The Verge - Mega and the return of Kim Dotcom

Kim Dotcom teases new 'secure' and private Mega email, chat, voice, and video services

2013-02-17T02:54:03Z

As part of a (brief) rant on Twitter today about the dangers of using web services that are based in the United States, Mega founder Kim Dotcom said the service will expand "in the coming years" beyond cloud storage to offer secure email, web chat, voice, video, and "mobile" (emphasis his) products. Naturally, no details have been offered beyond the single tweet teasing the new features, but from a series of messages on Twitter it's clear that the focus is on privacy. The tease came after Dotcom advised his followers not to use US-based web services, like Gmail, Skype, and iCloud, claiming that they have to "provide (by law) secret & untraceable NSA backdoors to all your data." The expanded web services would most certainly be based in...

Top New Zealand web exec joins Kim Dotcom, compares Mega to Google

2013-02-08T15:40:34Z

Controversial cloud hosting site Mega, the successor to the infamous piracy hub Megaupload, just got a major boost in credibility from a high-profile New Zealand internet executive and advocate.

Vikram Kumar, the former head of the company that administers the .nz domain, just announced he has joined Mega as CEO. "From meeting with the Mega team, I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that they intend to run the company in a manner that is well within both the letter and spirit of the law," Kumar said in a blog post announcing the move.

Kumar compared Mega's launch to Google's launch of Gmail, suggesting that Mega could be the next "significant Internet services company out of New Zealand." Mega has signed up more than two million users...

Pirates beware: Kim Dotcom's Mega isn't the safe haven he says it is

2013-01-31T19:30:08Z

Kim Dotcom — the infamous, indefatigable internet entrepreneur with an unidentifiable European cadence and the bravado of a Bond villain — is back in our lives. Exactly a year after his website Megaupload was shut down due to charges of copyright infringement, Dotcom has come out with a new venture called Mega.

Mega is ostensibly a cheap way to store files online, offering an insanely generous 50 GB of space for free. It also offers some additional security to protect your data from prying eyes, although the effectiveness has been challenged. Dotcom and his cofounders ran one of the world’s most influential hubs for the market in pirated movies, so of course the new Mega has started attracting pirates — although not as many as you...

Kim Dotcom claims over one million Mega users during outrageous launch party

2013-01-20T21:03:58Z

In just one day, Kim Dotcom's new Mega service has reportedly garnered over one million users. The impressive tally was revealed by Dotcom himself during a lavish launch party for the cloud storage platform in New Zealand. No doubt pleased with this early momentum, Dotcom said bluntly, "we cannot be stopped." Further, he emphasized that Mega was built from the ground up after MegaUpload was felled by the US Justice Department, which deemed Dotcom's previous project to be an "international organized criminal enterprise" that permitted piracy on a grand scale. The two web services thus share little to no code in common. "We have scrutinized every pixel to ensure it’s built from the ground up to adhere to the law," Dotcom insists.

Still,...

Kim Dotcom launches Mega, teases new movie service

2013-01-19T18:07:13Z

Today, Kim Dotcom launched his new file storage service Mega on the one-year anniversary of Megaupload's takedown. The cloud storage service is currently under heavy load, with thousands of user registrations per minute and 100,000 registered users within the site's first hour, according to Dotcom.

Mega — intended as a competitor to popular storage solutions such as Dropbox — is a simple, drag-and-drop storage solution that allows users to share files via public link. In order to avoid copyright issues that led to Megaupload's takedown one year ago, Mega has implemented a new encryption system. This system, intended to protect both itself and its users from potential hacks or government raids, means that the service will not have...

Kim Dotcom's Mega to take on Dropbox with massive cloud storage

2013-01-18T17:07:59Z

Kim Dotcom's new venture Mega isn't scheduled to launch publicly until tomorrow, but some press outlets including TechCrunch are getting an early peek at the cloud service right now. In addition to the complimentary 50GB that all users can expect to receive, Mega will also be offering paid tiers for those that demand more capacity — to be used for totally legal purposes, of course. The incremental "Pro" options offer 500GB, 2TB, and 4TB of cloud for €9.99, €19.99 and €29.99, respectively. Jumping up to the Pro packages also means you'll be able to share your files with more people; the 500GB package comes with 1TB of bandwidth while the 2TB and 4TB are each allocated 4TB and 8TB.

And there's more on the way. Unsurprisingly, Mega...

Kim Dotcom promises 50GB of free storage for Mega service launching on Saturday

2013-01-18T00:39:04Z

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 users. For example you get 50GB storage for free ;-)
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) January 17, 2013

Dotcom says that his lawyers are working on a way to get MegaUpload users access to their previously stored files and premium status, but it...

Kim Dotcom reveals plans to build $330 million internet cable between US and New Zealand

2012-11-05T19:48:54Z

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 higher speeds for a lower cost. Access to the fiber cable would be free for ISPs, while government agencies and businesses would be charged a premium.

Dotcom has recently taken to philanthropic gestures in the country after a New Zealand court ruled...