Kim Dotcom fumes as Megaupload user data gets erased

[V-Tech]

 

Kim Dotcom?s old file-hosting website Megaupload has been wiped from the Internet. The website was shut down by the Department of Justice in January of 2012, and Dotcom was arrested and charged with racketeering and money laundering. The data for millions of Megaupload users, however, remained stored on hosting company LeaseWeb?s servers. It was revealed on Wednesday that LeaseWeb wiped its servers in February, effectively erasing Megaupload and its data from the Internet.

 

Dotcom blasted the company on Twitter, claiming that LeaseWeb?s actions resulted in the ?largest data massacre in the history of the Internet.? LeaseWeb?s senior lawyer Alex de Joode explained in a statement to The Verge that it was hosting Megauload?s files for free on 630 servers. After numerous attempts to notify Dotcom, the hosting company repurposed the servers to make them available to paying customers. Dotcom claims that no one from his legal team was notified about the deletion until today.

 

 

http://bgr.com/2013/06/19/megaupload-data-deleted/

[Steven P. Administrators]

 

LeaseWeb?s senior lawyer Alex de Joode explained in a statement to The Verge that it was hosting Megauload?s files for free on 630 servers. After numerous attempts to notify Dotcom, the hosting company repurposed the servers to make them available to paying customers.

Nothing to see here, move along.

[FiB3R]

######

[The Evil Overlord]

Wait, John Goodman's Kim DotCom?

[ZakO]

"Millions of personal #Megaupload files, petabytes of pictures, backups, personal & business property forever destroyed by #LeaseWeb," Dotcom wrote on Twitter. "This is the largest data massacre in the history of the internet caused by the US government, the Department of Justice & #LeaseWeb."

"petabytes of pictures, backups, personal & business property"  :laugh:, I think he means petabytes of warez. Surely nobody actually hosted files they cared about on MegaUpload, it was so full of warez it was obviously going to be shut down sooner or later.

 

Official response from LeaseWeb:

 

When Megaupload was taken offline, 60 servers owned by MegaUpload were directly confiscated by the FIOD and transported to the US. Next to that, MegaUpload still had 630 rented dedicated servers with LeaseWeb. For clarity, these servers were not owned by MegaUpload, they were owned by LeaseWeb. For over a year these servers were being stored and preserved by LeaseWeb, at its own costs. So for over one whole year LeaseWeb kept 630 servers available, without any request to do so and without any compensation.

 

More: http://blog.leaseweb.com/2013/06/19/statement-on-former-client-megaupload/

[Growled Member]

"petabytes of pictures, backups, personal & business property"  :laugh:, I think he means petabytes of warez. Surely nobody actually hosted files they cared about on MegaUpload, it was so full of warez it was obviously going to be shut down sooner or later.

 

 

On every site like that there are actually legitimate stuff on it. It's probably mostly warez, but not all of it is. I've downloaded free programs from developers that couldn't afford the bandwidth. A friend of mine stores his family photos on one such service.

[Haggis Veteran]

On every site like that there are actually legitimate stuff on it. It's probably mostly warez, but not all of it is. I've downloaded free programs from developers that couldn't afford the bandwidth. A friend of mine stores his family photos on one such service.

 

 

yep same here

[Torolol]

of course they delete it,

both Kim & U.S. Govt being stingy and refuse to pay.

[Ash]

of course they delete it,

both Kim & U.S. Govt being stingy and refuse to pay.

Exactly. If he was concerned about the data, he should have personally made sure the server were being paid for. Obviously he's not making money from that data so he wouldn't want to pay for it. He is a moron to expect LeaseWeb to continue to foot the bill.

[primexx]

Exactly. If he was concerned about the data, he should have personally made sure the server were being paid for. Obviously he's not making money from that data so he wouldn't want to pay for it. He is a moron to expect LeaseWeb to continue to foot the bill.

how exactly do you expect Kim to pay for it when the US government siezed all his assets?

[Steven P. Administrators]

how exactly do you expect Kim to pay for it when the US government siezed all his assets?

The courts won the right to give back quite a bit to Kim, one of the things they didn't fight for was funds to pay LeaseWeb.. they kept them for a year and a half, commendable if you ask me. 

[Ash]

how exactly do you expect Kim to pay for it when the US government siezed all his assets?

Probably the same way he was able to fund his new venture "Mega".

 

Also he should have enough connections and clout in that part of the business world to be able to convince someone that it would be worth investing money into keeping the data saved. I mean what, Megaupload was worth 39 million dollars when it was taken down. If he REALLY wanted to, I expect he would have found a way.

 

Hell, he had some of this money unfrozen for living expenses and legal fees. I doubt it would have been difficult to argue that they needed the money unfrozen to keep the data saved on the servers, citing that it is supposed to be evidence against him.

 

All in all he is a resourceful guy. If he wanted that data to be kept, he would have found a way.

[Colin-uk Veteran]

That's a lot of servers.

[Dot Matrix]

Christ, what a toolbox.

[Torolol]

the DJ (O'Grady) actually want the MegaUpload data to be preserved, at least last year:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57413693-93/judge-wants-megaupload-user-data-preserved-for-now/

and to do that the involved hosting companies request financial relief.

 

"Since then, MegaUpload has been unable to keep up the payments to Carpathia Hosting.

Instead of destroying the user data, Carpathia has preserved MegaUpload's servers at its own expense.

Carpathia has asked the court for financial relief in the form of a protective order.

The parties were in court to determine what should be done with the MegaUpload's data."

But it was Govt lawyer persuading the DJ denies the hosting funds

 

"While O'Grady was sympathetic to Carpathia's financial burden,

the government's lawyers told the judge that the company was no babe in the woods.

They said that the company generated $35 million from working with MegaUpload

and suggested that Carpathia may bear some of the responsibility

for the copyright infringement that allegedly occurred at MegaUpload.

They told the judge there's a chance that Carpathia will face a civil suit.

The government's lawyers said Carpathia just wants to "get out" of the servers

but that doesn't mean U.S. taxpayers have to ride to the rescue."

Its clear that U.S. Govt unwilling to pay for severs upkeep cost, they even threat the hosting companies will possibility of "civil suit".

But theres more:

"Ira Rothken, MegaUpload's lead attorney, had tried to buy the servers from Carpathia but the government nixed the deal.

MegaUpload says it needs the servers to help prove its innocence."

At least on Kim side, since they know that they will unable to pay the server leasing for longer duration without income, they opt to buy them instead,

so perhaps Kim could able to keep the revenues flowing and keep the exsiting data, but it was U.S. Govt that prevent this.

So yeah, LeaseWeb decision can't be fully blamed on Kim, U.S. Govt got their shares of blames too.

Other hosting companies that still hold MegaUpload data, might as well followsuit.

[FiB3R]

Dotcom Reveals Megaupload Data Massacre Emails, Plans to Sue LeaseWeb

 

Kim Dotcom and his legal team have published an email revealing that they asked LeaseWeb to preserve the data stored on 630 servers that were recently wiped. The email contradicts an earlier statement from the hosting company which claimed that for a year nobody showed interest in the servers. Adding to the controversy, Dotcom informs TorrentFreak that his legal team is contemplating litigation against the former host over their actions.

 

More...

[FloatingFatMan]

Ah, he "asked" them did he? Okay, but did he actually pay the bill?  If not, you can't really blame them for wiping the data and reclaiming their servers. They're a business, not a charity.