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[sei]

There goes MegaUpload.

Here comes the onslaught of people switching to alternative DNS providers.

[Mongrel]

This is probably going to sound massively ignorant, but what's the normal default anyway?

I mean, I expect most folks don't even know it's something you can change (but they might learn soon!).

[Thad]

Well, in this case it appears to be the domain registrar itself that yanked the records, so it's not really open for an end-user fix.  (via torrentfreak)

That said, for a hypothetical case where it's blocked somewhere outside of the direct registration level:

This is probably going to sound massively ignorant, but what's the normal default anyway?

Your ISP.

I mean, I expect most folks don't even know it's something you can change (but they might learn soon!).

Yeah, it's trivial to change your nameservers.  Not as easy as grabbing a file from Megaupload, but probably easier than setting up BitTorrent.  (Much easier than using NZB's.)

But there's an even simpler fix: stick a "Bookmark this site" link at the top of your page and point it to the IP instead of the domain name.

[Mongrel]

For what it's worth, I discovered a neat way to host files of almost any size for free online and make them easily accessible: Google Docs.

Google docs will actually let you upload ANY kind of file, host it, and let you share it - not just "office"-like files. Including .zip files and other archive files. I think I may have had to re-name a file suffix at one point for executables (like saving a .exe file as .exe.txt and then the downloader deletes the .txt), but once I realized .zips are okay I put anything problematic in a .zip. And I think .exe might even okay now.

I haven't found any real size limits yet. Just tell gdocs not to try and convert the file. You may get some warnings about blah blah blah but they're irrelevant.

Not that that helps in this case (where a utility site that serves the whole globe has gone down), but it's good workaround for just sharing files personally.

[sei]

Well, in this case it appears to be the domain registrar itself that yanked the records, so it's not really open for an end-user fix.  (via torrentfreak)

You can, presently, still access it via OpenDNS.

[JDigital]

And then OpenDNS will be next.

[sei]

First they came for the pirates,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a pirate...

[Friday]

Then they came for the deaf/mutes

[Thad]

Universal is trying to bring down Megaupload.  Some major artists put together a pro-Megaupload song.

Which Universal gets removed from Youtube -- repeatedly -- under fraudulent copyright claims.

[Brentai]

Pretty sure YT already has the right to supend the claim privileges of anyone who abuses the system, which effectively equates to "Free Universal content for everybody for a month!"  As threats go that one's got the most teeth.

They'll never do it for obvious reasons, but in a fair society it's pre-fucking-cisely what would happen.

[Thad]

Judge gives Universal Music 24 hours to explain takedown spree

On Monday, Megaupload—doubtless relishing the opportunity to play copyright victim—filed a lawsuit in federal court against UMG for misuse of the DMCA takedown process. UMG, it said, is "abusing the DMCA takedown mechanism to chill free speech they do not like." It asked the court to declare that Megaupload had the right to post its video and to restrain UMG from submitting any more takedown notices.

But UMG apparently continued its takedown campaign, targeting an episode of Tech News Today that included a clip from the video in its coverage of the controversy. The host, Tom Merritt, says he filed a counter-notice under the DMCA, but as of Wednesday evening the show had not been restored. Under the DMCA, it will take 10 days for the video to go back up. "In 10 days a daily news show is worthless," he told the Verge, "so Universal was able to censor this episode of Tech News Today."

[Thad]

Universal Music Group has responded to Megaupload's request for a temporary restraining order barring the music giant from further interference with the distribution of its "Mega Song." UMG insists that it had a right to take down the video—not under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as Megaupload had assumed, but under a private contractual arrangement between UMG and YouTube.

UMG's filing raises more questions than it answers. Most obviously, the firm has not explained why it took down the video in the first place. But the filing also raises deeper questions about UMG's effort to essentially opt out of the DMCA takedown rules. UMG seems to believe it can take down videos even if it doesn't hold the copyright to them, and that when UMG takes a video down from YouTube, the owner of that video can't avail herself of even the weak protections against takedown abuse provided by the DMCA.

At this point it's all speculation, but what's in UMG's contract with Google that could justify the removal of a video where musicians criticize UMG -- and, even more importantly, a fucking NEWS SHOW about it?

[Shinra]

If I had to guess

UMG is trying to bait youtube into either giving them
a) unrestricted admin rights to youtube
-or-
b) blocking UMG's ability to report copyrighted content, opening up youtube to a massive corporate lawsuit

[Smiler]

I don't think they are trying option A, since they already have "the right to block or remove user-posted videos through YouTube's CMS based on a number of contractually specified criteria." Which apparently means "Whatever we don't like."

[Brentai]

So who wants to organize Everybody Draw Jean-Bernard Levy Day?

[Thad]

Decided to split the MegaUpload and SOPA stuff off to separate threads.  Thought of making one big Domain Seizure thread, but I figure they're separate enough to each carry a thread.

Anyway, latest seems to be that Google is denying Universal can take down whatever the fuck it wants.  Which shouldn't really be surprising.

[JDigital]

Megaupload's dead.

BUT I THOUGHT WE DEFEATED SOPA?! THANKS NOBAMA

[Mongrel]

Yeah, Megaupload has just been shut down.

This may actually be very bad timing for the pro-SOPA crowd though. One day after a protest meant to show the world what it would be like if sites get shut down for frivolous claims, they... shut a big site down for real.

[Mongrel]

So remember my post above about using Google docs as a workaround?

Now in my case, I think the only objectionable material I've uploaded is three or four songs that weren't already on YouTube. But imagine if enough file-sharing sites get shutdown that workarounds like this become much more commonly used?

Be funny to see them try and shut down Google (they probably would try).

The other things is that we're still in a world where the size of movies and even a few songs run up against attachment limits in things like forum posts, facebook messages, blog entries, etc. etc. A time will come when bandwidth and storage size make it so that you can stick pretty much any media anywhere.

[Thad]

Hm.  Wonder if they've got the money/stamina to fight it in court.  Certainly UMG's takedown notices on Youtube were verifiably illegal.