MPAA want to close 5 more Filehoster

The Motion Picture Associaten of America (MPAA) wants to take more one-click-hoster from the network. In addition, the MPAA wants Megaupload go further one-click hosters on the collar. This was announced by Alfred Perry, spokesman for the worldwide protection of content from Paramount Pictures, recently at a conference. If the file hosters who are on the hit list of the MPAA, are in fact five portals - Putlocker, Wupload, Depositfiles, File and Serve Mediafire. According to the MPAA should combine these services annually 41 billion page views for the views, making it five for every person on this planet.

Is unclear whether Perry give here only loudly proclaimed or actual investigations are already underway for the file hosting services. Due to the high level of public attention in the case Megaupload closed already some one-click-hoster or voluntarily restricted its functions to prevent the content from piracy and to move the attention of the authorities.

Even if it is the announcement by Perry just a bluff, this could be the fear among the leaders again call to mind, without the MPAA must be active. Against the accusations by Alfred Perry is one of the aforementioned one-click hosters already fought. In a statement, insisted Mediafire careful not to file hosters who are after a dubious business model, to be lumped together. According to information provided Mediafire have never advertised for homeless Megaupload users and has always fought against piracy. Next we have never paid users to upload files and frequented also cooperating with the major music labels and movie studios. Must now respond to show how the respective file hosting services on the announcement by the MPAA.

Relieved hollywood Kim Schmitz???

As we reported previously, has Megaupload-founder Kim Schmitz back all allegations against him. The head of the now closed file hosting service had been arrested some time ago due to copyright violations. According to his own statement Schmitz was not a "Pirate King", but a legitimate businessman.

Now Kim Schmitz aka Kim dotcom pour fuel to the fire. And the news is sensational - especially when you consider how violently shoots the Hollywood industry association MPAA against Megaupload. Because Schmitz demonstrated by means of e-mails that some major Hollywood studios wanted to cooperate with him and Megaupload. Among the companies contacted, the Megaupload include, among others, Walt Disney, Warner Bros. and Turner.

Megaupload and SOPA in Asia

There's a saying that when elephants dance, the ants get trampled. In the wake of events this January, the Internet has been a hot bed of activity with US legislation pushing for an anti-online piracy bill with SOPA (and its Senate counterpart PIPA). This drew the anger of the Web community worldwide because of how the possible law would affect the World Wide Web and shape the face of the Internet of the future.

Fortunately, through the concerted efforts of a number of big Internet sites such Wikipedia, Facebook and Google and coupled with the rage of the Internet community, the US lawmakers backed down. Unfortunately, a few days later there was the recent arrest of Megaupload founder Kim Schmitz and the shutdown of the massive Megaupload file-sharing site. Ironically, Kim's arrest seemed to be a chilling counterpoint to the Internet's victory over the shelved SOPA/PIPA bills, as if the US government was saying, "We may not have SOPA but we can still take you out."

It's not a coincidence that Megaupload was the first to be targeted by the US government. Kim (aka Kim Dotcom) had a flamboyant lifestyle and was not one to hide his massive wealth. However, because of Kim's arrest, other file-sharing sitesare now wary of the coming days such that they've enacted policies to protect themselves. Will that stop the US government? No one is sure. After all, Megaupload had already taken down its premium service--one of the reasons cited for its shut-down--a few months before the site's subsequent closure.

In the Philippines, there were some groups in the movie and music industries (akin to those in the US lobbying for the bills) that wanted local legislation similar to SOPA and PIPA. However, nothing came out of this. I guess after seeing the reaction of the world, none of them wanted to risk the ire of the local Internet community.

Still, I thought the damage had been done in the wake of the two recent events. Trying to figure out the Internet in relation to problems like online piracy will probably take forever to solve and hammer-headed proposals like SOPA and PIPA will always crop up. In the meantime, people who uploaded their files in Megaupload legitimately--their family pictures of their summer vacation, large work files that can't be sent via email, college theses sent to professors--all that data is now being threatened with deletion and it remains to be seen if the users can retrieve them.

It's this that sticks to my craw. Yes, I know how much data is temporary in today's Digital Age. But there's something so galling about the cavalier treatment of other people's property (even if it's just information) that turns it into collateral damage between an immovable object and an irresistible force.