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Tag: MegaUpload

  • Kim Dotcom’s $5 Million “Bounty” On US Government

    Do you have proof that the United States government acted in a corrupt or illegal manner during the shutdown of Megaupload? If so, that information could make you a millionaire.

    Kim Dotcom (born Kim Schmitz) said on Monday that he was putting up a $5 million “bounty” for any information that will help him fight a daunting online piracy case.

    The internet mogul is currently fighting extradition from New Zealand in an effort to avoid being sent to the United States to face online piracy-related charges.

    Dotcom said that the reward for information is necessary because without information that the US seized his site in an illegal manner, he has virtually no chance to defend himself.

    “My case is unfair,” tweeted the German national. “I was declined discovery, I didn’t get my own data back, I need whistleblowers.”

    Dotcom’s websites, including the popular Megaupload and Megadownload, were shutdown in January 2012. He claims that this was done on behalf of major Hollywood studios, who he feels are using their money and power to get the US government to act in an illegal manner.

    He told Torrentfreak.com, a tech news website, that he hopes his “bounty” will prove his theory to be correct.

    Said Dotcom, “We are asking for information that proves unlawful or corrupt conduct by the US government, the New Zealand government, spy agencies, law enforcement and Hollywood.”

    The 40-year-old fugitive said that his legal team believes that the “disclosure of such information would be lawful.”

    In addition to the reward, Dotcom said that he would also be willing to pay the legal costs of any whistleblowers should they get into trouble for revealing sensitive information.

    The internet mogul’s extradition hearing is set to begin on July 7th in Auckland, New Zealand.

    He and three others hope that by avoiding extradition, they can also avoid a long list of criminal charges. As it stands the group is wanted for racketeering, money laundering, and copyright infringement.

    If extradited and successfully convicted, Dotcom and his fellow fugitives face decades in prison.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Kim Dotcom Offers $5 Million Bounty for Information

    In January 2012, New Zealand police arrested internet icon Kim Dotcom due to claims from the United States that Dotcom had used his website to host pirated files, costing the music and movie industries more than $500 million in assets. While Dotcom awaits his subsequent trial and sentencing, he has ventured to the internet in order to ask for much needed help in his case against the entertainment industry.

    In a tweet sent out Sunday afternoon, Dotcom offered a $5 million bounty for anyone who would become a “whistleblower” and provide his legal team with any information which could lead to his freedom. As Dotcom and his legal team see it, anyone seeking to divulge such information would be protected from any legal wrongdoings: “It is the opinion of my legal team that disclosure of such information would be lawful. I would also guarantee that any whistleblower coming forward would have the best legal representation at zero cost.”

    So what kind of information is Dotcom and his team searching for? “Let me be clear, we are asking for information that proves unlawful or corrupt conduct by the US government, the New Zealand government, spy agencies, law enforcement and Hollywood,” Dotcom stated.

    Dotcom believes that the United States originally went after him and his website, MegaUpload, in order to win Hollywood’s vote for Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection.

    If anyone has information one would deem advantageous to Dotcom’s trial, the information can be submitted via a new whistleblowing program released by The Guardian, the British newspaper which originally hosted the NSA documents leaked by Edward Snowden. Dotcom even provided advice as to exactly how one should proceed in providing such crucial information: “In order to be completely safe I would advise any Whistleblower not to use this tool from home or work. Go to an Internet cafe with a memory stick. Don’t use your own computer or phone. You can also buy a cheap laptop or netbook just for the purpose of leaking and destroy it after you’re done.”

    Dotcom added extra incentive to the deal by stating that he would not only provide a money reward for “case-winning information”, but for any useful information at all:

    We know that there are people out there with information. I’m willing to pay for that information. I’m determined to fight a grave injustice that has been done to a legitimate cloud storage business, its 220 employees and over 100 million users. This struggle has just begun and it will take time. But in the end we shall be victorious and we shall expose those who have abused their power.

    Dotcom is currently awaiting a New Zealand court’s decision as to whether or not his assets will be frozen again following the testimony from four music industry companies and six film studios on Monday.

    Image via Twitter

  • Dotcom Raid Warrants Legal, Rules Appeals Court

    The Court of Appeal of New Zealand this week ruled that the warrants executed by police in the January 2012 raid on Kim Dotcom’s mansion were legal. This is despite the fact that the Court of Appeal admitted the warrants contained “defects,” which they held should not nullify the documents as a whole.

    This decision reversed a High Court ruling that declared the warrants invalid due to their over-broad nature. Dotcom’s legal team has stated that it is now reviewing the Court of Appeal decision. Dotcom is expected to appeal the decision to the Surpreme Court.

    Kim Dotcom’s New Zealand mansion was raided as part of a U.S.-led investigation into online piracy. Dotcom was the founder of Megaupload, a file hosting service that was seized by the U.S. Department of Justice in conjunction with the raid.

    Since that time Dotcom has launched another file hosting website called Mega. More recently the millionaire has been working to found a new political in New Zealand.

    Though the warrants were ruled to be legal, another matter addressed by the appeal was not decided in favor of police. The Court of Appeal ruled that the Commissioner of Police’s transfer of data seized in the raid to the FBI was illegal. This ruling could make it difficult for Dotcom to be extradited to the U.S. in the future, as the evidence contained in the terrabytes of data seized in the raid may not be valid due to its mishandling.

    Dotcom himself stressed this latter ruling via his Twitter account, cheekily accusing the FBI of piracy:

    Imgave via Kim Dotcom/Twitter

  • Kim Dotcom Loses Appeal In Extradition Battle

    With all the excitement over the launch of Mega, it’s easy to forget that Kim Dotcom is still facing extradition to the U.S. To fight this, Dotcom and his legal team argues that they need access to the evidence the U.S. will bring against them. Lower courts agreed with Dotcom, but the Court of Appeals didn’t buy the argument.

    TorrentFreak reports that the Court of Appeals overturned the previous ruling that said the U.S. had to present all the evidence it had on Dotcom and his associates. In its ruling, the court says that evidence is not required in an extradition case because it’s not a trial over whether the party is innocent or guilty. Instead, the court said that the U.S. only has to prove that they have a case against Dotcom to move things forward.

    It’s a pretty big setback for Dotcom, as he was hoping to get access to all the evidence the U.S. has against him. Dotcom isn’t giving up, however, and plans to bring his case before the Supreme Court.

    For the next installment in the long running Dotcom legal battle, we’re going to have to wait for word from the Supreme Court. If it picks up the case, we can expect to see Dotcom’s already delayed extradition trial delayed even further. If the court doesn’t agree to hear the case, Dotcom’s extradition trial will go on as planned in August. Either way, it’s going to be interesting.

  • Mega Branching Out Into Encrypted Email Soon

    One of the major advantages of using Mega, at least according to Kim Dotcom, is that it has world class encryption that blocks anybody from snooping on the files you’re downloading. Now Dotcom wants to apply that same encryption to the world of email.

    The Guardian reports that Dotcom plans to launch “an end-to-end encrypted email service” in the future. He says the email client would be fully secure so users “won’t have to worry that a government or Internet service provider will be looking at [their] email.”

    A fully private email client would be welcome as more people are starting to look for more ways to secure their privacy. Microsoft may think that it’s a privacy warrior in its new Scroogled campaign, but the real threat comes from the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, or ECPA.

    A pro-privacy email client could be very popular around the world, especially in developed nations where fears of email surveillance are high. The demand might be high enough for people who don’t use the Mega file storage service to at least use the email service.

    So, when will this Mega email service become available? Dotcom’s talk at London, where he announced the service, didn’t go into details. He did, however, post this wonderful picture of his disembodied head on a projector screen:

  • Mega Gets 3 Million Users In A Month, Mobile App Coming Soon

    Mega Gets 3 Million Users In A Month, Mobile App Coming Soon

    Kim Dotcom’s Mega launched last month with a ridiculous launch party that included a fake FBI raid on Dotcom’s mansion. After the launch, the file-sharing service managed to snag over a million users in just a few days. According to Dotcom, the latest numbers show that Mega continues to grow.

    In a Twitter post yesterday, Dotcom revealed that Mega now has over 3 million users and over 125 million files hosted on the service. He also revealed that Mega would be getting a mobile app soon:

    Dotcom also revealed usage statistics by country, and found that most of Mega’s users come from France, followed by Spain, Brazil and Germany. The U.S. brings up the rear at number five. TechDirt points out that France leading the world in Mega usage is interesting as the country recently put in a “three strikes” system to punish those who pirate content on torrents and P2P networks. They note that correlation is not causation, but it is interesting to think that Mega is becoming a file-sharing haven for those in countries, like France and Spain, that have implemented harsh file-sharing laws.

    As the year goes on, expect Mega to grow even larger with the help of a mobile app and the recent announcement that Mega would be accepting bitcoins as payment. The security and anonymity promised by Mega may also help the file sharing network grow as more countries around the world implement systems intended to punish file-sharers.

    [h/t: The Next Web]

  • Vikram Kumar Is The New CEO Of Mega

    Vikram Kumar Is The New CEO Of Mega

    With all the theatrics surrounding the life of Kim Dotcom and the launch of Mega, it’s easy to forget that the startup is a legitimate file sharing business. As such, the company was in need of a permanent CEO as current CEO Tony Lentino was only in the position on a temporary basis. After some searching, it looks like Mega has found its man.

    Mega announced today that former CEO of InternetNZ, Vikram Kumar, has joined on as the CEO of Mega. The appointment of Kumar to the CEO seat is a good choice as he headed the non-profit InternetNZ, a group dedicated to an “open and uncapturable Internet.” An ideal that Mega founder Kim Dotcom holds dear.

    “Mega is delighted to welcome Vikram Kumar as its new CEO”, said Lentino. “I have assisted Mega since its inception, putting time and energy into finding investors, setting up support staff and general overview of the company in its initial stage. Now Mega runs on a day-to-day routine, and I am pleased to hand the role of CEO to Vikram who is an experienced leader in the Internet industry.”

    In his new role as CEO, Kumar says that he looks forward to building on the “initial success” of Mega and developing it “into a significant company on the international Internet stage.” His profile says that he takes great interest in “the challenges the Internet is facing such as privacy, security and openness.” Once again, another sign that Kumar and Dotcom are a match made in Internet heaven.

    As for former interim CEO Lentino, he’ll still be on Mega’s board of directors while overseeing his own company, Instra Corporation. He said that he’ll be working alongside other Mega executives to make the new startup a “global success.”

  • Kim Dotcom Offers Cash Reward To Anyone Who Breaks Mega’s Security

    Mega has been under a lot of scrutiny since it launched over a week ago, and not just from the copyright lobby. The Internet security community has been claiming that Mega isn’t as secure as Kim Dotcom claims. Now Dotcom is offering a cash reward to anybody that can prove it.

    In a tweet, Dotcom offered a €10,000 ($13,500) reward to anybody that can crack Mega’s security:

    In a previous blog post, Dotcom addressed some of the initial concerns the security community had with Mega. One of the major concerns was that users could not change their password, which is required to decrypt your files. To allay that concern, Mega now lets you change your password. Users can also reset their password under the following scenarios:

  • You are still logged in
  • You are not logged in, but your account is empty (password resets with data present are considerably more tricky — we do not want a breach of your e-mail account to jeopardize the integrity of your files — and will be addressed at a later stage)

    • The change doesn’t address all of the concerns, but it’s a good start. For the other concerns, security researchers will have to break Mega’s encryption and prove that it needs work. From there, Dotcom and his team of developers will hopefully fix any problems found.

    [h/t: The Next Web]

  • Grab Some Popcorn And Watch The Hour Long Mega Launch Party

    As you all know by now, Kim Dotcom’s Mega launched over the weekend to much fanfare. The new file-sharing site is already in the top 150 most visited sites on the Internet, and it shows no signs of slowing down.

    Dotcom has already shared the speech he gave at the launch of Mega, but we didn’t get to see the full spectacle. Now you have the opportunity to see what all the hubbub was about as Dotcom launched his latest product.

    The video clocks in at an hour and 14 minutes long. You might want to grab a snack:

    Despite hosting a massive launch event, Mega has not been without its stumbles over its first few days. The service was a little unreliable at first, and then reports started coming out that Mega’s encryption wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. The launch problems have been fixed already, but Dotcom is now engaging critics of the site’s encryption. He will even be offering a cash reward soon for those who can break it.

    Perhaps the strangest thing to come out of the launch, however, was the above video being taken down from YouTube as a result of a DMCA complaint from GEMA. Dotcom claims all the songs in the video are of his own creation. The video is back up, but Dotcom says GEMA will be hearing from his lawyers.

    It’s pretty obvious that Dotcom and Mega will continue to run into situations like this as the file-sharing service becomes more popular. In fact, it shouldn’t be too long before we start hearing some noise from the same media industry that’s been gloating about the shut down of Megaupload.

  • Watch Kim Dotcom’s Speech At The Mega Launch

    You’ve probably heard a lot about the Mega launch over the weekend by now. The file sharing service hit 1 million users within a day, and is now quickly catching up to established file sharing service, Dropbox. What you may not have heard is the speech Kim Dotcom gave at the launch event. Well, now you can watch the speech in its entirety courtesy of Dotcom himself.

    Dotcom’s YouTube channel was updated today with a recording of his speech at the public of Mega. Like everything Dotcom does, the event was the epitome of extravagance and indulgence. There was even a fake FBI raid that poked fun at the very real raid that was carried out by New Zealand police a little over a year ago at his mansion.

    Besides a few jokes in bad taste, the speech mostly dealt with the politics surrounding Internet freedom. His hope is that Mega will start a dialog on copyright reform. He also issues a stern warning to those “who use copyright law as a weapon to drown innovation and stifle competition” by saying that they will “be left on the side of the road of history.”

    The speech will definitely please Internet freedom fighters, but Anonymous may not be so welcome to his words. The hacker collective has labeled Dotcom a “snitch” and says his working with the authorities in 2010 is what led to the arrest and conviction of the founders of NinjaVideo.

  • Anonymous Blames Kim Dotcom For The Closure Of NinjaVideo

    Members of Anonymous have been huge supporters of Kim Dotcom since the feds took down Megaupload in early 2012. The collective even engaged one of its largest operations to date in defense of the site. Now the same group is calling Dotcom a “snitch.” What happened to bring about this sudden change?

    For those who have been following the legal fight between Megaupload and the DoJ in the U.S., you would know that Megaupload thinks the U.S. set them up. In 2010, the feds asked Dotcom to keep some files on their servers to help in a separate IP investigation. Dotcom consented and kept the files while the fed went about its work. Dotcom accuses the feds of using those same files later as evidence when shutting down Megaupload in 2012.

    Now, this is where things get interesting. Wired reported last November on some case files that had been unsealed in the case that found those files that Dotcom held onto were used in the investigation and eventual conviction of the founders of NinjaVideo, a video streaming site that piggybacked off of Megaupload’s Megavideo service.

    Disregarding the fact that the Wired report is over three months old, Anonymous has now come to the conclusion that Dotcom is a traitor to the cause. Here’s a snippet of the press release:

    In the Wired article, it outlines that in June of 2010, Dotcom agreed to keep secret a warrant by the DHS HSI IPR Center of Carpathia hosting, and was told by HSI that he was not target of the investigation, which he had in fact been a target of since January of 2010. Dotcom “cooperated” in the “spirit” of “being a good corporate citizen”, which apparently means ratting small fish out so the the top dog can stay king. Kim Dotcom thinks he can play both pirate and “good corporate citizen” at the same time, but one cannot be both.

    Kim Dotcom broke the pirate code. He is a snitch, and needs to be exposed to the world as such. Hana Beshara, “Queen Phara”, has been sitting in FPC Bryan in Texas for the past year awaiting release this August because Kim willingly cooperated with this investigation, thinking he would be building a rapport with the IPR fanatics at DHS. Matthew David Howard Smith, aka (Dead1ine), founder of NinjaVideo, will be released from Butner Penitentiary in North Carolina this April.

    Let’s just look into how ridiculous this is. Never once has Dotcom ever claimed to be a pirate or fighting for pirate rights. He believes in a free Internet for sure, and he thinks that Hollywood should update its business model to reflect changes brought about by the digital age. That being said, he never once said content should be free, and is in fact working on legitimate business models where artists get paid more for their work directly from fans (see Megabox) instead of through labels.

    The problem here lies in what Anonymous wanted Dotcom to be, and who Dotcom really is. Anonymous thought he was the next great pirate martyr fighting for the free flow of information, and Dotcom is that to an extent. He’s well loved by Internet groups because he’s fighting against what he feels is an abuse of power by the IP lobby and media industries. What Anonymous didn’t see or just refused to acknowledge is that Dotcom is also a businessman. He’s trying to make a profit even if his methods challenge the status quo and land him in trouble.

    Both sides have compelling arguments in this admittedly one-sided fight as Dotcom has so far refused to acknowledge Anonymous’ accusations. Dotcom’s U.S. lawyer Ira Rothken said that Megaupload was only being a “good corporate citizen” by handing over the data. Anonymous says that Dotcom was selling out a fellow ally in the fight against aggressive IP rights protection.

    An individual’s stance in this new fight will be decided by how they feel about Dotcom and the Megaupload case. Many feel that he’s only in this to save his own ass, and is using his current trial as a publicity stunt to build up hype for his new services like Mega and Megabox. Others feel that he is fighting for reform and Internet freedom. I don’t think this particular revelation about his involvement in NinjaVideo is going to change many peoples’ perception of him. You either already didn’t like the man, or you think he’s just doing his best to make good out of a nasty situation.

  • Kim Dotcom Says Mega Is Already Catching Up To Dropbox

    Mega launched over the weekend to much fanfare. The new file sharing site from Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom already reached over 1 million users within a day, and it’s still growing. For now, Dotcom is taking a break from the public eye, but he’s still tweeting away all kinds of stats about his new startup.

    In a series of tweets from about 10 hours ago, Dotcom announces some early stats for Mega. The biggest surprise is definitely how fast Mega has grown since its launch. We know that the site has over 1 million registered users, but it’s obviously higher than that now. Dotcom isn’t sharing the exact number, however, because he says he can’t believe it.

    Although we can’t see how many registered users the site has, we can see that it’s growing astronomically thanks to a tweet from Dotcom that compares Mega’s traffic to established file sharing service Dropbox.

    He also tweeted out that Mega is now the largest .co.nz site on the Internet. I’m betting the folks in Gabon were now wishing they let Dotcom keep his original me.ga domain name.

    Of course, the launch has not been without some issues. The ever increasing demand for Mega is causing the site to load slowly for some while others are having issues with uploading. Dotcom is aware of the issues and is promising to get everything under control:

    Another issue Dotcom now faces are reports that Mega’s much hyped security and encryption are not as protective as he claims. He says that he he will be addressing those issues soon:

    Mega has already proven to be a success, but how long will it last? TorrentFreak reported yesterday that anti-piracy group StopFileLockers is already attempting to shut off Mega’s revenue streams. Similar groups are probably exploring their options in regards to Mega as well. Dotcom claims his new site is legal, but the media industry will no doubt find something to complain about.

  • Mega Already Has Over 1 Million Users, Dotcom Teases Future Projects

    On Sunday, Kim Dotcom’s Mega.co.nz finally launched after a year of preparation and rebuilding since the original Megaupload was shut down in early 2012. Dotcom held a massive media event in New Zealand to celebrate the launch, and provided more details as to what his goals are with this latest venture.

    The Next Web reports that Dotcom announced at the Mega launch media event that the service has gained over 1 million users within a day. It’s a fantastic start, but the service still has a ways to go before it reaches the levels seen with the original Megaupload.

    At the event, Dotcom shared some more details about Mega and other upcoming projects like Megabox. First and foremost, he assured the audience that something like Megaupload won’t happen again because his team “scrutinized every pixel to ensure it’s built from the ground up to adhere to the law.” As for the 220 jobs lost when Megaupload was shut down, Dotcom says he plans to offer every one of them their jobs back while creating a few hundred jobs in New Zealand. As for Megabox, he says the service will launch in six months.

    Of course, a concern is that Hollywood and the music industry may not appreciate the relaunch of the Mega brand. To them, Dotcom says he he wants “to find a diplomatic solution.” To further elaborate, he says that “the wiser thing to is to start a dialog to solve this problem between Hollywood and the Internet. We can solve this by sitting down together.” He extended the same offer to President Barack Obama despite the fact that Obama’s administration are the ones leading the prosecution in the states.

    Speaking of movies, Dotcom teased on Facebook that he also plans to revive Megavideo in a slightly different format. Just like Megabox, he fully intends to shake up the industry with Megamovie. It’s only a tease at the moment so details are scarce, but it seems like a service that would allow movie studios to sell their films directly to consumers while retaining more profit compared to other services like iTunes or Amazon Instant Video. Considering that Megabox is still six months out, it will probably be a while before we see anything more on Megamovie.

    Megabox1 day ago

    That was just the beginning.

    Powered by socialditto  241 likes ·  64 comments

    So, what will Dotcom do now that Mega has been launched? He said that he plans to take a step back from the public eye for a while. During that time, he will be writing a book about his experiences over the last year. He also wants to take a break because he doesn’t want “to be seen as someone who is always in the media.” He can’t escape the public eye completely, however, as he will be attending court a lot over the course of the year as his extradition hearing approaches.

  • Kim Dotcom Says Mega Is Pants For The Internet

    The new Mega is almost upon us. The site is expected to go up on the one year anniversary of Megaupload being taken down. Dotcom has shared plenty of details on the site thus far, but now he’s advertising the brand’s rebirth in radio ads.

    For the past few weeks, Dotcom has been teasing more information about the new Mega on Twitter. The latest is a release of the five radio ads that will be going across the airwaves shortly. He’s shared the first one with us, and it’s a little strange. In the ad, it’s said that Mega is pants for the Internet:

    Mega radio spot 15 seconds – Nick 15 by KimDotcom

    The pants metaphor may have lost you, but it’s rather simple really. The ad is referring to is the new privacy and encryption controls built into the new Mega. He claims that everybody will be anonymous when sharing content on the service unlike the original Megaupload. It will also be decentralized and spread across servers around the world so that no one place may be targeted.

    The other ad says that Mega protects your data much like closing the bathroom door protects your privacy while taking “a poo poo. Their words – not mine.

    Mega radio spot 15 seconds – Kimberly by KimDotcom

    As for other teases, Dotcom has been slowly revealing some of the software and hardware behind the new Mega. Over the weekend, we got our first look at the UI, and it’s looking really nice.

    There will probably be a few more teases as we approach the launch of the new Mega. For his part, Dotcom will continue counting down the days until “the US government fails and Innovation wins.”

  • Kim Dotcom Gets The OK To Sue New Zealand’s Spy Agency

    If anything, you have to agree that Kim Dotcom is tenacious. He’s fought every challenge that has come his way since having his Web site and livelihood seized by feds in January. Now he’s just received clearance to launch a lawsuit that could have some very heavy implications.

    Back in September, it was revealed that Dotcom was subject to illegal surveillance at the hands of New Zealand’s GCSB – the country’s equivalent of the CIA. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key at the time said he was not aware of the spy agency’s actions and would open a full investigation into the issue.

    Fast forward to now where the courts have given Dotcom the OK to file a lawsuit against the GCSB. The interesting part is that the High Court has ordered the spy agency to reveal the details of its electronic spying setup in court. The order also requires the spy agency to reveal which nations it handed the info over to. It could very well reveal that the GCSB was handing over Dotcom’s information to US authorities before the raid on his mansion in January that was conducted by the local police and the FBI.

    Obviously, the government opposes the court order on the grounds that info from GCSB being made public could pose a national security risk. The judge in the case will hand the information to a third party who will verify which information is relevant to the case.

    Like always, Kim Dotcom has something to say, and he says it via Twitter. This time, he seems pretty confident that he’ll beat the spy agency in court with unnamed evidence that he’s gathered.

    Aside from suing New Zealand’s spy agency, Dotcom will also be launching the new Mega in January on the anniversary of the police raid that took Megaupload down. The new domain hit a few snags at first, but now it’s ready to go.

    [h/t: NZ Herald]

  • Me.ga Domain Suspended By Gabon’s Communication Minister

    Megaupload is coming back soon, or at least, that’s the plan. The Megaupload founder revealed to Wired in October that the reboot of his popular file sharing site would be called Me.ga to avoid any interference from the US government. Dotcom may have overlooked interference from any entirely different party though – the government of Gabon.

    The .ga domain is registered to the small African country of Gabon. Blaise Louembe, Gabon’s Communication Minister, said on Tuesday that his country will be suspending the me.ga domain. He said that the country “cannot serve as a platform or screen for committing acts aimed at violating copyrights, nor be used by unscrupulous people.”

    What does Dotcom have to say about it? He believes the domain suspension is a preemptive move from the US government and Vivendi to keep him down.

    Dotcom mentioned that he had an alternate domain set up, but he hasn’t said what it will be just yet. He’s also said on Twitter that he’s going to lay low for a while. Dotcom has been receiving a lot of publicity recently – good and bad. He’s said on Twitter that he appreciates the followers, but he just wants to focus on raising his kids and creating “cool stuff,” including music videos.

    Dotcom is now a public figure, whether he likes it or not. The ongoing legal battles in the US and New Zealand will be of great interest going into next year. The decision on both the criminal trial for Megaupload and the extradition trial for Dotcom could have far reaching effects on international law. We’ll be sure to bring you all the details as they occur.

    [h/t: Phys.org]

  • Kim Dotcom Drops More Details On The New Mega

    We’ve known that Megaupload was coming back in some form or another for a while now, but it wasn’t until mid-October that Kim Dotcom pulled back the curtain on the new service. It’s called Mega, and Dotcom says it will be everything Megaupload was and then some. Now the Megaupload founder has revealed more details about the new service, including the domain.

    Fittingly, the new Mega will be hosted at Me.ga. For now, the domain redirects users to a splash page with info about the new Mega. We also get a first look at the logo that Dotcom will be going with for the new file sharing site.

    Kim Dotcom Drops More Details On Mega

    The new Web sites features a number of links that point to how the new Mega works or how people can start developing applications with the Mega API. The site once again confirms that Dotcom won’t allow any US-based servers to connect with the new Mega. The site says this is because “safe harbor for service providers via the Digital Millenium Copyright Act has been undermined by the Department of Justice with its novel criminal prosecution of Megaupload.”

    Last week, Dotcom announced that the new Mega would be launching on the one year anniversary of the raid that brought the original Megaupload down. It will be interesting to see how the prosecution reacts to the launch.

    [h/t: The Next Web]

  • Kim Dotcom Shares Details On Mega, The Megaupload Successor

    For the past few months, Kim Dotcom has been teasing the return of Megaupload. It appears, however, that Megaupload will not be returning. Instead, Dotcom will be releasing Mega, a new service that might just shake up the file sharing industry.

    Speaking to Wired, Dotcom revealed that Mega will be a return to Megaupload while simultaneously being completely new. It’s the same file storage service that people came to know and love with Megaupload, but it contains a number of privacy protections that make it completely anonymous.

    So how is Dotcom going to do this? He says that the new Mega service will use an “Advanced Encryption Standard” algorithm. In short, the file will be encrypted upon being uploaded so that nobody can see what it is. The uploader will then be given a unique key that will decrypt the file whenever they need to access it.

    The new system is great for data privacy, but it also protects Mega from the very thing that brought down Megaupload. Users will be the only ones with the decryption keys and they will be the ones controlling who accesses what. Mega will not have any knowledge in regards to who is using their service or what is being stored on their services. Under the safe harbor provision of the DMCA, they are completely safe.

    Even more interesting, the new Mega can’t be taken down by the authorities of any one country. Dotcom says that the new Mega will be hosted on servers all around the world. If one server goes down, the others will be around to pick up the slack. Just like The Pirate Bay’s new cloud initiative, the new Mega will be hard to bring down.

    All of this doesn’t mean that Dotcom is doing this to get back at Hollywood. He told Wired that he’s ready to work with them to help remove infringing content from their servers. If a studio finds their content with decryption keys on Web sites, they can send Mega a DMCA notice to have it removed. They will also give these studios access to Mega to remove content as long as they sign an agreement saying they won’t pursue legal action against Mega for its user’s actions.

    Mega is shaping up to be really interesting. The combination of complete anonymity and user accountability could be just the thing the file hosting business needs. People are going to obviously use the service for piracy, but it’s now on their heads if they spread licensed content. It might make Internet users more conscious of their actions.

    As for Kim Dotcom, he’s thrilled to be on the cover of Wired magazine this month.

  • Kim Dotcom Reveals That Megabox Is Launching Soon

    Kim Dotcom is bringing Megaupload back later this year. He has another far more interesting project launching later this year that he was working on before the police raid. It’s called Megabox, and Dotcom thinks it can change the music industry for the better.

    Dotcom released a short video today that shows some behind the scenes footage that goes into the making of Megabox. It’s short on details, but the imagery tells us a lot about what users and musicians can come to expect from the service.

    In a previous report, Dotcom described Megabox as a service that will allow artists to sell their music directly to the consumer. Those artists will also be able to keep 90 percent of the profits. All of that seems to be intact according to the video.

    Even more interesting, it seems that Dotcom has been able to line up some great talent for Megabox. It could have been a placeholder, but acts like LMFAO would help Megabox reach more mainstream popularity faster. It would also attract those who don’t buy music over the fact that the money goes to the labels instead of the artists.

    Of course, there are other platforms like Bandcamp and Beatport that allows artists to sell their music directly to consumers. They have the brand recognition and familiarity that Megabox has yet to achieve. Once it launches, it will be interesting to see how Dotcom advertises the service to those who get their music through services like iTunes, Spotify and Bandcamp.

    With the launch of Megabox and the new Megaupload happening later this year, Dotcom is in a mighty fine position. It now all depends on whether or not he can get the charges against him dropped.

  • The New Megaupload Is Almost Upon Us

    The New Megaupload Is Almost Upon Us

    It’s been over six months since Megaupload was shut down by the feds for charges of criminal copyright infringement. Since then, Kim Dotcom has been fighting court cases in New Zealand and the U.S. He’s also been working on a revival of Megaupload in his spare time. That revival may be happening sooner than later.

    Over the weekend, Dotcom tweeted out a few more details on the current status of the new Megaupload. If he is to be believed, we could be looking at the launch of a new Megaupload before the end of the year.

    If you recall, Dotcom has already detailed the new Megaupload. He revealed that his team is working on what he calls the Mega API. It will allow anybody who owns servers outside of the U.S. to connect and contribute to a new global network. He also promises that the new Megaupload will offer one-click encryption for all file transfers.

    There has been no response from the U.S. yet over the potential revival of Megaupload. Even if they did say something, they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. The U.S. government was only able to go after Megaupload the first time because a few servers were on U.S. soil. Dotcom is not allowing a single U.S. host to connect to the new service.

    We still don’t know when the new Megaupload will launch, but it can’t be too far off. We still haven’t heard anything about the new music service, Megabox, either. We’ll keep you updated on when Dotcom makes any more announcements in regards to these services. The blowback from the copyright industry is sure to be immense, hilarious or both.

    [h/t: TorrentFreak]

  • Kim Dotcom Was Subject To Illegal Surveillance From New Zealand’s CIA

    It’s been relatively quiet on the Megaupload front for the past few weeks. The last major event saw Kim Dotcom winning $4.83 million in his bid to have funds released to him. For now, he’s still fighting to have the charges against him and his company dropped. That fight may have become a little easier as New Zealand’s Prime Minister, John Key, revealed that the Government Communications Security Bureau acted without his consent in the weeks leading up to Dotcom’s arrest.

    For a little background information, the GCSB is essentially the CIA in New Zealand. They are a task force dedicated to the interception of information from terrorists, criminals and the like. They are required to have a warrant when intercepting foreign information, but New Zealand law says that the organization is not allowed to spy on domestic citizens or residents.

    Prime Minister Key revealed that he had not been made aware of any ongoing investigation into the Dotcom case. It’s required by New Zealand law that any GCSB operation be signed off by the Prime Minister. Key said that he had not been informed of the GCSB’s involvement in the Dotcom case until today.

    Warrants have been an ongoing issue in the Dotcom case since the beginning. The legality of the warrant used by police during the raid on Dotcom’s mansion had been called into question numerous times since his arrest, but a judge finally declared the warrant illegal in late June.

    In response to the allegations that the GCSB acted illegally, Prime Minister Key has opened up an investigation into the matter. He doesn’t believe that the organization intentionally violated the law with their actions, but he wants to know the extent of their actions.

    Dotcom’s U.S. lawyer, Ira Rothken, is also requesting the investigation look into U.S. involvement. He told Bloomberg that Dotcom’s legal team wants to know if the “U.S. was aiding or abetting domestic spying in New Zealand.”

    For his part, Dotcom has been tweeting about the revelation that he had been subject to illegal surveillance:

    [h/t: NZ Herald]