Spanish Pirate Party gathering ex-Megauploader lynch mob to sue US
If you belong to the group swept up by the FBI’s swift shutdown of Megaupload, the Pirate Party wants you to help them sue. The Spanish branch of the Pirate Party announced a platform for persons or organizations affected by the closure to register complaints. The hope is that they can bring these complaints against the US and receive some justice.
The effort is lead by the Spanish Pirates of Catalonia, followed by Pirate Parties International, the UK Pirate Party and others. The argument is that, while the FBI may have been justified in penalizing US copyright infringment, the cost was much greater than the gain since many individuals and organizations legally using the service have lost the use of the archives.
The groups are investigating ways that the US breached the law in other countries. Basically, the complaint is about the US’ narcissism, and the group wants to register complaints from as many users in different countries as possible. The first hit for the Pirates of Catalonia is a possible violation of Articles 197 and 198 of the Spanish Penal Code, which deals with misappropriation of personal data.
Justice or whipping boy–whichever side of the argument about Megaupload you stand on, the protest wants to fly under the banner of rights outrage:
“Regardless of ideology, or opinions on the legality or morality of those running Megaupload, actions such as the closure of this service cause huge damage to lawful users of the sites and are unacceptable and disproportionate violations of their rights.”
Even if the group does get the support it wants, will the US even listen to all these countries? The unapologetic Department of Justice has already said that legitimate users of the Megaupload service will simply have to soldier on without their personal files, pointing out that the cyberlocker warned users about data security even before the US barged in.
Via Pirata.Cat
This article was originally posted on Digital Trends
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