(Here, let me get that for you, Youtube.)
Popular file-hosting site Megaupload is suing media giant Universal for wrongfully removing a Megaupload-produced pop video from Youtube. The infomercial song, which is easily found online despite the ban, features many prominent musicians like Snoop Dogg and Kanye West, some of whom work under Universal’s UMG label.
“Let us be clear: Nothing in our song or the video belongs to Universal Music Group. We have signed agreements with all artists endorsing Megaupload,” says Megaupload CEO David Robb. Yet despite this, “Efforts to reach out to UMG and open a dialog about this abuse of the DMCA process were answered with unfounded and baseless legal threats and demands for an apology.”
Alongside the litigation which was filed today, Universal’s misstep also prompted Megaupload to enter the heated SOPA debate, sounding a call to arms for anyone interested in saving the sanctity of the Internet.
SOPA, if you didn’t already know, is the latest attempt by US Lawmakers to completely redefine the way the internet works just to protect a few obsolete business models. This bill is by no means the first attempt to stifle the Internet, and even if the censorship legislation does get shut down (fingers crossed), we’ll most certainly see far worse bills coming down the pipe.
Modern day revolutions, like Occupy and the Arab Spring, depend upon an open Internet to exchange radical ideas, rally the troops and mobilize the masses into action. Without this vital unfettered flow of information, uprisings could unravel before they even begin.
This is why we must fight tooth and nail to prevent our free Internet from falling under the rule of bureaucratic tyrants. If draconian bills like SOPA are ever allowed to pass, those of us trying to build a free world will find one more giant mountain in our way – and we already have enough to do as is!
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UPDATE: Esteemed Harvard constitutional law Professor Lawrence Tribe just released a damning memo declaring SOPA to be unconstitutional. Hazaa!
UPDATE x2: Thinktank CATO weighs in on the issue.
