[pp.int.general] Other (no sot good) reaction to MU joint complaint campaign

[Richard Stallman]

    > This is why the government should aim to minimize that harm.
    > Even if some of it is inevitable, not all of it is.

    And the company does not have any responsibility?

The company has no responsibility over how the FBI handles the
shutdown of its servers, because it has no control over that.
Megaupload can't do anything now to help those users get their data
back.  Only the state can do that.

If you are talking about _financial responsibility_, that is a
different question.  If the state chooses to handle the shutdown in a
way that unnecessarily harms innocent parties, I think the state
should be responsible for that much.

There are two acts here that may rightfully make someone responsible
for harming those people.  The first was Megaupload's alleged
sollicitation of unauthorized uploads.  The second was the FBI's
handling of the shutdown in a more damaging way than necessary.  If
Megaupload turns out to be guilty, it will be responsible for the
first.  The second is a separate issue and only the FBI is properly
responsible for that.

The FBI could easily run the servers for a week, modified so that
people can only get what they themselves uploaded.  This would greatly
reduce the harm done to innocent parties, and the FBI would be able to
argue that it had done the best possible to protect them.  Then, if
Megaupload is found guilty, all the financial responsibility ought to
be Megaupload's.

If Megaupload is found innocent, whether because of legal arguments
such as we have seen or because the facts are not as the FBI presented
them to the media, all the responsibility for damages will fall on the
state, so the state would be wise to take action now to reduce that
future liability.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman
President, Free Software Foundation
51 Franklin St
Boston MA 02110
USA
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