News: Meagupload.com Shut Down in Massive Operation by US

One of the biggest file sharing sites in the world Megaupload was shut down and taken off air by US authorities subsequent to a court order in Virginia. The domain Megaupload.com and its other sub domains have been seized although one cannot see a DMCA like notice on the page. At this moment, the page simply fails to load. The founder of the site, Kim Dotcom, has been arrested in New Zealand following a notice by US law enforcement authorities on Friday.

Megaupload, the site in question, has been accused of copyright infringement along with other miscellaneous charges, including money laundering. All of Kim Dotcom’s property has been seized which reportedly includes a wide collection of luxury and sports cars. In addition, Megaupload’s data centers have also been busted in various parts of the world.

According to the US Department of Justice, the founder and co-founders (three of whom are still at large) face criminal copyright infringement charges and face a sentencing of 5 years in prison, which could be extended to 25 years if the money laundering cases against him are proven.

Social Hacker group (aka. Hacktivists) ‘Anomymous’ are calling this the single biggest attack on the internet in recent times. This ‘attack’ comes on the sidelines of the blackout day protests against SOPA against which Anonymous has already been active. But these recent events bring up more questions than answers. What about similar file sharing services such as Dropbox? Will they suffer a similar fate? Why should they not? How are they any different from Megaupload?