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@ 2012/11/02The founder of the banned Megaupload filesharing site, Kim Dotcom, has set up a new file sharing site which is designed to sidestep American laws.
Big Content's case against Dotcom is floundering both in New Zealand, where his extradition hearing looks flaky, and in the US where it appears that he might walk on a technicality.
He is being prosecuted for £175 million worth of alleged online piracy, racketeering and money laundering.
While most of his company was stolen by the FBI and shut down, Dotcom had promised that he would be back. He announced a new online storage service, saying it would give users direct control, and responsibility, over their files. The site has previously been referred to as Megabox.
According to the Guardian, Mega will launch in January 2013, just before Dotcom is scheduled to face a New Zealand extradition hearing brought on by the United States.
The site will not use US-based hosting companies to avoid a repeat of the Megaupload situation.
The new company does not use US domains and US backbone providers and has changed the way it operates to avoid another takedown.
Users of Mega would be able to upload, store and share photos, text files, music and films. These would then be encrypted and only those with unique decryption keys will have access, Dotcom said.
And this would make the company immune to legal action over copyright infringement.
However he said that content owners could remove infringing material and they will even get direct delete access if they agree not to make Mega responsible for the actions of users. This seems then that Mega might be not quite telling the truth about him having no control over content.
Still it will make for another interesting day in court.
Big Content's case against Dotcom is floundering both in New Zealand, where his extradition hearing looks flaky, and in the US where it appears that he might walk on a technicality.
He is being prosecuted for £175 million worth of alleged online piracy, racketeering and money laundering.
While most of his company was stolen by the FBI and shut down, Dotcom had promised that he would be back. He announced a new online storage service, saying it would give users direct control, and responsibility, over their files. The site has previously been referred to as Megabox.
According to the Guardian, Mega will launch in January 2013, just before Dotcom is scheduled to face a New Zealand extradition hearing brought on by the United States.
The site will not use US-based hosting companies to avoid a repeat of the Megaupload situation.
The new company does not use US domains and US backbone providers and has changed the way it operates to avoid another takedown.
Users of Mega would be able to upload, store and share photos, text files, music and films. These would then be encrypted and only those with unique decryption keys will have access, Dotcom said.
And this would make the company immune to legal action over copyright infringement.
However he said that content owners could remove infringing material and they will even get direct delete access if they agree not to make Mega responsible for the actions of users. This seems then that Mega might be not quite telling the truth about him having no control over content.
Still it will make for another interesting day in court.
