megaupload

The mystery man behind Megaupload piracy fight

Meet the Mega man.

MegaPorn, MegaVideo, MegaLive, MegaPix, and Megaupload are all Kim Schmitz: entrepreneur, father, former hacker, former street racer, and former outlaw.

Depending on who you ask, all of these sites and brands created by Schmitz--a well-known hacker in Germany who is said to have officially changed his name to Kim Dotcom--are either part of the simple and successful Internet file-storage business he founded in 2005, or they're an extension of a vast online piracy empire that includes some of the most visited video sites on the Web--right there along with YouTube and Hulu. According to legal … Read more

Porn site dings Megaupload in copyright case

A porn site with a litigious history has won an important early round in its copyright fight against Megaupload, alleged to be one of the Web's largest distributors of pirated films, TV shows, and music.

Last week, a U.S. District Court Judge refused to throw out claims that Megaupload is liable for direct copyright infringement as well as contributory infringement. Perfect 10, a creator and distributor of adult entertainment that has filed several high-profile copyright cases in recent years, also accused Megaupload of vicarious and trademark infringement but the judge tossed those claims.

Perfect 10 alleges that Megaupload … Read more

The 404 823: Where those things have multiple uses (podcast)

Don't latch onto an unsecured wireless network on your Android device, because hackers have found an exploit that puts your personal information at risk. Is anyone else as tired of hacker mongering as we are?

In other pirating news, Netflix has finally beat out BitTorrent as the most trafficked site on the Internet, which proves that people are willing to pay for streaming content, if it's easily accessible.

We have a bunch of iPad 2 accessories to give away today from Hard Candy Cases and The Joy Factory. Enter to win a prize simply by following either company as well as The 404 on Twitter and tell us why you need a cover for your iPad 2. Also, be sure to mention us at the end of your tweet so everyone can see it! Good luck!

The 404 Digest for Episode 823

Kid tells Grandfather that Twitter is a search engine, and these are his searches. The insecurity of Android's open Wi-Fi protocol. CNET Report: Netflix swallowing peak Net traffic fast. Not so fast: Sony's PlayStation Network hacked again!

Episode 823 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Study: Pirated content sites attract billions a year

Web sites hawking pirated software and other digital goods are luring in about 53 billion visits each year.

That's according to a report (PDF) released yesterday by MarkMonitor, a company that protects online brands for its corporate customers.

Piracy sites made up the majority of the 53 billion visits, while those selling counterfeit goods such as fake prescription drugs and luxury items accounted for a considerably smaller amount of traffic: about 92 million visits a year.

MarkMonitor identified 43 sites as engaging in digital piracy. Among them, three sites--Rapidshare.com, Megavideo.com, and Megaupload.com--accounted for about 21 billion … Read more

Video site search, specifically

Megaupload Super Search is a free Google Chrome extension that searches for videos and other files on Megaupload.com, an online file-storage and file-sharing service that hosts videos on its Megavideo affiliate site. Like many such sites, Megaupload offers several levels of access--free, free registration, and premium--with various inducements to persuade you to upgrade.

Megaupload Super Search installs like other Chrome extensions; we simply clicked the download link and clicked Continue and Install in Chrome, and the program's M icon appeared in the toolbar among our other extensions. Clicking the icon opened a small pop-up with a search field … Read more

British music biz group targets Google results

For years, file sharers have wondered why copyright owners don't go after Google, when the search engine is as effective at finding pirated film and music content as The Pirate Bay or any other BitTorrent search engine.

It seems as if someone at the British Phonographic Industry must have wondered about that too, as the trade group for the music industry in Great Britain has requested that Google remove links to some popular file-sharing sites, including Megaupload, 4shared.com, Zippyshare, and MediaFire.

"We have identified the following links that are available via Google's search engine," the … Read more