Re: Megaupload.com seized

[Steven Bellovin <smb () cs columbia edu>]

On Jan 19, 2012, at 10:07 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote:

> I would agree.  They've dotted every i and crossed every t here.
>
> This will inevitably be followed by a prosecution of some sort and/or
> there's also scope for Megaupload to sue the USG for restitution.
>
> It'll be interesting to see how this pans out - especially wrt any
> safe harbor provisions in the DMCA for providers (which do have a
> provision for due diligence being exercised etc).


Note this from the NY Times article:

        The Megaupload case is unusual, said Orin S. Kerr, a law professor 
        at George Washington University, in that federal prosecutors obtained 
        the private e-mails of Megaupload’s operators in an effort to show they 
        were operating in bad faith.

        "The government hopes to use their private words against them," Mr. Kerr 
        said. "This should scare the owners and operators of similar sites."

And see 17 USC 512(c)(1)(A) (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/512.html)
for why that's significant.

                --Steve Bellovin, https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb