By Emma Woollacott, Contributor
I’m delighted to have been asked to cover internet piracy for Forbes, not least because it’s an entertaining beat as well as an important one. From the woman fined $222,000 for illegally downloading two dozen songs to the antics of file-sharing fat-boy Kim Dotcom, it’s an area fraught with confusion, wild claims and frankly outrageous behavior from players on both sides of the fence.
Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom said that “interesting facts” will emerge in his ongoing pitched battle against extradition to the United States over copyright infringement. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Megaupload’s Kim Dotcom will be allowed to pursue damages against New Zealand’s spy agency for illegally spying on him, the country’s Court of Appeal ruled Thursday.
The court upheld in part a High Court decision from December that added the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) as a defendant in the case, which was opposed and later appealed by New Zealand’s attorney general.
Dotcom and several of his colleagues were spied on starting in December 2011 by the GCSB leading up to the January 2012 raid on his mansion outside of Auckland. The spying was later found to be illegal since Dotcom, who has German and Finnish citizenship, and Bram van der Kolk, who is Dutch, are permanent residents of New Zealand.
The GCSB is allowed to observe foreign nationals but was unaware of Dotcom and van der Kolk’s residency status. In September, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key called for an inquiry and expressed “disappointment that unlawful acts had taken place.”
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…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld
Online entrepreneur Kim Dotcom has brushed aside an increased risk of extradition to the United States, after New Zealand judges overturned a lower court's demand about evidence.
Mega will accept the virtual currency bitcoin for subscriptions for more storage space on the file-sharing service, cofounder Kim Dotcom announced on Twitter. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Computerworld Latest
Mega will accept the virtual currency bitcoin for subscriptions for more storage space on the file-sharing service, cofounder Kim Dotcom announced on Twitter.
Mega is the second prominent website in a week to say it will accept payment in bitcoin, which has been slowly gaining traction mostly with online merchants. Reddit announced last week it will take bitcoin for its “Gold” premium service, which lets users turn off advertisements and use a range of editing tools. The blogging platform WordPress began accepting bitcoin last November.
Bitcoin’s technical design may appeal to Mega users. In order to spend a bitcoin—which is basically an encrypted number—users don’t have to divulge the range of personal details required for an online credit-card transaction.
Although there are advanced hacking attacks, it is generally very difficult to fraudulently spend a bitcoin. Merchants accepting the virtual currency do not have to fear the transaction may be reversed if fraud is suspected, which occurs with credit card payments and is known as a chargeback.
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…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld
By Anthony Wing Kosner In my second post about the new MEGA encrypted file service I discussed the chess game that Kim Dotcom was playing with the policers of copyright. Dotcom designed the system, “So it doesn?t know what you are storing on its servers and it can?t find out.” Pretty clever, eh? So I asked, “Is this a checkmate from the legal standpoint?” I answered my own question, “Not so fast.” MEGA, of course, is not operating in a vacuum:
The whole system can still be undone by its users, who have the power to share their files and the encryption keys to those files as they choose. Even though the terms of service strictly forbid uploading and distributing copyrighted material, users routinely ignore TOS?especially for a site whose lineage involves infringement on a massive scale. If users are sloppy with their links and post them to public sites that index pirated material, MEGA could face clear external evidence of what is on its servers?even if it cannot see the files itself.
In fact, less than a week after MEGA launched, its users?whether sloppy, defiant or just plain stupid?have done just that and posted links to their own files on an index site (seemingly operated out of France) called MEGA–SEARCH.ME (or SEARCH.ME MEGA, you pick). As you can see from the scrren shot above, the most popular mateial in the video section is clearly copyrighted material, disproportionately in French, some of it porn.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Technology
The file-sharing service Mega has fielded 150 copyright warnings since its recent launch as founder Kim Dotcom grows a risky new business while under indictment by U.S. prosecutors for running Megaupload.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Computerworld Latest
New Zealand entrepreneur Kim Dotcom—still wanted by U.S. authorities on allegations of copyright infringement—launched a new online service this week for storing and sharing files.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
By Dave Thier, Contributor I’m reminded of a scene from the Sopranos when I think about Kim Dotcom. Tony is in the hospital, and he’s hanging out with a
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Kim Dotcom’s bold new venture, the file-storage and sharing service Mega, is drawing criticism as security researchers analyze how the site protects users’ data. In short, they advise: don’t trust it.
While Mega officials admit they’re “newbies” to JavaScript, the programming language used to execute key elements of their service, they say their website is no more vulnerable than online banking sites to attack.
Dotcom threw a large launch party for Mega on Sunday at his mansion outside of Auckland. The service is the successor to Megaupload, the file-sharing site that Dotcom and his colleagues were indicted for in the U.S. in January 2012 on copyright infringement charges.
Mega
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld
Megaupload founder and alleged online piracy kingpin Kim Dotcom apologised for teething problems with his new file-sharing service Tuesday, saying massive global interest had swamped the website.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Get ready for Mega from the flamboyant Kim Dotcom. The Internet entrepreneur and accused digital outlaw recently launched Mega (short for Mega Encrypted Global Access), a new file storage and sharing service that features 50GB of free storage. Mega is just one component of what Dotcom and his team hope will be a suite of online encrypted services from Mega Ltd. including email, voice calling, instant messaging, and video streaming.
For now, Mega is a Web-based end-to-end encryption file storage service that encrypts your files in the browser before uploading them to Mega’s servers. You can also use Mega to share files with others, and add other Mega users to your contact list for easy drag-and-drop sharing.
I’ve been playing around with Mega recently, and the service is pretty slick. However, it also appears that a few lingering bugs hamper overall functionality of the service. Let’s take a look.
Mega says it “pushes the browser to its limits” thanks to the technology it uses for encryption and file transfers. All the current versions of the major browsers (IE, Safari, Firefox, Chrome, and Opera) are supposed to be compatible. The problem is all except one work very poorly.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld
By Ewan Spence, Contributor With the embers are still hot in the fires of launch, Kim Dotcom told the world’s media that his new cloud storage service, Mega, had picked up over one million users on Day One. Which is nice, but compared to the 180 million members that Megaupload once had, there’s still a long way to go. The challenge for Mega will be to see how many members they have in a month, in a quarter, and in a year.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom relaunched his empire yesterday with Mega.co.nz, and celebrated with a
glitzy launch event at his mansion outside of Auckland.
The event featured a performance by local musician Tiki Taane and his father, as well as a dramatisation of an armed offenders squad raid.
A helicopter with ‘FBI‘ printed on the side at one point circled the crowd as men in black abseiled down the side of the Dotcom mansion. At the event,
Dotcom spoke about why Mega was to be trusted with users’ files, given that a significant number of Megaupload users had lost theirs.
“Well, of course I understand that some of our customers will have concerns because of what happened before. And there will be some that say, ‘Hey, we’ll
wait a little bit and see what happens here before we sign up and become customers,” Dotcom said.”But there will be the early adopters. And it will be
those who try it out, and I think once they see how great Mega is, the word will spread quickly and more people will sign up. And I’m actually more
concerned about how I can manage the current growth because there are so many people signing up.”
When asked why Mega was a safer business than Megaupload had been, Dotcom told the audience at Mega’s launch that the service has been “scrutinised by
lawyers like no other internet start-up in history.”
“Every single pixel of this website has been checked for some kinds of issues. Our lawyers have made sure that we are fully compliant with the law,” he
said. “So I don’t think that we need to worry about any kind of takedown anytime soon.”
On privacy and encryption, a Computerworld reporter suggested that perhaps, given that Mega was encrypting all files, the Government would make attempts to
outlaw encryption. However Dotcom reiterated that privacy was a “basic human right.”
“It’s in the United Nations‘ charter of human rights, so I think it will be difficult to outlaw encryption,” he said.
Chief technology officer of Mega, Mathias Ortmann, said the encryption code was open source and as such would be subject to peer review.
“We expect the security community to take a long and hard look and comment on possible weaknesses and implementation errors,” Ortmann said.”To crack the
key by simply trying all possible keys is definitely impossible, the universe is not old enough for that.”
More than 50% internet traffic is piracy, Dotcom says.
When asked about how Mega would prevent abuse, Dotcom said that Megaupload had not been responsible for the actions of its users.
“They are trying to blame us for an internet phenomenon. This wasn’t a Megaupload phenomenon, that there was piracy on Megaupload,” he said. “You can ask
any ISP that connects users to the internet, ‘How much piracy traffic do you have on your network?’. And anyone who will tell you less than 50% is a liar.”
Every internet company has to deal with piracy issues, Dotcom said, including reputable organisations like YouTube.
“Why are they coming here, to New Zealand, [to] rip me out of my house when everyone has to deal with the same issues? They can’t blame me for the actions
of third parties.” “If someone speeds in a car they bought you don’t go to the car manufacturer and say, ‘We’re shutting you down.'”
Dotcom also spoke of sister service Megabox, which is yet to be launched. Megabox is to be a service designed for musicians to upload music and get
royalties when their music is played on the website.
“Megabox is still under development,” he said. “It will take at least another six month before that site goes live. I’m a perfectionist and I’m not going
to release a product that I’m not 100% sure of. And Megabox still needs some improvements. But it’s going to be an awesome site, it’s definitely going to
change the music industry.”
Dotcom said Megabox would give the power back to the artists and creators of content. Artists using Megabox will keep the “lion’s share” – 90% – of revenue
from the service for themselves, he said.
Now that Mega is launched, Dotcom said he will be taking a break from the limelight.
“I am getting tired of seeing myself in the news,” he said, “so I can’t imagine how a lot of New Zealanders feel.””The next time you hear from me will
probably be when I am in court, fighting my case if it comes to that. I’m going to take myself a step back.”
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld
Indicted Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom launched a new file-sharing website on Sunday, promising users amped-up privacy levels in a defiant move against the U.S. prosecutors who accuse him of facilitating massive online piracy.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
By Tim Worstall, Contributor It’s rare to see an entirely new company and service get quite this much coverage before it even launches. Kim Dotcom‘s new Mega is all over the press today. Ars Technica has an interview: He was in boyish good spirits as around 150 contractors buzzed around his mansion and its acres of grounds, building a giant “Mega” sign on the front lawn and erecting a mobile stage that production company MadAnt says is New Zealand‘s largest. He mugged for the camera and joked “it’s another raid” as a helicopter flew overhead.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Anthony Wing Kosner, Contributor Controversial file storage tycoon, Kim Dotcom, is launching his new encrypted cloud storage site MEGA in the U.S. tomorrow (note: link not currently active.) The service will offer 50GB of storage for free and three Pro tiers of 500GB to 4TB for $13-$40 a month.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Megaupload is no more, but Mega is reborn. And, this time, the site promises to play by the rules.
While the site appears to offer simple cloud storage for now, Mega promises in the coming weeks to release more features, including “mobile access, sync tools for all major platforms, and a mount for Windows.”
The launch of Mega comes exactly a year after the U.S. Justice Department and FBI shuttered file hosting site Megaupload and had the company’s founder and other executives arrested in New Zealand for what the government described as “massive worldwide online piracy.”
Now, founder Kim Dotcom is making a comeback, according to several news organizations, including Forbes.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld
Internet tycoon Kim Dotcom will launch a new file-sharing site at his Auckland mansion on Sunday, exactly a year after armed police arrested him at the same venue in the world’s largest online piracy case.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
