US DOJ Claims It Did Not Entrap Megaupload

angry tapir writes "The U.S. Department of Justice did not mislead a court and attempt to entrap file storage site Megaupload on copyright infringement charges, the agency said in a new filing in the case. Megaupload's charges that the DOJ conspired to entrap the site on criminal copyright charges are 'baseless,' an official with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia wrote in a court document filed last week. Earlier this month, Megaupload filed court documents saying that in 2010 the DOJ asked the site, through its hosting vendor, to keep infringing files as part of a DOJ investigation, then later charged Megaupload with copyright infringement."

He said/She said

[gabereiser]

Only the logs will tell... Wasn't the claim by Kim Dotcom that the DOJ requested to host on his network files pertaining to copyright infringement and then, a year or so later, busted him for copyright infringement and took his network down? His smoking gun is the communiqué between his company and the DOJ and the log files of said uploads and access, which are on the servers the DOJ took, which are probably no longer there... ...and the cycle continues. Honestly if I was on that jury I would acquit due to lack of undeniable evidence... Yes, megaupload servers hosted some copyright infringement material, is Megaupload responsible? Absolutely not, unless they themselves uploaded the content. It was written in the user agreement NOT to use the service for hosting of copyright material so it's a matter of finding the users responsible and punish them... oh, sorry, right, that would require actual detective work, of which the DOJ has forgotten how to do.

They had to have

[metrix007]

There was no due process involved in that case. If the court was not misled, then the court is corrupt and had knowledge of what was going on when the warrants were issued.

Atrocious.

US DOJ

[Anonymous Coward]

Didn't follow the damm law either.

if you wan't to fight crime i think you need to start in your own ranks first. Everyone involved in this little episode of illegality deserves to goto jail.

It's ironic the biggest criminals in this case... Were the people making the case. Broke actual long standing laws internationally. Not iffy 'infringment' things you could argue either way.

The government lies and gets caught all the time

[Anonymous Coward]

The government lies and gets caught all the time. There is almost zero recourse for it.

Here is as much recourse as I have ever seen and I have looked:

http://www.v-serv.com/usr/ATFE-03-16-09.pdf

JJ

But, then they would say so.

[mbone]

This is a non-event - prosecutors basically never admit error, until they are forced to.

On this subject, there is a White House petition to Remove United States District Attorney Carmen Ortiz from office for overreach in the case of Aaron Swartz [whitehouse.gov].

Re:You LIE DoJ

[gmuslera]

The difference is minimal... offenders of imaginary property are jailed in, rich and powerful are bailed out. See? Barely any difference.

Re:Huh?

[BitterOak]

Maybe. It depends on how clear the DOJ was. The DOJ asks companies to continue hosting forums for instance related to very bad stuff all the time. They aren't just continue to preserve the data. They are asking the companies to keep the forums up so that there investigation can continue unhampered by what otherwise the law requires them to take down.

If that's the case, and the DOJ asked Megaupload to break the law by continuing to share copyrighted materials after a DMCA notice was given, then Megaupload should have demanded the DOJ put their request in writing, and if the DOJ refused, they should have complied with the law and stopped sharing the files. If the DOJ put their request in writing, then Megaupload would be protected now.

Re:Huh?

[Charliemopps]

You studied a case where the DA was stupid enough to submit it as evidence and then the defendant got a good lawyer and fought it. The way that game usually goes is the DA pulls his stunt, plays the tape back for the defendant, then leaves the room... the cops come in and offer a deal for a full confession which the accused who usually has an IQ of 90 takes in panic while the DA's out in the hall throwing his original tape in the trash. As long as the DA and arresting officer are buddies no-ones the wiser.

Re:Huh?

[fredprado]

There is no proof of that. Even after illegally seizing all their servers the DOJ was unable of finding real evidence of what you are claiming. The proof of that is that DOJ abandoned the case, which would never have happened if they had any real evidence.