US officials close down Megaupload filesharing website
Megaupload, one of the internet's largest illegal file-sharing sites, has been shut down by officials in the US, reports the BBC.
The site's founders have been charged with violating piracy laws and arrested.
According to prosecutors, Megaupload cheated copyright holders out of more than $500m (£320m) in lost revenue. The firm says it was diligent in responding to complaints about pirated material.
In response, the hackers group Anonymous has targeted the FBI and US Department of Justice websites.
The US Justice Department told the BBC that Megaupload's two co-founders Kim Dotcom, formerly known as Kim Schmitz, and Mathias Ortmann were arrested in Auckland, New Zealand along with two other employees of the business at the request of US officials.
It added that three other defendants were still at large.
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Comments
While I can sympathize with the artists, they are the creators after all, it is hard to see how the U.S. can just have someone arrested in another country. Preventing pirating is important as long as it doesn't lead to total invasion of personal and private lives on the Internet.
It is never a good thing to have the unbeatable U.S. government act as if they are the rulers of the world and control what people do on the Internet.