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| Kim Dotcom, Boss of Megaupload |
Kim Dotcom, the founder of the shuttered file-sharing site Megaupload that housed
everything from family photos to blockbuster films, on Thursday
announced a new online storage service called Mega that will give users
direct control - and responsibility - over their files.
Mega will launch in January 2013, just before the internet
entrepreneur is scheduled to face an extradition hearing to the United
States where he and other Megaupload operators face charges of online
piracy, fraud and money laundering.
In a snub to U.S. prosecutors, the site will not utilise U.S.-based
hosting companies as partners in order to avoid being shut down by U.S.
authorities.
The U.S. government alleges that Megaupload, once one of the world's
most popular websites, was directly responsible for illegally uploaded
content on the site and that it netted $175 million from unlawful
activities.
"The new Mega will not be threatened by U.S. prosecutors," Dotcom told Reuters in an interview, adding that he was confident Mega would avoid violating U.S. law.
"The new Mega avoids any dealings with U.S. hosters, U.S. domains and
U.S. backbone providers and has changed the way it operates to avoid
another takedown," he said.
Encryption keys
Mega is the follow-up to Megaupload, which was shut down in January
this year when New Zealand police helicopters swooped into the
flamboyant Dotcom's mansion outside Auckland to seize computers and
other evidence at the request of U.S. authorities.
Users of the new cloud-based service will be able to upload, store
and share photos, text files, music and films, encrypt those files and
grant access using unique decryption keys.
"You hold the keys to what you store in the cloud, not us," a statement on the Mega website said.
While the new site will operate faster and boast a bigger storage
capacity, the encryption technology marks a major change from Megaupload
as Mega operators will not have access to files and will therefore be
immune to content liability.
Ensuring that files are not pirated will be the job of content
owners, a major change from Megaupload, which the U.S. film industry
says was directly responsible for taking down illegally uploaded
content.
"Content owners can still remove infringing material and they will
even get direct delete access if they agree not to make us responsible
for actions of users," Dotcom said.
Dotcom's announcement comes just weeks after a U.S. federal judge
ruled that Washington's criminal case against Megaupload will go forward
for now.
Dotcom, a German national who holds New Zealand residency, faces an
extradition hearing in March even though a New Zealand court ruled that
the January raid and seizure were unlawful, while the nation's spy
agency was found to have illegally spied on Dotcom.
Thursday's announcement was delayed for about one hour after the
website was overloaded by users. According to Dotcom, much of the
traffic was driven by U.S. authorities.
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