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Comment by jzs | Hacker News Reader

I'm a bit unsure this is actually a good idea.

I think the people behind SOPA are happy that uploaded.to decides to block US citizens. Cause that's exactly what they wanted in the first place.

What i would rather see is that companies move off US soil as a response to US Law. And stay off TLD's controlled by the US.

Also proxying should be promoted to circumvent the censorship that the government puts down over it's own citizens.

The movie industry has to adapt to a new market. The government should not adapt to an industry that has lost it's ability to innovate.

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If I understood the MegaUpload news correctly, the founders were arrested in New Zealand. So, obviously the US has a much bigger jurisdiction than it geographically should have. I don't think that your suggestions would help.

The reason why I believe uploaded.to did this is not to support/protest SOPA, but to protect themselves from liability.

But if US users can't access the site then the US has no forum to precede with legal action, and then they can't call for extradition either. In the end they would need to prosecute in the target jurisdiction via the Berne Treaty.

No, they wouldn't. You have a nice legal argument there, but JUST THIS WEEK the owners and operators of Megaupload were arrested by US authorities with no extradition, no "prosecution in the target jurisdiction", just arrested in New Zealand for running a company from there.

No judge in the US would allow a grand jury to go ahead against a person that has allegedly breach an US law, that didn't occur in the US, wasn't done by a US citizen, and didn't affect any US citizens. In a way Mega Upload brought themselves within the sphere of US laws, using a .com address, paying money to US companies, hosting within the US, having assets within the US, allowing US customers, registering as a DMCA service provider, etc. These all contribute to allowing a US forum.

If you set up a service like Mega Upload that doesn't have any dealings with US citizens or institutions then an US court has no jurisdiction and a grand jury motion will likely not succeed, and in most countries, other than the sycophantic ones that allow extradition on merely accusation, you can just ignore it.

the owners and operators of Megaupload were arrested by US authorities with no extradition

Umm no, they were arrested in New Zealand by New Zealand authorities.

Dotcom, as well as Bram van der Kolk, Finn Batato and Mathias Ortman were arrested by Organised & Financial Crime Agency New Zealand (OFCANZ) as well as New Zealand police earlier today. from http://gizmodo.com/5877779/

> Umm no, they were arrested in New Zealand by New Zealand authorities.

At the behest of the US entertainment industry.

And the US law enforcement authorities. Hollywood did not ring up the NZ police and say "Arrest these guys". The US police did not fly over to NZ and arrest them.

  > just arrested in New Zealand for running a company from there

They apparently[1] had some portion of their site running on servers hosted in the US.

  > were arrested by US authorities with no extradition
  > ...
  > no "prosecution in the target jurisdiction"

They were apparently[1] arrested by the NZ police.

They will apparently[1] have a hearing in NZ to determine extradition.

The investigation was apparently[1] coordinated between multiple governments' agencies, and apparently[1] took 2 years.

[1]: This information is based on what I have read so far.

> What i would rather see is that companies move off US soil as a response to US Law. And stay off TLD's controlled by the US.

The cowboys from the US and the bootlickers in the affected countries have shown again and again that they do not care about jurisdiction or common sense.

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