conditioning' and it all becomes clear.-40hz (January 31, 2012, 09:42 AM)
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Just the fact that you knew the name of it - off the top of your head presumably - makes me a bit uneasy... :(
But the "head on a stake" bit is truly an accurate description of the feds motive.
Lashiec:
Well, looks like the government there is looking to delete the evidence...
https://rt.com/news/usa-megaupload-files-prosecutors-031/
You have to wonder... Why would you delete the evidence? Hmmm...
-Renegade (January 30, 2012, 06:40 AM)
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Hmmm, I say...
-Lashiec (January 30, 2012, 08:00 PM)
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There might a be slight possibility for Megaupload users to recover their files. I hope the three involved parties come to an agreement on doing this, Megaupload isn't even obliged to provide this service to users, and the other two shouldn't really care what happens with the files at this point.
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