Megaupload User Data to Be Destroyed

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Will users have a chance to save their data?

The shutting down of MegaUpload is one of the biggest news stories of 2012. The piracy aspect of the story is, of course, impossible to ignore. However, there are also people that used MegaUpload to store (legal) personal files and data. These people have no way of accessing their files and if MegaUpload can't convince the United States to allow them temporary access to the service, they might lose them for good.

TorrentFreak reports that 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. 

"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.

The decision to delete user data is said to be a result of MegaUpload's inability to pay for the servers. The site's assets were frozen by the U.S. government so it cannot pay for the bandwidth to store users' data. This means MegaUpload users may not have the chance to save their data before it's deleted. According to TF, MegaUpload is in the process of trying to convince the government to allow users temporary access to the service.

"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," said Rothken. 

Rothken said today that after talks with different parties, users' data is safe for at least two more weeks. This will mean more time for MegaUpload and the U.S. government to sort out a way for users to access their data before it is wiped.

Jane McEntegart
54 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jellico
    Shyeah... the taking down of Megaupload demonstrates that the government can do everything that they said they needed SOPA and PIPA to accomplish. Can you imagine the kind of shenanigans that would be going on if they passed those POS pieces of legislation?
    Reply
  • kcorp2003
    they better give me full access to re-download my ~340GB of data. i'm really annoyed at this.
    Reply
  • sseyler
    The state of this country is surreal.
    Reply
  • darkchazz
    This is really sad, megaupload was my favorite site for hosting/downloading mods for pc games :(
    Reply
  • southernshark
    WE need to bail on the USA, invest in infrastructure overseas.
    Reply
  • I want to know who name the US police of the world. So if you do not respect their their laws they cant hunt you in any part of the world, shutdown your business and trow you in jail. I still remember that in 94 the US started a antipiracy campaing in a country in south america because they changed the source of equipment from Miami to China.
    Reply
  • sseylerThe state of this country is surreal.
    It will go on only until enough people get together to stop it. As long as people don't care about their rights, their rights will be slowly taken away.
    Reply
  • Richeemxx
    hotsacomanIt will go on only until enough people get together to stop it. As long as people don't care about their rights, their rights will be slowly taken away.
    Exactly what "Right" do you think is being violated here?

    It really wouldn't make sense for the government to actually delete the data unless they've already backed it all up. They'd be deleting evidence in their own case. MegaUpload and one of the hosting sites are looking for legal remedies. The problem there is since the data is evidence in an on-going case the government wouldn't have to turn it over, nor would they have to allow access, until after the case is resolved.
    Reply
  • acadia11
    hotsacomanIt will go on only until enough people get together to stop it. As long as people don't care about their rights, their rights will be slowly taken away.
    It's not people, it's money and power, and corporations have it, and the people are too stupid to realize that. Corporations have people convinced it's "class warfare" if you decry their practices, or that people not wanting to get ....ed is "envy", or that everyone or anyone can be rich. The fact is capitalism works like this you get power and leverage and once you have it, it's virtually impossible for someone who is not of the same stature to compete. Period. Can a mom and pop shop compete with Walmart heck no... is it the case that Walmart is better , no it's simply a case of they ahve the power and leverage to dominate the market, end of story.
    Reply
  • Richeemxx
    I should edit that to say, unless the government has already backed up the data or gathered it all, it would make sense for them to allow the hosting companies to "purge" it. As its evidence in their on-going case. From my understanding the deletion comes from the companies themselves and not via goverment order.

    Carpathia Hosting does not have, and has never had, access to the content on MegaUpload servers and has no mechanism for returning any content residing on such servers to MegaUpload’s customers.

    I'm curious why they don't have access? Surely the government didn't just come in and take the servers or drives?
    Reply