SOPA Protests Result in Political Backpedaling > Google anti-SOPA/PIPA actions will disappear soon

wasn't megauploads just shut down. This was done without SOPA. SOPA simply removes due process.

I don't know of anyone against copyright protection... but this is not the problem with SOPA. The issue is that it removes due process.

MegaUploads was blocked because the Entertainment industry claimed they had an infringing video on their site that contained a number of high profile artists in it. However, it was MegaUpload who produced the video and had paid the artists to appear in it. The Entertainment industry had no ownership of the video, but still had MegaUpload blocked for a day or two, and disrupted MegaUpload's business, without even validating that any copyright infringement had actually occurred, and without following legal due process.

MegaUpload is a legit site.

But the government asserts that Megaupload merely wanted the veneer of legitimacy, while its employees knew full well that the site's main use was to distribute infringing content. Indeed, the government points to numerous internal e-mails and chat logs from employees showing that they were aware of copyrighted material on the site and even shared it with each other. Because of this, the government says that the site does not qualify for a “safe harbor” of the kind that protected YouTube from Viacom's $1 billion lawsuit.

For instance, the “abuse tool” allegedly does not remove the actual file being complained about by a rightsholder. Instead, it only removes a specific Web address linked to that file—but there might be hundreds of such addresses for popular content.

Employees also had access to analytics. One report showed that a specific linking site had “produce[d] 164,214 visits to Megaupload for a download of the copyrighted CD/DVD burning software package Nero Suite 10. The software package had the suggested retail price of $99.” The government's conclusion: Megaupload knew what was happening and did little to stop it.