Megaupload's legal battle with labels and the DOJ: the full story
After a protracted battle with record labels, file sharing site Megaupload — regarded by some as a haven for piracy — has been taken down by the US Department of Justice with a number of high-profile arrests of Megaupload employees. We're tracking the full saga right here.
Megaupload takedown may have increased legal movie downloads, says study
Despite Kim Dotcom's protestations, there's no doubt that a lot of people used Megaupload to download pirated content. Now, a new study from Carnegie Mellon's Initiative for Digital Entertainment Analytics suggests that the shutdown could have increased sales and rentals of legal movie downloads. After studying two studios across 12 countries over 18 weeks, authors Brett Danaher and Michael D. Smith estimated that digital revenues were between 6 percent and 10 percent higher than they would...
Kim Dotcom promises 50GB of free storage for Mega service launching on Saturday
Kim Dotcom's Mega, the follow-up to Megaupload, is finally set to go live this weekend, and the flamboyant entrepreneur has taken to Twitter to share some details about the new service. Mega will apparently give all users 50GB of free cloud storage, making it a potentially compelling competitor to the likes of Dropbox (2GB free) and SkyDrive (7GB free) — if you're not worried about the service getting shut down like its predecessor, that is.
#Mega will have very generous limits for free...
Kim Dotcom reveals plans to build $330 million internet cable between US and New Zealand
Kim Dotcom has revealed plans to revive the Pacific Fibre cable project that would connect New Zealand to the United States and lead to cheaper and faster internet for residents, The New Zealand Herald reports. The cable will cost about $330 million to build, which Dotcom says will be funded by his recently announced company Mega and other investors. While the venture would not yield free internet for residents, as has been commonly reported, Dotcom says the network would offer significantly...
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Kim Dotcom's extradition hearing won't happen until March 2013 due to evidence legality dispute
Last month a New Zealand court ruled that the US acted outside of the law with an invalid warrant when searching Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom's home, and now we're starting to see the fallout — the extradition hearing has been put off until next year. According to the AP, the hearing has been moved from next month to March 2013 because of the ongoing dispute over evidence legality. Dotcom himself expressed frustration over the postponement, accusing the US of "dirty delays," and his lawyer...
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FBI wants to turn over 40 pages from 22 million Megaupload emails in extradition hearing
As the FBI and Kim Dotcom prepare for the upcoming trial over cyberlocker Megaupload, the fight continues over what evidence Dotcom will be allowed to see and present in his defense. Though a New Zealand judge ordered the FBI to copy 150TB of potential evidence from the Megaupload servers it seized, it's still not clear how much — if any — Dotcom will be given access to. Now, the FBI has apparently "cherry-picked" a mere 40 pages out of 22 million emails to hand over before an extradition...
Kim Dotcom search warrants ruled illegal by New Zealand court
The latest twist in the Megaupload saga is here, and it comes courtesy of a New Zealand court. Reuters reports
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Steve Wozniak speaks out in favor of net neutrality, supports Megaupload
Steve Wozniak has today spoken out against the US government's handling of the Megaupload case, specifically its freezing of user accounts and attempts to extradite MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom from New Zealand. Wozniak says that plenty of people used Megaupload for legitimate purposes, and closing the site was not the right action to take. "You don't just shut down the whole street because somebody is speeding," Wozniak told the Associated Press.
"It's just kind of ridiculous what they did...
Policy & Law
Megaupload's Kim Dotcom teases new 'Megabox' project, reveals meeting with Wozniak
Kim Dotcom, now charged with copyright infringement, wire fraud, and racketeering related to his former site Megaupload, is pushing forward with plans for a new venture. Earlier today, Dotcom tweeted about Megabox, something he described before his arrest as "a site that will soon allow artists to sell their creations direct to consumers and allowing artists to keep 90 percent of earnings." This is the first we've heard of Megabox since then, andTorrentFreak has confirmed with Dotcom that the...
Megaupload: while FBI defends seizure overseas, MPAA is 'sympathetic' to users who uploaded legal files
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) says that it is "sympathetic" to users that stored "legitimately acquired or created data" on Megaupload's servers, but points out that the file-sharing service's terms of use "clearly disclaimed any guarantee or continued access to uploaded materials."
Responding to a brief filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation on behalf of a user, the MPAA asked an Eastern Virginia District Court to ensure that no illegally downloaded copyrighted...
Policy & Law
Decision on Megaupload's data put on hold as US judge requests more information from FBI
It's not quite a freeze in the ongoing Megaupload case, but US district court judge Liam O'Grady today applied the breaks to discussion of what to do with the massive amount of data stored on Megaupload's servers. Before that question could be resolved, O'Grady said, the more pressing issue of why the FBI didn't formally server criminal papers to Megaupload (as opposed to Kim Dotcom himself) needed to be studied. The issue was apparently enough for O'Grady to remark "I frankly don't know that...
Can EFF defend innocent third parties amid the Megaupload data fallout?
When the US government seized 25 petabytes of data from filesharing service Megaupload in January, copyright infringers weren't the only ones who took a hit. Countless third parties who used the service for legitimate purposes, both commercial and personal, were also caught in the government's anti-piracy dragnet. By now you probably know one of them, Kyle Goodwin of Ohio, who suffered an ill-timed hard drive crash at the time of the Megaupload seizure, leaving countless hours of precious...
Policy & Law
EFF files brief on behalf of Megaupload user, requests 'the rightful return' of his video files
You may recall that the user files contained on Megaupload's servers — some 25 petabytes worth — were in danger of being deleted last February. Hosting company Carpathia still has them, however, and now the Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a brief in a US District Court for a user who wants his data back. According to the document, Kyle Goodwin hosted video files for his business, OhioSportsNet, on Megaupload as a backup to his own hard drive. After a hard drive crash, he lost all...
Policy & Law
Megaupload users face fake settlement requests, but MPAA says it's not keeping data to sue users
Megaupload may be gone, but its users are just starting to feel the pressure of potential legal action for copyright infringement. The MPAA has petitioned Carpathia, which hosts 25 petabytes of files formerly from Megaupload, to keep it in hopes of using the user data and other information as part of a lawsuit against the company. In the letter, which surfaced as part of a court filing by Carpathia, the MPAA states that it wants the data because "the Studios have civil claims against the...
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Kim Dotcom's first TV interview post-arrest: 'I'm no copyright infringer'
Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom was recently released on bail, and just gave his first TV interview since being arrested to New Zealand's 3 News. Predictably, he used the opportunity to come out with guns blazing against his critics and vowed to conquer his numerous legal issues. He has two main defenses: firstly that the site is far too large for him to police individual instances of piracy, and secondly that competitors like Mediafire and Fileserve provide the exact same service. Dotcom also...
Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom released on bail in New Zealand, not allowed to use the internet
A little over a month has passed since Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom was jailed in New Zealand on charges filed by the US Department of Justice, but now he's surprisingly been freed on bail. A New Zealand judge has decided that it was "very unlikely" that Dotcom had sufficient funds to flee or go into hiding after his main assets had been seized — apparently, four bank accounts were discovered in the Philippines, but they were all empty. While US prosecutors said that it was likely Dotcom...
Policy & Law
Additional charges filed against Megaupload and Kim Dotcom in piracy case
New charges were filed Thursday in the case against Megaupload and its co-founder Kim Dotcom, expanding the scope of the accusations and providing additional details that could hamper Megaupload's defense. The nine additional charges add wire fraud to the mix, bringing the total number of allegations against the company to fourteen. Megaupload is now also directly accused of reproducing content from outside sites — including YouTube — and making it available for download. It's a notable...
Megaupload user data safe, for two more weeks
Federal prosecutors said that data from users of Megaupload could be obliterated as soon as Thursday, February 2nd, but now it looks like the data has been temporarily escorted away from the chopping block: CNET reports that hosting firms Cogent Communications and Carpathia Hosting have agreed to hold onto the data for a minimum of two weeks, according to Megaupload's attorney, Ira Rothken. He says that "the hosting companies have been gracious enough to provide additional time so we can work...
FBI used Megaupload Skype conversations to build its case
The FBI reportedly used private Skype IM conversations that it intercepted as a basis for its case against Megaupload, but what isn't clear is how exactly the FBI acquired these conversations. The US Department of Justice told CNET that the evidence was obtained through search warrants, and Skype was not asked to turn over any information to the FBI. According to its privacy policy, Skype only holds data for 30 days, while some of the conversations that the FBI had access to go back up to...
Extradition request for Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom to be filed on February 22nd
Last week, there was a flurry of news surrounding the New Zealand arrest of several high-ranking Megaupload employees (including founder Kim Dotcom) and the subsequent shutdown of Megaupload's server. Now, we're entering the long, drawn-out legal wrangling that typically accompany a major case such as this, with the first step being Kim Dotcom's extradition to the US. According to a Reuters report, this won't be a simple matter: after being denied bail, Dotcom will be under custody until at...
RapidShare and Megaupload attorneys draw defensive comparisons to Dropbox, YouTube
It's been less than a week since Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom was arrested and the file-sharing site seized, and we've already seen a wave of reaction, with one competitor disabling its own sharing functionality and hacker group Anonymous attacking the RIAA, Universal Music Group, and others. Now it's time for the PR battle, with attorneys from RapidShare and Megaupload using comparisons to services like iCloud and YouTube to defend their respective sites in two recent interviews.
Speaking...
Megaupload case begins: Kim Dotcom requests bail, police raid detailed
The beginning of the cases against Megaupload is upon us, with a bail hearing in New Zealand. In it, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom's lawyer requested bail, arguing that he was not a flight risk and said he was innocent: "Mr Dotcom emphatically denies any criminal misconduct or wrongdoing, and denies the existence of a Mega Conspiracy."
During the trial, the defense and state also engaged in a back and forth over the circumstances of Dotcom's arrest after a police raid on his mansion....
In wake of Megaupload arrests, FileSonic shutters file-sharing service
In an apparent reaction to the US Department of Justice's seizure of Megaupload's assets, FileSonic has disabled its own file-sharing functionality. The site previously offered storage and sharing services similar to the now-defunct Megaupload, but its front page currently reads, "All sharing functionality on FileSonic is now disabled. Our service can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally." Other than that banner, FileSonic's been quiet on the subject;...
Policy & Law
Megaupload dismisses Universal from takedown suit, continues case against others?
The Hollywood Reporter is today claiming that Megaupload has dropped Universal Music Group from the unlawful takedown lawsuit filed last month after its celebrity-laden endorsement video was yanked from YouTube. Still, this doesn't mean things are settled just yet; Megaupload's lawyers are believed to be continuing the case against several anonymous "John Doe" parties directly involved in the removal process. Further, the company seems to be less than enthralled with Google's cooperation in...
Anonymous claims DOJ and record label site takedowns in response to Megaupload suit
By all appearances, hacker group Anonymous isn't too happy with the Department of Justice's move to take down file sharing site Megaupload today, because it's now claiming that it's knocked the DOJ's site off the internet — and for what it's worth, we're not able to load it. Likewise for Universal Music, one of the labels most directly opposed to Megaupload's existence, along with the RIAA's and MPAA's websites. Anonymous is apparently saying that there's "more to come," so it would seem...
Policy & Law
Justice Department calls Megaupload an 'international organized criminal enterprise,' founder Kim Dotcom arrested in New Zealand
The United States Justice Department filed charges against Megaupload today, calling the file-sharing service an "international organized criminal enterprise allegedly responsible for massive worldwide online piracy." Founder Kim Dotcom and three Megaupload executives were arrested today in Auckland, New Zealand at the request of the US government under provisional arrest warrants, and the DOJ describes three other execs as "at large."
The complaint alleges that Megaupload, founder Kim...
Policy & Law
Universal has a backdoor into YouTube's CMS, set it to automatically remove Megaupload music video (update)
Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like we all had it wrong. When Universal Music Group censored Megaupload's star-studded promo video, it didn't send a DMCA request at all — rather, the company reached right into YouTube's content management system (CMS) and removed the video all by itself. According to a letter from UMG's lawyers, the music label has a special agreement with YouTube that allows it to directly remove content even when it doesn't infringe a copyright it holds, and they claim...
Policy & Law
Universal has 'Tech News Today' episode yanked from YouTube for reporting on MegaUpload promo video
We're still not sure what to make of the strange war that's erupted between file sharing service MegaUpload and Universal Media Group after MegaUpload posted a promo video that appears to feature Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, and others, but we do know that it's starting to leave some ugly collateral damage: Universal had Monday's episode of Tech News Today pulled off of YouTube for simply reporting on the controversy. Host Tom Merritt and crew played two clips of the "Mega Song" video while...
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Megaupload song artists 'never consented to being portrayed in this video' — Universal
It looks like Kim Dotcom's arguments might not have been as watertight as he insisted: Universal Music Group has released a statement saying that some of the artists featured in the I Use Megaupload video didn't consent to their image being used. The Megaupload founder succeeded in his original plea to YouTube to have the video reinstated, only for UMG to issue another DMCA takedown notice leading to the video vanishing again. Megaupload has since filed a lawsuit against UMG for...
Megaupload's promotional music video unfairly pulled by UMG, says founder
Like most people, we look to Kim Kardashian and Kanye when choosing digital file sharing services. Unfortunately, Megaupload's new promotional music video featuring the pair has been pulled by YouTube in what the company is characterizing as an abuse of power by Universal Music Group. Megaupload's colorful founder Kim Dotcom commissioned the original song and video, which features celebrities like West, will.i.am, and Jamie Foxx rapping their love for the service, as part of a new promotional...
