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Friday 20 January 10:27 a.m.
One of the world's largest file-sharing sites was shut down
this morning, its founder arrested in Auckland, and several company
executives charged with violating piracy laws, US federal prosecutors
said.
Megaupload.com has been accused
of costing copyright holders more than US$500 million in lost revenue
from pirated films and other content.
The Justice Department said in a statement said that Kim
Dotcom, formerly known as Kim Schmitz, and three others were arrested
Friday morning north of Auckland at the request of US officials. Two
other people associated with the site are still to be arrested.
Dotcom lives at the Chrisco mansion in Coatesville, north of Auckland, which he rents as his application to buy it was declined.
Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and
the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had support from
celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often
the victims of copyright infringement and piracy.
In December, several high-profile artists including Kanye
West, Will.I.Am, P Diddy, Chris Brown and Alicia Keys starred in a
music video in support of Megaupload.
Universal Music had it taken down, but Megaupload filed a
lawsuit arguing the video was not owned by Universal, and YouTube
reinstated the video.
The Hong Kong-based company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO.
Before the site was taken down, it posted a statement saying
allegations against it were
"grotesquely overblown".
"The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's internet traffic
is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would
like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a
dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch," the statement
said.
3News & The Edge