It seems like a huge federal over-reach. I mean they even charged the guy that did the graphics for the website with serious crimes.
I don't see these cases going that far with a jury. It's pretty much legal doctrine that a webhost isn't responsible for what people upload to the website if the owner at least tries to enforce the rules to remove the infringing content when they're made aware of it. There's no way they can prove that Megaupload was designed for piracy. This is why the guy that owns Napster never went to jail.
Taking down Megaupload may seem like a minor victory for them. But it's like chopping off the head of a Hydra, three more will re-appear in its place. I used them once in a while, but there's like six other hosts that are more popular now, not to mention torrents. Note, I mainly used Megaupload for things that weren't commercially available, like cartoon episodes not released on DVD.
The SOPA/PIPA thing is officially dead though. When you have Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich saying the law is against freedom or whatever in a Republican debate, you know it's over. The only thing that kind of surprised me about this whole thing was how much of a tool Chris Dodd is now. He went from doing good things to reform Wall Street to being the head of the MPAA spear-heading this insanely ridiculous law. Definitely the definition of a sell out.
