Why the Shutdown of Megauploads is and is not Bullshit

Shutting down Megauploads is bullshit because they are essentially only cloud storage. Amazon provides cloud storage too, and I bet they have plenty of copyrighted materials in there. But Amazon is on the too big to indict list of corporations. They participate in good old fashioned commerce that we all understand and do not irrationally fear.

Two, since when are you responsible for what someone does in the space you rent out? If I rented a storage area and put my murder victims in it, the person who rented me the storage space is not responsible. If I rent a house to a guy and he smokes pot in it, you can’t bust me for drug possession. Welcome to the new oligarchy. If your small company is becoming my competition, I will use the state to squash you.

And why is the shutdown of Megauploads not bullshit? Did you really think this was going to go on unchecked? It’s one thing to use torrents where it requires some kind of very limited technical expertise, or some other type of double-blind like emule. But search, find, and download copyrighted material straight from the web? You knew that was going away, right?