[governance] Kim Dotcom plans 'Mega' comeback with new cloud storage service

[Riaz K Tayob]

{Are prosecutors going to be outsmarted by technology...?]


  Kim Dotcom plans 'Mega' comeback with new cloud storage service

19 Jan 2013 13:32 - Naomi Tajitsu <http://mg.co.za/author/naomi-tajitsu>

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Kim Dotcom, founder of the outlawed Megaupload, said his new 
"cyberlocker" was not revenge on US authorities who have charged him 
with online piracy.


      More Coverage

  * New Zealand allows Megaupload's Dotcom access to spy records
    <http://mg.co.za/article/2012-12-06-new-zealand-allows-megauploads-dotcom-access-to-spy-records>
  * NZ judge rules Kim Dotcom raids were illegal
    <http://mg.co.za/article/2012-06-28-nz-judge-rules-kim-dotcom-raids-are-illegal>
  * Bail bid fails: Jail for Dotcom as pirate hunters nail Megaupload
    <http://mg.co.za/article/2012-01-23-megaupload-boss-detained-on-internet-piracy-charges>

<http://ad.za.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh%3Dv8/3d6f/3/0/%2a/w%3B253181763%3B0-0%3B0%3B29526091%3B4307-300/250%3B46533008/46549736/1%3B%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhttp://property.mg.co.za/>

Dotcom said his new offering, Mega.co.nz, which will launch on Sunday 
even as he and three colleagues await extradition from New Zealand to 
the United States, complied with the law and warned that attempts to 
take it down would be futile.

"This is not some kind of finger to the US government or to Hollywood," 
Dotcom told Reuters at his sprawling estate in the bucolic hills of 
Coatesville, just outside Auckland, New Zealand, a country known more 
for sheep, rugby and the Hobbit than flamboyant tech tycoons.

"Legally, there's just nothing there that could be used to shut us down. 
This site is just as legitimate and has the right to exist as Dropbox, 
Boxnet and other competitors," he said, referring to other popular cloud 
storage services.

His lawyer, Ira Rothken, added that launching the site was compliant 
with the terms of Dotcom's bail conditions.

US prosecutors argue that Dotcom in a statement said he had no intention 
of starting a new internet business until his extradition was resolved.

Dotcom said Mega was a different beast to Megaupload, as the new site 
enables users to control exactly which users can access uploaded files, 
in contrast to its predecessor, which allowed users to search files, 
some of which contained copyrighted content allegedly without permission.

A sophisticated encryption system will allow users to encode their files 
before they upload them on to the site's servers, which Dotcom said were 
located in New Zealand and overseas.

Each file will then be issued a unique, sophisticated decryption key 
which only the file holder will control, allowing them to share the file 
as they choose.

As a result, the site's operators would have no access to the files, 
which they say would strip them from any possible liability for 
knowingly enabling users to distribute copyright-infringing content, 
which Washington says is illegal.

"Even if we wanted to, we can't go into your file and snoop and see what 
you have in there," the burly Dotcom said.

Dotcom said Mega would comply with orders from copyright holders to 
remove infringing material, which will afford it the "safe harbour" 
legal provision, which minimises liability on the condition that a party 
acted in good faith to comply.

But some legal experts say it may be difficult to claim the protection 
if they do not know what users have stored.

The Motion Pictures Association of America said encrypting files alone 
would not protect Dotcom from liability.

"We'll reserve final judgment until we have a chance to analyse the new 
project," a spokesperson told Reuters. "But given Kim Dotcom's history, 
count us as sceptical."

The German national, who also goes by Kim Schmitz, expects huge interest 
in its first month of operation, which would be a far cry from when 
Megaupload went live in 2005.

"I would be surprised if we had less than one million users," Dotcom said.

*A year on*
Mega's launch starts the next chapter of the Dotcom narrative, dotted 
with previous cyber crime-related arrests and whose twists and turns 
have been scrutinised by all facets of the entertainment industry, from 
film studios and record labels to internet service companies and teenage 
gamers.

The copyright infringement case, billed as the largest to date given 
that Megaupload in its heyday commanded around four percent of global 
online traffic, could set a precedent for internet liability laws and 
depending on its outcome, may force entertainment companies to rethink 
their distribution methods.

A year on, the extradition hearing has been delayed until August, 
complicated by illegal arrest warrants and the New Zealand government's 
admission that it had illegally spied on Dotcom, who has residency 
status in the country.

Last January, New Zealand's elite special tactics forces landed by 
helicopter at dawn in the grounds of Dotcom's mansion, worth roughly 
NZ$30 million ($25.05 million) and featuring a servants' wing, hedge 
maze and life-size statues of giraffes and a rhinoceros, to arrest him 
and his colleagues at the request of the FBI.

Police armed with semi-automatic weapons found Dotcom cowering alone in 
a panic room in the attic, while outside, a convoy of police cars and 
vans pulled up in the driveway. Around 70 officers took part in the raid.

They left with computers, files and some of Dotcom's fleet of 
Rolls-Royces, Mercedes and a vintage pink Cadillac tricked with 
personalised licence plates screaming "HACKER", "EVIL", and "MAFIA".

"Every time you hear a helicopter, you automatically think, 'Oh, another 
raid', so it's something that stays with you for a long time," said 
Dotcom, who says he and his wife still panic when they hear sudden, loud 
noises in the house.

Dotcom was coy about the details of the launch party as builders put the 
finishing touches to a festival-sized concert stage in the mansion's 
grounds, while two helicopters circled overhead.

But if the impromptu, Willy Wonka-styled ice cream social he threw in 
Auckland earlier in the week is any indication, the party could be a 
more wholesome affair compared with the well-documented soirees of 
Dotcom's past, where nightclubs, hot tubs and scantily clad women were a 
common fixture.

"I had to grow up, you know, I was a big baby," he said. "Big baby with 
too much money usually leads to baby craziness.

"I am going to be more of a person that wants to help to make things 
better and help Internet innovation to take off without all these 
restrictions by governments. That is going to be my primary goal if this 
business is successful." -- Reuters.

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