[dekz]

  > MegaUpload was designed for sharing.   

So it youtube, I don't see your point here.

  > Notice it's a somewhat easily searchable space.  

What is shady/illegal about this? 8 Characters are memorable and easily accessible. Just because someone puts their wallet in their handbag doesn't give me the right to take it if I can.

It would be nonsensical to store two copies of the same file as a service like MU or Dropbox. That file might legitimately be owned by user A and illegitimately owned by user B. Just because a DMCA takedown request was filed against user B's link doesn't mean user A should lose their legitimately owned file. This is analogous to someone storing stolen cash in a bank. Just because there was a stolen $20 in the vault, doesn't mean all $20 notes in the bank are stolen.

It will be interesting to see the outcomes of these events, it may make me lose all faith in humanity.

[powertower]

> What is shady/illegal about this?

In of itself? Nothing.

In combination with all other factors. Everything.

> Just because a DMCA takedown request was filed against user B's link doesn't mean user A should lose their legitimately owned file.

As a copyright holder, that's not my problem that 1 in a million decided to upload some questionable copy of my work to a publicly accessible pseudo-sharing site that violates my copyright over and over and over again.

If you upload it to MU, then cry to someone else when that same criminal enterprise gets shut down and you lose the one copy you had.

Your right weren’t violated. Mine were.

Anyone crying about this is just playing a victim card here after making a bad decision. Or can't come to grips with reality after assuming that since copyright infringement is so easy to do, it must not be a bad thing to do, and it must be part of your entitlement.

[dekz]

But as a copyright holder do you have the right to take my legitimate, bought and paid for copy down?

I know of someone who may or may not have used a site like UU to get recent episodes of the show X. Once UU stopped sharing links, this person looked for other ways to get the recent episodes of X. She tried purchasing them from iTunes, but to no avail; She tried purchasing from Amazon Streaming but to no avail. Her only option is to wait for the DVD to come out or pirate.

There is a case where money is lost due to piracy. The answer is not to sue the pirates but to provide distribution methods.

[anamax]

>If you upload it to MU, then cry to someone else when that same criminal enterprise gets shut down and you lose the one copy you had.

> Your right weren’t violated. Mine were.

Actually, mine were. I bought a copy and you destroyed it.

You keep claiming that I deserve to lose the copy that I bought because Megaload may have paid someone else to upload copyrighted content. Exactly how was I supposed to know this? (Hint - at a mininum, you need to point to a public announcement by Megaupload to this effect.)

[powertower]

Since you like analogies, look at it this way...

You drove to the Ghetto and threw your only copy into a crack house. That crack house got raided, shut down, sealed off.

You took that copy away from yourself. It's your problem. Not mine. Cry to someone else about your rights.

[devicenull]

How exactly was your average user supposed to know that MU was anything less then legitimate?