AfterDawn: Tech news

Megaupload case: Hold the government accountable!

Written by James Delahunty @ 31 Oct 2012 1:25 User comments (15)

Megaupload case: Hold the government accountable! Megaupload user asks court to return property, query government employees.
Kyle Goodwin was a Megaupload customer. Less than a year ago, when Megaupload was subject to a raid, Kyle lost access to his own files, which still have not been released by U.S. law enforcement agencies as the case against Megaupload proceeds.

The court overseeing the Megaupload case is contemplating holding a hearing to get to the bottom of what really happened when the government shut down Megaupload, seized its assets, and deprived millions of customers of their property. Goodwin filed a brief outlining what that hearing should cover, and how, so that the court can get what it needs to help ensure Megaupload's customers finally get their stuff back.

The EFF hopes the court will "hear from government employees, including members of the FBI, who were involved in the January searches and seizures that left Mr. Goodwin without his data, and from an independent expert who can discuss what the government could have done to avoid this scenario and what it can do now to make up for the damage it caused."



The EFF argues that government agents should be mindful of and segregate third-party data to protect privacy concerns, and also apply the same rule to property concerns.

Tags: EFF MegaUpload
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15 user comments

131.10.2012 01:39

Good luck with that.

231.10.2012 01:47

Well the FBI by it's own admission as well as other U.S government dept's also had files stored on megaupload,as has previously been reported on AD,way i see it the U.S gov pwnd itself

331.10.2012 05:35

Who's dumb enough to keep their only copies of stuff on such a site anyway?

431.10.2012 08:48
shaitan667
Unverified new user

Originally posted by xnonsuchx:
Who's dumb enough to keep their only copies of stuff on such a site anyway?
Maybe someone who doesn't use it for nefarious purposes and/or is unaware that other people do...

531.10.2012 09:34

All my data is backed up on two seperate hard drives besides the HD in my PC. Doubled redundancy in my home. I don't trust storing any data in the cloud.

631.10.2012 10:10

Actually if you realize that people that dont want i cloud and have to transfer documents between countries need sites like megaupload and even rapidshare but they need to notice hackers use slang terms to hide illegal content so they should have looked there first and not denied people access to legit files

731.10.2012 13:07

Originally posted by shaitan667:
Originally posted by xnonsuchx:
Who's dumb enough to keep their only copies of stuff on such a site anyway?
Maybe someone who doesn't use it for nefarious purposes and/or is unaware that other people do...



Yeah.......right.......those "unaware of said nefarious uses" should be racing in the Kentucky Derby as they have BLINDERS ON.

Ignorance is not an excuse!

831.10.2012 16:39

Originally posted by shaitan667:
Originally posted by xnonsuchx:
Who's dumb enough to keep their only copies of stuff on such a site anyway?
Maybe someone who doesn't use it for nefarious purposes and/or is unaware that other people do...



Yup, "dumb enough."

931.10.2012 19:51

Originally posted by hearme0:
Originally posted by shaitan667:
Originally posted by xnonsuchx:
Who's dumb enough to keep their only copies of stuff on such a site anyway?
Maybe someone who doesn't use it for nefarious purposes and/or is unaware that other people do...



Yeah.......right.......those "unaware of said nefarious uses" should be racing in the Kentucky Derby as they have BLINDERS ON.

Ignorance is not an excuse!
Backing up files to a filelocker is a perfectly legitimate thing...the government didn't just shut down shares; they shut down private accounts as well. Would I put my only copy online? Of course not...but if I have an online backup and my HDD fails, I'd be pretty pissed off that the government wouldn't let me access my PRIVATE online backup because someone used the same service for other uses. By that token, they might as well just shut down the whole internet because some people use it for piracy, shut down all the roads because some people use them for smuggling, and remove all the oxygen from the air because some people breath it while robbing banks.

1031.10.2012 20:19

The New Megaupload Site is on:
http://Kim.com

Millions of users hitting at once. I'm delighted by the interest. But servers can't handle it. The new Mega will. WOW!!! ~ @KimDotcom

Funny how history repeats itself: Big power bullies little guy. Little guy gets help from army of little guys. Big power fails. ~ @KimDotcom

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 01 Nov 2012 @ 5:33

111.11.2012 10:03

Originally posted by xnonsuchx:
Who's dumb enough to keep their only copies of stuff on such a site anyway?
Not really dumb for 2 reasons. 1 the stuff will be returned. 2 There will be financial compensation as a result. So I guess the users get the last laugh.

121.11.2012 14:13

I would have thought Megaupload, and any online file storage facility, would keep back-ups in case their drives or servers broke down, they would be held accountable for any loss of data left in their care, so it should be perfectly safe to store your data online.

Whether or not other users used MU for less than legal storage is neither here nor there. When the site was shut down the FBI or whatever agency took it offline became the holders of that data, and if they can't or refuse to return any legal files to the rightful owners, it's paramount to theft.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 01 Nov 2012 @ 2:13

131.11.2012 14:41

Originally posted by KillerBug:
Originally posted by hearme0:
Originally posted by shaitan667:
Originally posted by xnonsuchx:
Who's dumb enough to keep their only copies of stuff on such a site anyway?
Maybe someone who doesn't use it for nefarious purposes and/or is unaware that other people do...



Yeah.......right.......those "unaware of said nefarious uses" should be racing in the Kentucky Derby as they have BLINDERS ON.

Ignorance is not an excuse!
Backing up files to a filelocker is a perfectly legitimate thing...the government didn't just shut down shares; they shut down private accounts as well. Would I put my only copy online? Of course not...but if I have an online backup and my HDD fails, I'd be pretty pissed off that the government wouldn't let me access my PRIVATE online backup because someone used the same service for other uses. By that token, they might as well just shut down the whole internet because some people use it for piracy, shut down all the roads because some people use them for smuggling, and remove all the oxygen from the air because some people breath it while robbing banks.
Are you blind?!?!?!

Are you that dense?!?!?!

Megaupload was known for 1 major thing.......piracy. I know that, you SHOULD have known that, everyone knows that and the government knows too. Of course there are a small few that used it legitimately but that holds true with anything in this world so don't be defending the stupidity of others that backed up critical or needed data on a clearly infringing web locker!

142.11.2012 00:18

How are Megaupload or Rapidshare any different from cloud storage currently in vogue. Only difference is the number of people who can access this data. Wait for sometime and solution to this too will be found.

152.11.2012 08:33

Originally posted by hearme0:

Megaupload was known for 1 major thing.......piracy. I know that, you SHOULD have known that, everyone knows that and the government knows too. Of course there are a small few that used it legitimately but that holds true with anything in this world so don't be defending the stupidity of others that backed up critical or needed data on a clearly infringing web locker!
Their primary customer may have been file sharers...I don't have the numbers, but that isn't always piracy. I can't count the number of times I've tried to get freeware only to click the link and get the FBI message saying megaupload is down. Same with public domain music...tons of sites used megaupload for this...some have moved to other sites, but others just uploaded everything 5 years ago and never replaced the links after the takedown.

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