NEW YORK TIMES: Federal prosecutors in Virginia say they have shut down one of the world’s largest Internet file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, and charged its founder and others with violating piracy laws. An indictment accuses the company of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed Thursday [and] says that at one point, Megaupload was the 13th most popular Web site in the world. MORE
RELATED: Spearheaded by CEO Swizz Beatz, Megaupload has issued a counter lawsuit against Universal Music Group to stop the record label from interfering with their promotional videos. Swizz Beatz teamed up with a few friends in music business including Diddy, Kanye West, Will.i.am, Chris Brown, The Game, Alicia Keys, and many more to create a promotional video for his Megaupload service. The 4 minute video got a few of his friends into trouble with Universal Music Group, namely Kanye West, Wil.i.am, and Diddy. UMG issued a “take-down” report to YouTube for the video claiming that the 3 previously mentioned artist’s performances were not authorized. Amidst all of the SOPA talk circulating around the web today, it was revealed that Swizz Beatz was the CEO of file uploading/sharing service Megaupload, and that he was taking action against Universal Music Group to prevent the label from interfering with his promotional Megaupload videos. MORE