I have a few thoughts about takedown of M3gaUp10ad and (entirely expected and predictable) juvenile (at best) response from An0nym0u5. As an actual exercise of free speech under the First Amendment based upon actual facts instead of just ideology, and in no particular order:
- The takedown of M3gaUp10ad in this instance demonstrates precisely why there is no need for SOPA, for PIPA, or for any of the other content-distributor-proposed "enhancements". It also demonstrates why the overemphasis on distributors as a proxy for the actual creators of copyrighted material is so silly.
In particular, I note that none of the public statements have acknowledged M3gaUp10ad's prominence in storing and distributing pirated audiobooks and pirated texts. That's probably because the actual holders of those copyrights can't afford to own (or rent) sufficiently-highly-placed gummint officials... and because H'wood and N'ville have been so much more vocal in their misuse of foundationless numbers to convince people that the problem is serious.
- Arrrrrrrrrgh! Polly wanna finger!
Parrotting someone else's original expression has almost nothing to do with free speech. Those who care about free speech will engage in their own original expression... and thereby avoid copyright piracy in the first place. Whether a particular "reuse" is "transformative enough" is an issue of fact that must be decided "reuse" by "reuse" — but that's not what we're dealing with here. It may be what SOPA/PIPA wants to deal with, though.
- This is not my first notice of one or more of the founders of M3gaUp10ad as pirates and enablers of pirates. Let's just say that I'm satisfied now (and was satisfied then) with admissible evidence — that later events made unnecessary due to other legal maneuvering — that one or more of the persons indicted was/is a pirate regarding text copyrights I've been involved in protecting over the years.
- This is a preemptive counternotification against any attempt to shut down this blawg on the basis of any of the above: I've got documentation supporting each and every statement. And the blawg is hosted on a Google subsidiary. And Google is one of the major opponents of SOPA and PIPA.
Of course, if this preemptive counternotification doesn't work, that is perhaps the best evidence that SOPA and PIPA and their ilk constitute an abuse of power!