MegaUpload shut down. Hackers hit back.

[Heald]

Here is the thing it doesn't matter who shot first, you do not go around and deface and attack other people's property just because you think something wrong happened.

That's why I said I don't support it, but when legal avenues are exhausted (basically the industries have put their fingers in their ears, screaming that censoring the Internet is a price worth paying to ensure a few less people pirate stuff and continuing to defecate on the basic foundations of democracy by paying the government in order to legislate and enforce laws that no one supports) people are left with no other action but to take less legitimate avenues to vent their discontent.

For Megaupload, it doesn't matter how much of their traffic was legal, they were still dealing in illegal materials as well as other charges. Its like the crack dealer saying "Hey 50% of the stuff I sell is legal!" it doesn't matter.

The drug dealer analogy doesn't work, and personally I don't think you're stupid enough to really believe that it does. This is really no different to many other websites that make their money off content for which they do not have the copyrights nor have they sought the correct copyrights for (Youtube, ebaums, anime streaming websites etc.). Megaupload isn't even the worst offender, it is just the most high profile. This is just like the war on torrents, they went for the Pirate Bay but they lost that war because it was completely impractical and unenforceable to try and shut down every illegal torrent. I'm not saying it's right to let websites earn money off the hard work but paying the US government to make it so you can chase these people off isn't right to. This is why SOPA and PIPA is a big deal: the record and movie industries already have the US government on a leash, as the Megaupload shut down shows. SOPA and PIPA would just formalise the relationship between the two as the record and movie industries as master and the US government as attack dog. Furthermore, it would allow the industries to order the government to attack on command and on a balance of probabilities that favour the industries far more than it does now.

It comes down to a complete lack on the industries' part to adjust their business model for the digital age. On the whole, the video game industry has reacted remarkably well (perhaps because of the greater exposure the industry and their main customer base has to emerging technologies), since, despite a few high profile cock-ups (EA's minimum 3 installs, Ubisoft's always-on DRM, Half-Life 2's online activation) the industry has put in the work for providing a decent range of platforms that offer a much better alternative to pirating. Instead of spending all this money lobbying their US government, maybe the music and movie industries should invest that money into providing better services for their customers and lowering prices, so that people will want to buy product instead of pirate. In the UK, CD prices and movie ticket prices are astronomically expensive, and as a result stores that specialise in selling CDs and movies are going down the pan. The reason people aren't purchasing product isn't because they are pirating it, it is because it is too highly priced. Musicians that have taken themselves away from the record labels and actually marketing their product by themselves seem to do remarkably better as a result as you don't have a label taking most of your profits.

As for the Music Industry, it is still their product, they can throw a hissy fit all they want, it is their products being stolen. I know as a Game Designer if I saw one of the games I had spent years working on being downloaded illegally off the net I would be really pissed as well and want it shut down. Because that is not only a product I spent so much work and time making being stolen, but because by stealing it they are taking royalties away from me and my family.

It's a fact that one pirated download doesn't equal a lost sale, as much as the MPAA would like you to believe. Most people who pirate wouldn't buy the product if pirating wasn't an option. For every critic of the internet, you'll find as many supporters who enjoy the exposure that they gain through people sharing their work. It is noted that piracy can often lead to higher exposure and more sales of a product. To get to a point where people want to pirate your product, you must already be selling enough to gain that exposure. I'm not saying that it's right or ideal, but it's just being realistic. Just like a grocers who has to take into account the occasional smashed box of eggs or smashed bottle of milk, you have to take into account that if you decide to enter an industry where your product can be pirated and you should adapt your business model to reflect that. Realistically, nothing that is sensible or practical without enforcing a China-style internet blockade of everything but approved websites will stop pirating. Those that continue to bitch and whine about it while the rest of the pack does adjust their business models accordingly will be left in the dust.

[Roy Karrde]

The drug dealer analogy doesn't work, and personally I don't think you're stupid enough to really believe that it does. This is really no different to many other websites that make their money off content for which they do not have the copyrights nor have they sought the correct copyrights for (Youtube, ebaums, anime streaming websites etc.). Megaupload isn't even the worst offender, it is just the most high profile.

Yeah looking at what they are accused of its hard to say that they are the same as any of those websites. From money laundering to actually paying pirates to put up illegal materials they have gone way beyond Youtube and the rest.

It's a fact that one pirated download doesn't equal a lost sale, as much as the MPAA would like you to believe. Most people who pirate wouldn't buy the product if pirating wasn't an option. For every critic of the internet, you'll find as many supporters who enjoy the exposure that they gain through people sharing their work. It is noted that piracy can often lead to higher exposure and more sales of a product. To get to a point where people want to pirate your product, you must already be selling enough to gain that exposure. I'm not saying that it's right or ideal, but it's just being realistic. Just like a grocers who has to take into account the occasional smashed box of eggs or smashed bottle of milk, you have to take into account that if you decide to enter an industry where your product can be pirated and you should adapt your business model to reflect that. Realistically, nothing that is sensible or practical without enforcing a China-style internet blockade of everything but approved websites will stop pirating. Those that continue to bitch and whine about it while the rest of the pack does adjust their business models accordingly will be left in the dust.

I really couldn't care less about the MPAA and music, I am talking about the pirating of video games. In which even if a third of those pirated were to have bought the games, that could mean the difference between a designer receiving a bonus or not. Unlike the music and movie industry, those that make games are not filthy rich, and like it or not it is utterly ignorant to believe that everyone that pirates the game would not have gone out and bought it otherwise.

[Heald]

Yeah looking at what they are accused of its hard to say that they are the same as any of those websites. From money laundering to actually paying pirates to put up illegal materials they have gone way beyond Youtube and the rest.

I'm going to wait for the outcome of any trial before I make any judgements.

it is utterly ignorant to believe that everyone that pirates the game would not have gone out and bought it otherwise.

Ignorant isn't the right word here, and I never said everyone, just most, which really is the case. Most people who have the money to buy games will buy them, as games are pretty cheap comparatively speaking and the physical, legitimate copy is much better than the pirated copy, meaning its worth paying the dough. Not many people pirate INSTEAD of parting with cash, if someone wants to play a game bad enough, they will buy it. Those who do pirate are do so because they don't feel like parting with the money, and before downloading big files over the internet became viable people avoided purchasing in other ways (ripping CDs, borrowing/lending games, renting etc.). It is completely naive to believe shutting down the big file-sharing websites will provide any kind of boost to video game sales.

[Roy Karrde]

I'm going to wait for the outcome of any trial before I make any judgements.

Fair enough but until then the argument that they are just like Youtube does not really float.

Ignorant isn't the right word here, and I never said everyone, just most, which really is the case. Most people who have the money to buy games will buy them, as games are pretty cheap comparatively speaking and the physical, legitimate copy is much better than the pirated copy, meaning its worth paying the dough. Not many people pirate INSTEAD of parting with cash, if someone wants to play a game bad enough, they will buy it. Those who do pirate are do so because they don't feel like parting with the money, and before downloading big files over the internet became viable people avoided purchasing in other ways (ripping CDs, borrowing/lending games, renting etc.). It is completely naive to believe shutting down the big file-sharing websites will provide any kind of boost to video game sales.

It probably will, again will everyone buy the game that pirates? No probably not. But even a third, even a tenth that buys it, is money going back to the developers who worked long and hard on it. Not to mention there is a bit of a disrespect factor going in. Again like I said personally if I saw people downloading it, a product I had worked on for years, I would be pissed. As I don't know if you are going to buy it or not, no one is a mind reader in that. But either way by downloading it and not buying it, you are disrespecting all the people who worked on it, and for some, taking money that should rightfully go to them.

[Heald]

It probably will, again will everyone buy the game that pirates? No probably not. But even a third, even a tenth that buys it, is money going back to the developers who worked long and hard on it. Not to mention there is a bit of a disrespect factor going in. Again like I said personally if I saw people downloading it, a product I had worked on for years, I would be pissed. As I don't know if you are going to buy it or not, no one is a mind reader in that. But either way by downloading it and not buying it, you are disrespecting all the people who worked on it, and for some, taking money that should rightfully go to them.

You ignore the factor that piracy helps sales, in that the pirates who download it do, in a lot of cases, either buy the game itself, encourage others to buy the game through word of mouth or will buy sequels or other games made by the publisher. Many games developers recognise this positive effect piracy has, and I imagine any increase in sales brought about by the elimination of piracy will be offset by the sales that piracy generates.

Piracy is good for sales, say Devs

Yes, in an ideal world piracy wouldn't exist, but it does, and developers cannot pretend that there is any practical solution to it, or that it has any significant effect on sales in real terms (at least, significant in that it is worth investing the amount of money they are investing into stopping piracy relative to the amount of actual lost sales). Piracy generates free publicity of the variety that you'd normally need to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to achieve.