If you’ve spent any time downloading music (or other things) from the internet, you have probably used MegaUpload. Hell, sometimes even artists use MegaUpload to share their mixtapes and whatnot, just because it’s so easy. It’s probably this ease of use that has led MegaUpload to become one of, if not the, main source of free downloads on the internet. It was bound to catch up with them in the end.

If you try to head to Megaupload.com right now you’ll find that the site is already gone. Federal prosecutors from Virginia have torn down the site and have charged the owners with violating copyright infringement laws. The accusation places $500 million of lost revenue from various industries on the head of the founders of the website.

According to the official report:

This action is among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States and directly targets the misuse of a public content storage and distribution site to commit and facilitate intellectual property crime.

The report goes into much more detail about the case, so if you’re interested we advise you check it out.

Will this be the first of many cases like this? Megaupload is arguably the biggest file sharing site, but it is by no means the only. This could be a warning shot for all the rest.

Update: A hacker group called Anonymous apparently went after the Department of Justice, Universal Music Group, the Recording Industry Association of America, and the Motion Picture Association of America in retaliation. No word as to what extent this attack was successful, but, well, it’s all kind of crazy. Check out further coverage over at CNN.