Why you should be outraged about the MegaUpload arrests

Popular file-sharing website Megaupload shut down:

Normally, when the internet as a whole is outraged about something, I’m usually the first person to piss on the internet’s Cheerios. Now, being the grim spectre of truth that I am, I’m going to tell you why you should be outraged over the arrests of the MegaUpload officials.

For those of you not familiar with MegaUpload it was a site where you could share large files with someone. For example, my brother and I are working on a project we hope to put on YouTube. He records the video and I edit it. Since he’s in New England, and I’m in the South, a site like MegaUpload could have helped us in getting the large video files to each other. Of course, some of the users of MegaUpload used it to trade pirated materials such as copyrighted music and movies.

Yesterday, the Department of Justice arranged to not only have MegaUpload.com shut down, but they’ve had most of the company officials arrested. In their indictments, they say that MegaUpload has cost copyright holders five hundred million dollars. That’s $500,000,000.

Here’s why you should be outraged. The company officials that have been arrested were arrested in New Zealand. Last time I checked, New Zealand was not a U.S. possession. Not only that, but the arrestees have been denied bail.

Let me break this down for you. This is obviously being fueled by the RIAA and the MPAA. I mean, how else would the DOJ come up with such an arbitrary number as $500M? Apparently, those groups are powerful enough to have their tentacles in the governments of two different countries.

If the crime was something along the lines of murder, the international extradition would be tied up in red tape for years. For example, take the case of Ira Einhorn. In the late 1970s, he killed his girlfriend Holly Maddux. He fled to France before he could be arrested. He was finally arrested in France in 1997, but France wouldn’t extradite him to the U.S. until the death penalty was taken off the table. He was finally brought to the states in 2002 after the US acquiesced to France’s demand, and he wasn’t even a French citizen.

Now, New Zealand is more than happy to ship some of its citizens to America in the express lane over file sharing. This is a massive abuse of power. The manpower and money being used to bring these people to the US could be better used at home to capture murderers, rapists, child molesters, and human traffickers. Instead, the DOJ shows that it’s in the back pocket of entertainment lobbyists.

Here’s your true global conspiracy.