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MegaUpload.com, one of the world's most popular file-sharing Web sites has been shut down by the U.S. government. The U.S. Justice Department cited the Web site for allegedly violating piracy laws. Police arrested MegaUpload.com's co-founders along with two other staff members in New Zealand.
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Police in the New Zealand's city of Auckland, working with U.S. authorities detained the Web site's co-founders Kim Dotcom, also known as Kim Shmitz, and Mathias Ortmann, in addition to the Web site's chief marketing officer, Finn Batato, after a raid on a luxury mansion. Bram Van der Kolk, a Dutch national, was also arrested.
The four suspects appeared in Auckland's North Shore District Court and made applications for bail. Judge David McNaughton remanded them in custody until Monday of this upcoming week.
New Zealand Detective Inspector Grant Wormald said that after about 70 police raided 10 properties connected to those arrested, they "seized in excess of $6 million worth of top end motor vehicles and over $10 million in cash from several New Zealand finance companies."
Wormald also said that Dotcom, a 37-year-old German national, has been held on "warrants relating to breach of copyright offences in the U.S., money laundering and racketeering."
Property Lawyer Rick Shera says that this was the first time New Zealand had taken action to extradite an overseas person to the U.S. for Internet copyright infringement.
Dubbed by some prosecutors as Mega Conspiracy, MegaUpload was accused of engaging in a scam that cost copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue and of generating over $175 million in proceeds from subscriptions and advertising.
U.S. Justice Department officials said that the estimate of $500 million in economic harm to copyright holders was on the low end -- and was probably significantly even worse.
If the suspects are convicted, the maximum penalties would be 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit racketeering and money laundering, five years for each count of copyright infringement and five years for conspiracy to commit copyright infringement.
Critics of the U.S. Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, and Protect IP Act, quickly showed their opposition to the shutdown of Megaupload.com, with hackers attacking the public Web sites of the U.S. Justice Department, the world's largest music company Universal Music, and the two big trade groups that represent the music and film industries.
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Police in the New Zealand's city of Auckland, working with U.S. authorities detained the Web site's co-founders Kim Dotcom, also known as Kim Shmitz, and Mathias Ortmann, in addition to the Web site's chief marketing officer, Finn Batato, after a raid on a luxury mansion. Bram Van der Kolk, a Dutch national, was also arrested.
The four suspects appeared in Auckland's North Shore District Court and made applications for bail. Judge David McNaughton remanded them in custody until Monday of this upcoming week.
New Zealand Detective Inspector Grant Wormald said that after about 70 police raided 10 properties connected to those arrested, they "seized in excess of $6 million worth of top end motor vehicles and over $10 million in cash from several New Zealand finance companies."
Wormald also said that Dotcom, a 37-year-old German national, has been held on "warrants relating to breach of copyright offences in the U.S., money laundering and racketeering."
Property Lawyer Rick Shera says that this was the first time New Zealand had taken action to extradite an overseas person to the U.S. for Internet copyright infringement.
Dubbed by some prosecutors as Mega Conspiracy, MegaUpload was accused of engaging in a scam that cost copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue and of generating over $175 million in proceeds from subscriptions and advertising.
U.S. Justice Department officials said that the estimate of $500 million in economic harm to copyright holders was on the low end -- and was probably significantly even worse.
If the suspects are convicted, the maximum penalties would be 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit racketeering and money laundering, five years for each count of copyright infringement and five years for conspiracy to commit copyright infringement.
Critics of the U.S. Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, and Protect IP Act, quickly showed their opposition to the shutdown of Megaupload.com, with hackers attacking the public Web sites of the U.S. Justice Department, the world's largest music company Universal Music, and the two big trade groups that represent the music and film industries.
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