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On Thursday, the U.S. Government shut down Megaupload, the thirteenth most popular website on the Internet, due to its hand in distributing copyrighted content illegally. It is estimated by investigators that Megaupload earned over $175 million in subscriptions and ad revenue, but cost copyright holders—the producers and distributors of music and movies, for example—in excess of $500 million. The website was shut down and half a dozen of its executives indicted on criminal charges, with the notable exception of founder Kaseem “Swizz Beatz” Dean. Anonymous is not happy about the shutdown. Within hours of Megaupload going dark, the Justice Department’s website began to experience excessive levels of traffic, culminating in it going offline. Anonymous has claimed responsibility, stating that it was a distributed denial of service attack. Further, they have taken credit for other attacks on the websites of Universal Music, the RIAA, and the MPAA, all in response to Megaupload’s shutdown. 
By Shelby Reiches |