Hasta La Gadget!

Kim Dotcom’s Mega is off to a high-profile start, but today we’re hearing of seemingly inevitable copyright woes for the site. Mega has only been officially up and running for 11 days, but according to ComputerWorld, the website has already received 150 copyright warnings for 250 files. Since Mega lacks a search function and requires users to share links in order to share content (which is encrypted when uploaded), how are these copyright holders finding their content on Mega?

It would seem the problem lies with sites that index the content on Mega, with one site in particular – Mega-search.me – getting some attention today. Users can submit submit links for their Mega files to Mega-search.me, allowing others to access them. Apparently, these copyright holders are finding their content through indexes like Mega-search.me and then issuing takedown requests.

That all appears to add up, but now we run into another problem, as content that’s completely legal is also being taken down. Many of the links on Mega-search.me have gone dead in just a matter of hours, with users seeing their legal content disappearing after receiving a DMCA takedown request. This isn’t very easy to explain, but TorrentFreak suggests that someone out there is filing fake DMCA requests and Mega is complying with most of the copyright warnings.

Another possibility is that Mega itself is targeting these indexes as a way to prevent users from finding and sharing copyrighted content uploaded to the site. Whatever is happening, it’s got some Mega users understandably upset, and the rest of us scratching our heads. We’ll be keeping an ear to the ground for more information, so keep it here at SlashGear for additional details.

Mega search engine listings appear as files get the axe is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

In addition to protecting itself from your pirated content with its see-no-evil encryption, Kim Dotcom’s Mega service aims to stay on the law’s good side by playing nicely with copyright takedown requests and keeping that super important DMCA safe harbor status. So far so good, too; it’s responded to an early batch of requests with all due speed and efficiency. More »

This week the next-generation iteration of online file hosting known as Mega has taken hold, its creator Kim Dotcom making it clear in an interview that this is no Megaupload, his goal being to usher in a new era for the web. This interview took place with the Wall Street Journal and included no lack of assurances from Dotcom that this web service would not end up like the last. Singing some of the same tunes as he did this past weekend at the official launch of the service from his own New Zealand mansion, Dotcom made clear: “Every single pixel on that site has been looked at by lawyers, and of course we are fully compliant with all laws.”

Dotcom’s service here is what he describes as a culmination of seven years working with the largest file serving service in the world, Megaupload, here in 2013 made to be “the best cloud storage business the world has ever seen.” Dotcom’s questions from WSJ also included a query on how large Mega would be getting, be it as large or larger than Megaupload. Dotcom let it be known that “it will hopefully take off within a year” but that “it’s just so good that it’s going to spread” – confidence indeed!

Perhaps the most important bit that Dotcom went into here in the security and multi-tiered service that Mega is now and will soon offer to its users. The following is what Dotcom describes as new and unique about Mega as compared to the Megaupload and Megaupload-like sites of the past:

“I would say the biggest new development is on-the-fly encryption. Without having to install any kind of application—it happens in your browser in the background—it encrypts, giving you privacy. This means when you transfer data, anyone sitting on that line will get nothing as it is all scrambled and impossible to decrypt without your key. This is going to take encryption to the mainstream.

We have some servers in New Zealand, we have some servers in Europe and we have invited hosting partners to sign up to join us. Basically anyone can connect a server in their hosting facility, hook it up to Internet, give us access and we can make it a Megaserver. Every file that is being uploaded to Mega is not just on one server, meaning if one hosting company goes bankrupt then those files will be on least two servers in the world and in two different jurisdictions.” – Dotcom

Have a peek at the timeline below to see what’s happened with Mega since it’s launch and stay tuned as we follow this service through the future as well. Do you use Mega right this minute? Did you utilize Megaupload before it was cut down at the knees by the government powers that be? Let us know what you think!

Kim Dotcom: Mega will “take encryption to the mainstream” is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Mega, Kim Dotcom’s big, flashy new copyright-dismantling file-sharing/storage site with encryption up the wazoo has finally launched. You can head on over and sign up right now. That is, so long as the site can hold under the crazy traffic. So far, it looks like it’s getting crushed. But different people are experiencing different things. More »

The Pirate Bay. It’s a site that lives in infamy, perhaps more than any other site on the history. Lots of powerful people are gunning to take it down, but somehow it’s managed to stay up the whole time. It’s a fascinating story, so this upcoming documentary on the topic is bound to be good. I mean, just watch the trailer. More »