MegaUpload User Data Soon to be Destroyed
• Ernesto
• January 30, 2012
https://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-user-data-soon-to-be-destroyed-120130/
MegaUpload has received a letter from the US Attorney informing the company
that data uploaded by its users may be destroyed before the end of the week.
The looming wipe-out is the result of MegaUpload’s lack of funds to pay for the
servers. Behind the scenes, MegaUpload is hoping to convince the US Government
that it’s in the best interest of everyone involved to allow users to access
their data, at least temporarily.
In the wake of the MegaUpload shutdown many of the site’s users have complained
about the personal files that were lost as collateral damage.
>From work-related data to personal photos, the raid disabled access to
>hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of files that are clearly not
>infringing. A recent announcement by the US Attorney now suggests that these
>files may soon be lost forever.
“We received a letter very late Friday from the US Attorney that declared there
could be an imminent destruction of Megaupload consumer data files on this
coming Thursday,” MegaUpload lawyer Ira Rothken told TorrentFreak.
Rothken explains that MegaUpload is determined to protect the interests of its
users, but that its hands are tied without help from the authorities. The
looming data loss is linked to unpaid bills at Cogent Communications and
Carpathia Hosting where MegaUpload leased some of its servers.
“We of course would like to think the United States and Megaupload would both
be united in trying to avoid such a consumer protection calamity whereby
innocent consumers could permanently lose access to everything from word
processing files to family photos and many other things that could never
practically be considered infringing,” the lawyer told TorrentFreak.
“Megaupload’s assets were frozen by the United States. Mega needs funds
unfrozen to pay for bandwidth, hosting, and systems administration in order to
allow consumers to get access to their data stored in the Mega cloud and to
back up the same for safekeeping.”
MegaUpload has contacted the US Attorney’s office with a request to unfreeze
assets including money and domains so users can get access to their personal
data. If this doesn’t happen, the consequences for many MegaUpload users and
the future of other cloud hosting services will be disastrous.
“If the United States fails at helping protect and restore Megaupload consumer
data in an expedient fashion, it will have a chilling effect on cloud computing
in the United States and worldwide. It is one thing to bring a claim for
copyright infringement it is another thing to take down an entire cloud storage
service in Megaupload that has substantial non infringing uses as a matter of
law,” Rothken told us.
Meanwhile, MegaUpload users are also taking action themselves. Last week Pirate
parties worldwide began making a list of all the people affected by the raids,
and they are planning to file a complaint against authorities in the US. The
EFF has also taken an interest in the issue, and is sharing data with the
international Pirate parties.
For now, however, the more urgent matter is to ensure that the data doesn’t get
destroyed.
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Just because i'm near the punchbowl doesn't mean I'm also drinking from it.
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