Now that MegaUpload has been destroyed and millions of users with legitimate files have lost them, what becomes of the Cloud?
Megaupload situation has shown that the United States can attack just about any website, anywhere in the world and shut it down. This is long before a case has gone to trial and anyone has been proven guilty. Now we feel that massive companies such as Google and Microsoft are beyond the reach of the Feds, but is that enough to trust these services? Safe Haven protection and the ability for content companies to complain and remove files is no longer enough, or at least no longer a factor when your directors can be targeted and by extension the firm can be shut down. Do we know that the directors of Google aren't involved in some form of insider trading or laundering that passes some portion of these funds through Google? How would we know until it hit the news? Because by the logic of Megaupload if that were the case Google could be shut down and its assets all seized. And what about ICT investment? Would you invest in a business now that allowed or required user submissions whether images, files or video? This is 2012 and user engagement and interaction is a major part of any website and project moving forward. But how can an investor countenance putting money behind such a project? Do you really really know every director on that startup team and what they are doing? In my view what happened with Megaupload is a complete catastrophe for the web, that isn't really being covered by the tech press. I could care less what the founder of Megaupload, or some of his employees did. Prosecute them separately. Megaupload was not a Piratebay, or a videoninja. It was far far more than that, and bigger than that. We are losing our privacy, we are losing our rights on the Internet including fair use. All to enrich the United States' RIAA/MPAA businesses. This isn't right. And in my view it affects everyone in IT. From the developer, to the investor, the business owner, the designer. Everything is affected by these draconian acts. And before anyone talks about "picking" on the United States. It is the ONLY country bringing forward these draconian and destructive laws such as ACTA, PIPA, TPP and SOPA. and it is the ONLY country forcing others to sign on and to alter their copyright laws to conform to its own standards. No other country is attempting to do this. So yes, this is coming from the United States, and it is the US at fault here for this type of response to the changing landscape of the Internet. The question is what can the rest of the world do about it? what can Americans do about it? If even a quarter of what Megaupload's founder is accused of doing is true then they are certainly poor choices as poster child for an industry, but it is what it is. This debate has started on the internet, and I believe it's a very important one. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:346179 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
