MegaUpload closed. Who’s next?

Well, bad news for posters and other users. Here http:/fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/justice-department-charges-leaders-of-megaupload-with-widespread-online-copyright-infringement you may read about MegaUpload closing. Below the full text of the post:

“WASHINGTON—Seven individuals and two corporations have been charged in the United States with running an international organized criminal enterprise allegedly responsible for massive worldwide online piracy of numerous types of copyrighted works through Megaupload.com and other related sites, generating more than $175 million in criminal proceeds and causing more than half a billion dollars in harm to copyright owners, the U.S. Justice Department and FBI announced today.

The individuals and two corporations — Megaupload Limited and Vestor Limited — were indicted by a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia on Jan. 5, 2012, and charged with engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, conspiring to commit copyright infringement, conspiring to commit money laundering, and two substantive counts of criminal copyright infringement. The individuals each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the charge of conspiracy to commit racketeering, five years in prison on the charge of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, 20 years in prison on the charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and five years in prison on each of the substantive charges of criminal copyright infringement.

The indictment alleges that the criminal enterprise is led by Kim Dotcom, aka Kim Schmitz, and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, 37, a resident of both Hong Kong and New Zealand. Dotcom founded Megaupload Limited and is the director and sole shareholder of Vestor Limited, which has been used to hold his ownership interests in the Mega-affiliated sites.
Also, the following alleged members of the Mega conspiracy were charged in the indictment:
Finn Batato, 38, a citizen and resident of Germany, who is the chief marketing officer; Julius Bencko, 35, a citizen and resident of Slovakia, who is the graphic designer; Sven Echternach, 39, a citizen and resident of Germany, who is the head of business development; Mathias Ortmann, 40, a citizen of Germany and resident of both Germany and Hong Kong, who is the chief technical officer, co-founder and director; Andrus Nomm, 32, a citizen of Estonia and resident of both Turkey and Estonia, who is a software programmer and head of the development software division; Bram van der Kolk, aka Bramos, 29, a Dutch citizen and resident of both the Netherlands and New Zealand, who oversees programming and the underlying network structure for the Mega conspiracy websites. Dotcom, Batato, Ortmann, and van der Kolk were arrested today in Auckland, New Zealand, by New Zealand authorities, who executed provisional arrest warrants requested by the United States. Bencko, Echternach, and Nomm remain at large. Today, law enforcement also executed more than 20 search warrants in the United States and eight countries, seized approximately $50 million in assets, and targeted sites where Megaupload has servers in Ashburn, Va., Washington, D.C., the Netherlands, and Canada. Also, the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., ordered the seizure of 18 domain names associated with the alleged Mega conspiracy.
According to the indictment, for more than five years the conspiracy has operated websites that unlawfully reproduce and distribute infringing copies of copyrighted works, including movies—often before their theatrical release—music, television programs, electronic books, and business and entertainment software on a massive scale. The conspirators’ content hosting site, Megaupload.com, is advertised as having more than one billion visits to the site, more than 150 million registered users, 50 million daily visitors, and accounting for four percent of the total traffic on the Internet. The estimated harm caused by the conspiracy’s criminal conduct to copyright holders is well in excess of $500 million. The conspirators allegedly earned more than $175 million in illegal profits through advertising revenue and selling premium memberships.”

By the wat it’s interesting to know what assets were seized from MegaUpload owners. Here is the post from gizmodo.com and pictures from jalopnik.com, which were made during the seizure of assets:

“2010 Maserati GranCabrio, VIN ZAMKM45B000051328, License PlateNo. “M-FB 212” or “DH-GC 470”, registered to FINN BATATO.
2009 Mercedes-Benz E500 Coupe, VIN WDD20737225019582, LicensePlate No. “FEG690”
2005 Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM, VIN WDB2093422F165517, LicensePlate No. “GOOD”
2004 Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM AMG 5.5L Kompressor, VINWDB2093422F166073, License Plate No. “EVIL”
2010 Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG L, VIN WDD2211792A324354, LicensePlate No. “CEO”
2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drop Head Coupe, VINSCA2D68096UH07049; License Plate No. “GOD”.
2010 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, VIN WDD2120772A103834, LicensePlate No. “STONED”.
2010 Mini Cooper S Coupe, VIN WMWZG32000TZ03651, License PlateNo. “V”.
2010 Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG, VIN WDC1641772A608055, LicensePlate No. “GUILTY”;
2007 Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG, VIN WDD2163792A025130, LicensePlate No. “KIMCOM”;
2009 Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG, VIN WDC1641772A542449, LicensePlate No. “MAFIA”;
2010 Toyota Vellfire, VIN 7AT0H65MX11041670, License Plate Nos.”WOW” or “7”;
2011 Mercedes-Benz G55 AMG, VIN WDB4632702X193395, LicensePlate Nos. “POLICE” or “GDS672”;
2011 Toyota Hilux, VIN MR0FZ29G001599926, License PlateNo. “FSN455”;
Harley Davidson Motorcycle, VIN 1HD1HPH3XBC803936, LicensePlate No. “36YED”;
2010 Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG, VIN WDD2163742A026653, LicensePlate No. “HACKER”;
2005 Mercedes-Benz A170, VIN WDD1690322J184595, License PlateNo. “FUR252”;
2005 Mercedes-Benz ML500, VIN WDC1641752A026107, License PlateNo. DFF816;
1957 Cadillac El Dorado, VIN 5770137596;
2010 Sea-Doo GTX Jet Ski, VIN YDV03103E010;
1959 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible, VIN 59F115669;
Von Dutch Kustom Motor Bike, VIN 1H9S14955BB451257;
2006 Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM, VIN WDB2094421T067269;
2010 Mini Cooper S Coupe, VIN WMWZG32000TZ03648 LicensePlate No. “T”
1989 Lamborghini LM002, VIN ZA9LU45AXKLA12158, License PlateNo. “FRP358”
2011 Mercedes-Benz ML63, VIN 4JGBB7HB0BA666219

List of gadgets:
Sharp LC-65XS1M 65″ LCD TV
Sharp LC-65XS1M 65″ LCD TV
TVLogic 56″ LUM56W TV
Sharp 108″ LCD Display TV
Sharp 108″ LCD Display TV
Sony PMW-F3K Camera.
Sony PMW-F3K Camera
Samsung 820DXN 82″ LCD TV
Samsung 820DXN 82″ LCD TV
Samsung 820DXN 82″ LCD TV
and many other things and stuff….”

So, who will be next? Oron, Depositfiles or Filesonic? One year ago, as you remember, it was Hotfile. But in that case all were more easily for Hotfile owners. Now, the situation is more dangerous for MU owners. As you see, files host owners last time started to fight with copyright infringement. For example, Oron forbade to upload warez soft on their servers, many files were deleted and many poster accounts were banned because of such violations during last year. Oron prefers to save only adult content. Also, last year Filesonic became to delete more files because of copyright violations.
But, Kim Dotcom and his partners have got their millions and their problems. What should posters do? By the way, some people uploaded to MU only legal content, which was made by themselves. They’ve lost big earning sources. I know people who had about 10K files at MU and earned $400-500/day thanks to MU service. Now, it seems that they should go to other file hosts. For example, Filesonic. It still works and pays.
Of course, it needs much time to reupload thousands of files and to repost download links, but if they want quickly to restore their income source then they should hurry in their redirecting at other files host! Posters should understand that such type of earning on files is temporary. MegaUpload case is one additional fact in understand of this.
As for me, it’s time to start the process of diversifying my income flows. Of course, I’m not going to give up earning at files hosts. I think, that I should waste some savings for investing in the development of my online earning sources. I plan to try the forex trading and to invest some money in the development of my sites which were made for Adsense earning.
What do you think? Can you suppose something interesting for earning online?