Swizz Beatz's Megaupload Site Shut Down by Feds
Megaupload, one of the most popular file sharing sites on the web, was shut down after it was accused of facilitating millions of illegal downloads of film, music and other content. Superstar Swizz Beatz was cast down by UMG for using their artist's likeness without permission, sparking the Feds to look into the situation.
A federal indictment accused Megaupload of costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue. The indictment was unsealed just one day after many popular websites shut down to protest SOPA and PIPA, which intended to make it easier for authorities to go after sites with pirated material.
Before it was shut down Megaupload issued a statement on their website, saying "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."
Megaupload was estimated to be at the 13th most visited site on the web, but companies that companies that monitor Web traffic place it in the top 100. It was popular, due to the fact that users could share files that were too large to send by email, but the Motion Picture Association of America estimated that majority of the content was violating copyright laws.
Source: huffingtonpost.com
